Several questioned regarding cyber-attack on thousands of Georgian websites
The offense is punishable by a fine or correctional facilities up to two years or imprisonment for the same period. Photo: The Ministry of Internal Affairs
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The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has questioned several people regarding a cyber-attack on thousands of websites including the President of Georgia, courts, media, local self-governments and NGOs.
The MIA says that questioning and other investigative activities continue.
The cyber-attack may have been carried out from within the country or from abroad. The MIA is actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies of partner countries within the framework of the investigation”, reads the official statement of MIA.
The statement reads that most of the affected companies are hosted by private Georgian companies and “the cyber-attack style on each website is identical”.
Hacker attacks were carried out against 2,000 websites yesterday.
A photo of former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili appeared on websites with the caption “I’ll be back”.
Later that day Georgian TV companies, Maestro and Imedi were hacked and expensive equipment was damaged in the process.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an investigation under two articles, which includes unauthorized access to the computer system and infringement of computer data and/or the computer system.
The offense is punishable by a fine or correctional facilities up to two years or imprisonment for the same period.
Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia claims that a cyber-attack on the leading Georgian bank TBC was identified and responded to several weeks before the address of bank officials.
Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili says that an investigation into the cyber threats against TBC Bank has been long underway. TBC Bank Founder Mamuka Khazaradze said he had informed the Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia on the cyber-attacks against his bank as soon as his IT crew discovered the source of the attack.
Hacker attacks have been carried out against 2,000 websites including that of the President of Georgia, Courts of Georgia, NGOs, local self-governments and private organizations. Hacker attack victim sites are mainly hosted on the Proservice server. The company says that “this is a global flow and they are working to eliminate and fix the problem”.
Hacker Yaroslav Sumbayev, who faces cybercrime and murder charges in the Russian Federation, has been extradited to Russia from Tbilisi earlier today.
The Georgian Interior Ministry announced today that it has started an investigation into the recent e-mail threats against the President of Georgia and several media outlets.
Repeated hacker attacks have been carried out against Maestro and Imedi TV companies after the large cyber attack of October 28. Imedi TV reported that the company was also attacked late last night for about half an hour.