Russian hackers' latest target is President Vladimir Putin. It disrupted the head of state's annual phone-in as it faced "cyberattacks," the country's major telco provider confirmed.
The Russian president does an annual session on state-run television wherein he answers real-time questions from the Russian citizens.
According to Reuters, the phone-in for 2021 tackled inflation, COVID-19 vaccination, and even his possible successor. In total, the broadcast lasted for almost four hours.
However, calls from remote or far-flung locations in Russia faced some hiccups.
Russian Hackers and President Vladimir Putin's Phone-In
The news anchor of the state-run television notified President Putin during the broadcast that their phone-in is "facing attacks, powerful DDoS attacks."
It came after a Kuzbass citizen faced connection issues as he queried the Russian leader in the broadcast. The TV presenter then figured that hackers from the Kuzbass region were behind the choppy phone call.
As a response, President Putin was shocked, and could not believe that a Russian hacker would take time to infiltrate their phone-in session.
Putin said in Russian: "Are you joking? Seriously?"
Russian Hacking on Putin's Phone-In Confirmed
It turns out that the phone-in hacking incident actually occurred, even as the Russian President questioned its legitimacy.
NDTV reported that Rostelecom, the largest telecom provider in the country, confirmed that the interview faced cyberattacks. Additionally, the company assured that they are taking action to avoid the incident from happening again.
Until now, the motive behind the attacks remains unknown, Putin Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told a local news outlet.
Putin and Social Media
Although Putin did not mention anything about cyberattacks in his phone-in, he barred information about how social media platforms disobey the demands of the Russian laws.
The Russian leader pointed out that social networks have been an avenue for child pornography to proliferate, as well as violence, such as suicide and how-to videos on Molotov weapons production.
On November 19, 2020, Russia hinted at blocking social media giants, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, for specifically censoring and discriminating against state-run media companies.
The Russian lawmakers then declared that they are blocking services, regardless of what company, if they censor the Kremlin-favoring media outlets.
Elsewhere, the Russian spy chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said that he is flattered that their country is suspected to be behind the SolarWinds Cyberattack, dubbed as the largest and most sophisticated attack. However, he denied such accusations, adding that it is against his will to steal credit from others.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Teejay Boris
