Hackers (KGB?) Responsible for Massive DDOS Attacks on Google, Twitter, LiveJournal to Silence One Blogger

By In the news
In: Measure 37
Friday August 7, 2009

A Georgian political activist and blogger was the target of a massive denial-of-service attack yesterday, according to a Facebook executive. The attack took Twitter and LiveJournal offline and severely affected Facebook. Google services were also attacked, but they suffered no down-time. Max Kelly, chief security officer at Facebook is reported as stating:

It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard,” Kelly said. “We’re actively investigating the source of the attacks, and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them, if we can.

Cyxymu is the nickname of the activist. His LiveJournal account is still down, but his twitter page is back up and running again.

So, who is responsible for this attack? He claims it was the Russian KGB. In a Tweet he sent hours ago in English he stated the “hackers was from Russian KGB.”

What was so dangerous about the opinions of a single relatively obscure Georgian blogger? We’re not yet sure, as his LiveJournal page is still down.

Update: Cyxymu just tweeted “My twitter is online! Thank you all for support after ciber attack from Russia!” We’ll keep you updated throughout the day as we learn more. For now, below is a list of tweets he has sent in the past hours, translated into English:

@ V_x hour is worth a couple bucks each. but such an attack a few services, it is a very ambitious about 7 hours ago
@ Trollvsr yes, I DDoSili about 8 hours ago
@Mashable this was hackers from Russian KGB about 9 hours ago
@ Kuyantus unfortunately I was the target of attack. offer our apologies to all about 9 hours ago

One thing, however, is clear. Whoever wanted to shut Cyxymu up made a serious mistake. From obscure blogger to free speech celebrity all in 24 hours. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Update @ 11:40: There no hard facts yet, but a commenter has suggested (take it for what it’s worth) that the attacks did not come from the Russian Government per say, and that the attacks are in some way connected with the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia.

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