Since the beginning of the week, the websites of several Belgian organisations have been the target of DDOS attacks by hacktivists.

Several local authorities, provinces and government departments have suffered disruptive DDoS attacks that have made their public websites unavailable for some time. The Centre for Cybersecurity itself has not been spared.

What is a DDoS attack?

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack consists of overloading a server by sending it a very large number of requests for pages. The server cannot cope with this high demand, making the website or email traffic unavailable for some time, until the attack ceases or is stopped. Think of it as a traffic jam.

During a DDoS attack, it is you, the Internet user, who suffers the inconvenience. During the attack, the website or online service you want to visit is unavailable. It is not dangerous to visit a website that is under attack. You will simply notice that the site is unavailable or that it works very slowly.

Websites are regularly unavailable or difficult to access. This does not always mean that they are under attack. In general, the cause is technical: a systems update or maintenance, for example.

What affected organisations can do?

Organisations under attack can take temporary anti-DDoS measures. Implementing these measures requires time and resources For websites containing mainly (non-urgent) information, an organisation may decide that it is not a priority to invest in solid anti-DDoS measures. It then has no choice but to wait out the attack. This usually happens within a few hours.

See also our brochure DDOS: PREVENTION AND PROTECTION (2024)

Are these attacks dangerous?

A DDoS attack is not sophisticated. It requires a great deal of effort on the part of the affected department to completely restore the network. It generally takes several additional interventions before the systems are operational again, once the attack is over. The systems have not been penetrated and, consequently, no data has been stolen. The consequences are mainly embarrassing

Website administrators can take steps to protect themselves against DDOS attacks. However, these measures cannot guarantee 100% protection.

Conducting or inciting a DDoS attack is punishable by law.
 

Why do hacktivists launch DDoS attacks?

Hacktivists use DDoS attacks to express their displeasure, attract attention or damage the victim's reputation. A DDoS attack is usually noticed fairly quickly, and an attack on government services certainly attracts public interest. This is precisely what hacktivists want to achieve.

Who are the perpetrators of the recent attacks?

This week's attacks were announced and carried out by a group of pro-Russian hacktivists targeting European and NATO-related targets. In particular, they are targeting government agencies, the media and private companies in order to attract media attention.