Internet attacks on Estonia in 2007
The cyberattacks on Estonia began on 26 April 2007 and stopped several weeks. They were directed against state organs, including the Estonian parliament , the state president as well as various ministries , banks and the media . At the same time, since the evening of April 26, 2007, there have been partly violent demonstrations by members of the Russian-speaking minority over the deportation of the Tallinn bronze soldier . Therefore it was assumed that Russia was the commissioner of the attacks; however, these allegations were later qualified. The attacks were mainly denial-of-service attacks using a botnet and caused many national Internet services to fail temporarily. The targets were websites of government and parliament as well as those of various media and banks. This also affected business traffic in some cases, particularly in the area of online banking .
The serious consequences are due to the extensive digitization and the technologically modern administration system. Every citizen has an ID number. Since 2007 Estonians have been able to take part in elections, settle their taxes and receive prescriptions from the doctor via the Internet.
In 2008, an Estonian citizen of Russian origin was charged and sentenced. In March 2009, Konstantin Goloskokow, a functionary of the government-affiliated Russian youth organization Naschi , claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Russian government denied all allegations.
Because of its vulnerability to cyber attacks , backup servers were set up in Luxembourg . They contain Estonia's digital management software and citizens' records. The Internet attacks prompted these measures and the establishment of cyberwar research centers in Estonia, in which NATO is also involved.
Footnotes
- ↑ Konrad Lischka : Cyber attacks: Estonia weakens allegations against Russia. In: Spiegel Online . May 18, 2007, accessed February 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Internet sabotage: Kremlin youth confess to attack on Estonia. In: The world . March 11, 2009, accessed February 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Hans Grassenegger Cyberwar - Imagine it's war and nobody notices it , in Publik-Forum No. 19/2017 of October 13, p. 13ff, ISSN 0343-1401