More than 2,000 websites are reported to be hacked in Georgia in a massive cyberattack launched late yesterday. And security analysts suggest that it was a sophisticated attack made on web hosting provider Pro-Service which led to the disruption.
Highly placed sources say that the shutdown websites include those related to government agencies, Media and TV stations and a few from local banks and legal courts. TV Channel Pirveli was also partially affected by the cyber incident.
As all those websites were being hosted on a single provider, hackers managed to target the servers of the service provider to disrupt the website services of many- the toll could reach the number of 15,000.
In a media statement issued early Tuesday, Pro-Service provider took the blame wholly and confessed that a hacker/s were able to infiltrate into its network through a configuration flaw. More details will be revealed on an official note as the probe unfolds.
Cybersecurity Insiders has learned that the first response team of the Pro- Service provider was able to recover more than half of the impacted websites by 8 PM on Monday the day after the Halloween party.
People in Georgia who were busy with their Halloween parties panicked as the cyberattack was of a “Defacement” Genre.
The interesting point in this attack is that almost 70% of websites faced defacement and the homepage was replaced with a picture of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. So, the attack could have been launched either by a protester or a fan of Saakashvili, who is now a Ukrainian citizen due to developments.
