Georgia's Websites Endure Russian Cyber Attack

August 12, 2008

While Russian tanks and rockets roll into Georgia, Russian hackers have infiltrated the country's civic websites, disabling Georgia's presidential and defense ministry sites, along with other ".ge" domains. These cyber attacks, as well as bombing of Georgia's telecom infrastructure, indicate that information is under assault in Georgia.

Cyber attacks originating in Russia have previously been launched against Estonia and Lithuania. Georgia has responded to the latest assault by moving crucial websites to other hosts. Estonia has agreed to support the Georgian Foreign Ministry site, while Georgia has relocated the information flow regarding the conflict to the Google platform Blogspot. Estonia has also sent cyber defense experts to Georgia.

Do strategic attacks on news and government websites make you think twice about relying on the Internet for all your information?

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9 Comments

Jillness 4 years 40 weeks

Yesteryear, I love your new avtar. That must have been hard for such a little girl!

alynn28 4 years 40 weeks

i agree jillness! thats why its so important to do your own research and look at both sides of a situation before expressing your opinion on it. some people just ramble on and on about things they either know nothing about, or just take a stance on because they read it on a blog somewhere.

Jillness 4 years 40 weeks

"internet news/blogs (with comments) have given the opinions of average people way too much power." So true!! It leads people to repeat things even if they aren't true!

yesteryear 4 years 40 weeks

i agree with pop. i still listen to news radio, watch news on TV and (when it's available) read the paper... so the internet going down would not affect my news intake. in fact, it might be kind of nice. this brings up a thought i've been having recently that i've heard echoed by other people: internet news/blogs (with comments) have given the opinions of average people way too much power. sure it's important for everyone to express their POV -- but these are just opinions, and most times they are emotionally, rather than factually, based. i can remember when i'd read a story in the paper, or listen to something on the radio, and then have time to sit back and really think about it. now i immediately read all of the public comments and enter the discussion, and as a result, the facts get garbled and mixed up with opinion and conjecture. it's kind of like if we got all of our news from a show like nancy grace, where it's just a bunch of people sitting around throwing out possibilities. it's dangerous. i know everyday people's opinions count -- but do we really need to get them AND the straight story in the same breath? i think not.

pinky23 4 years 40 weeks

i do perform most of my day-to-day business on the internet (like checking the balance of my checking account or paying my cell bill), so cyber-warfare could affect me. but if classified government documents are revealed, this could be as costly (not in terms of human life, but in terms of the bottom line cost of the conflict) as regular warfare. plus, the psychological threat on georgia's citizens seems like it could be significant. for example, 'these hackers know all of my personal information, so what is stopping them from coming after me or from ruining my life over the internet?'

stephley 4 years 40 weeks

Strategic attacks are scary but relying on the internet alone anytime isn't wise.

True Song 4 years 40 weeks

That's interesting. I would rather "hacking" be the new warfare than going chemical or nuclear.

Jillness 4 years 40 weeks

I heard last night that one of McCain's advisors is a paid lobbiest for Georgia (to this day). Conflict of interest, maybe? McCain has also said that he wants to kick Russia out of the G8. I just think that Russia needs to be handled delicately, because as someone said yesterday (I believe it was Torg or Hypno) that Putin is more frightening to me than Iran's leader (can't remember the spelling this morning!). I just think saber rattling is not productive, and this is a clearly delicate situation. Georgia actually went into "disputed territories" that they kind of share with Russia, and decided to try and claim it for Georgia. It is possible they have a right to that land eventually, but they knew they could never take it militarily on their own. Why would they start a rumble they couldn't win?

popgoestheworld 4 years 40 weeks

"Do strategic attacks on news and government websites make you think twice about relying on the Internet for all your information?" I don't rely on the Internet for all of my info, so I guess my answer would be no. If the internet went down, I'd have problems for lots of other reasons - not getting my news wouldn't be on the top of that list.

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