Hackers supporting Russia don’t take kindly to the Netherlands attempting to buy Swiss army tanks for Ukraine. Last week, Russia supporters struck back by shutting down the Dutch ports’ website with digital attacks.
If anyone was wondering why they couldn’t access The Groningen Seaport website for hours or even days last weekend, now you know.
Pro-Russian hackers wanted to retaliate for the recent Dutch aid of Ukraine after the Netherlands attempted — and failed — to buy Swiss army tanks to send to the invaded country.
Major port cities ranging from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, to Den Helder, were also impossible to access online for hours last Tuesday, reports RTL Nieuws.
The response is unsurprising; doing anything to cross Russia is bound to make you a “target” for these kinds of antics, American researcher Tom Hegel tells RTL Z.
The people behind the screen
NoName057(16), the collective of pro-Russian hackers responsible, consider themselves “hacktivists” — supposedly noble countrymen stepping up to defend Russia.
Their intentions aren’t difficult to guess, especially because they have literally spelled it out: “The Netherlands wants to buy Leopard 1s to deliver to Ukraine…8 Leopard 1 tanks have already been destroyed. Bring the next one!”
READ MORE | Rutte pledges to deliver anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine along with US and Germany
The group of what appear to be non-professional enthusiasts located in Russia and Serbia (according to their IP address) use an “amateurish” yet “effective” digital attack strategy: simply shutting down ports websites.
Inconveniencing Dutch ports by laying a kind of digital siege has certainly garnered them the publicity they wanted…
The websote of the Evofenedex business association from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 is down due to a #DDoS attack by NoName057(16).#DDoSAttack pic.twitter.com/CbwHucq9mg
— Cyber Security Short Alerts (@CyberSecShorts) May 23, 2023
The hacktivists celebrated their victory by taking to Telegram to boast about their success.
Does anyone…care?
Groningen Seaport called the timing of the attacks “not really convenient”, considering they were due to have an open day Saturday. But other than that…eh?
The Dutch ports don’t seem particularly bothered. “We are not dependent on the website,” says a spokesperson from the Port of Rotterdam.
READ MORE | Here’s how you can help Ukraine from the Netherlands [UPDATED]
While port websites are handy to keep the buyers’ informed of their shipping and delivery statuses, they don’t interfere with the actual shipping itself, which “runs on other servers”.
We can all breathe a sigh of relief now. Let’s also pray that NoName057(16) doesn’t say, “Okay, challenge accepted,” and then step it up a notch. 🥴
Were you impacted by these hacktivists’ “digital attacks”? Share your experience in the comments below.
