The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has accused Russia of cyber attacks on the website of the country's naval forces and posting false information about the international Sea Breeze exercises. This was reported on Friday, July 9, on the department's website.
"Russia is purposefully conducting information operations against Ukraine. On July 9, there were cases of hacker attacks by the structures of the aggressor state on the web portal of the naval forces of the armed forces of Ukraine. As a result, some documents and mostly fake messages related to the Sea Breeze – 2021 exercises were published, which are currently continuing in the Black Sea basin," the published material says.
At the same time, it is noted that there was a temporary shutdown of the Ukrainian fleet's website and cases of unsuccessful DDoS attacks on the computer system against the official web portal of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
According to the agency, after the threat was eliminated, work began on updating departmental resources on the Internet at the proper level of protection.
Earlier, on July 9, it was noted that most of the ships participating in the international Sea Breeze exercises will remain in the Black Sea for "some time" to participate in maneuvers in Bulgaria. It is noted that this will not violate the time limit provided for by the Montreux Convention. At the same time, the representative of the exercise command, Captain of the US Navy Stuart Bauman, added that the Sea Breeze maneuvers were "successful".
Before that, several American companies accused Russia of involvement in cyber attacks. So, on July 2, Bloomberg reported about a cyberattack on the international IT company Kaseya with the use of a ransomware virus, which may involve Russian hackers.
On June 26, the American corporation Microsoft recorded new cyber attacks from the allegedly Russian-based hacker group Nobelium.
However, US President Joe Biden said that Washington is not sure about Russia's involvement in cyber attacks on important American infrastructure facilities.
From June 28 to July 10, the annual Sea Breeze naval exercises are held in the Black Sea. Their participants practice combat operations at sea, on land and in the air, including amphibious landings, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft warfare. The exercises involve 5,000 military personnel, 40 aircraft and 32 ships from 32 countries, including Ukraine, the United States and NATO members.
