Cyberattack hits the state-run Rossiya 24 network on Wednesday while broadcasting a phone-in with President Vladimir Putin.
- Hackers launched a cyberattack disrupting a televised phone-in between Russian President Putin and the Rossiya 24 network.
- Russia’s major telecommunications provider Telecom confirmed the cyber attack.
Cyberattack hit the state-run Rossiya 24 network on Wednesday while broadcasting a phone-in with President Vladimir Putin.
Shown on Kremlin-friendly media, the annual session with Putin sees the president field real-time queries submitted by Russians throughout the country.
This year's phone-in on Wednesday, which lasted nearly four hours, frequently faced connection problems, especially during calls from remote regions.
“Our digital systems are right now facing attacks, powerful DDoS attacks,” a Rossiya-24 presenter told Putin after the broadcaster faced connection problems during a call by a citizen from the Kuzbass region in Siberia experienced connection issues.
President Putin was surprised by hearing that someone was launching a cyber attack against the TV show.
“Are you joking? Seriously?” Putin told the presenter. “Turns out we have hackers in Kuzbass,” he quipped.
“Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA Novosti news agency that the origin of the attacks was unclear.” reads a press release published by AFP.
Rostelecom confirmed the attacks to the news agencies, saying that measures were being taken to “block these illegitimate activities”.
At the time of writing, it is still unclear who launched the cyberattacks.
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