After government servers were allegedly knocked offline by Russian cyber attackers, the Georgian government seems to have revived its Web presence on Blogger, Google’s free blogging service.
The Times Online was unable to get confirmation from security experts that massive DDoS attacks on Georgian websites had actually occurred, at least at the level of the attacks on Estonian systems last year. The best they could come up with was what one German expert called “low-level vandalism,” and not evidence of “widescale, state-sanctioned electronic warfare.”
Nonetheless, Georgian government websites are inaccessible at present, an occurrence mirroring events in late July. According to the Middle East Times, an unnamed US-CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) agent, who had been monitoring Russian-based attacks on Georgian servers, didn’t believe it was any kind of test run.
At the time (July 25), the Georgian government also denied any extensive or prolonged damage—”not even for a minute.” Today, official sites mod.gov.ge and president.gov.ge have been inaccessible for a considerably larger amount of time.
According to the Georgian Times, these (assumedly) same hackers have targeted Georgian news organizations as well, making it difficult to post new information online. Internet portal Georgia Online announced hackers had destroyed analytical resources, the entire Abkhazia government website, and databases and archives of other unnamed news sources.
One Blogspot blogger, who runs a blog with the purpose of tracking and reporting on the actions of a Russian organized cybercrime group called Russian Business Network, credits the same network with apparent attacks on government sites in conjunction with the physical war.
Google could not confirm Georgian government use of Blogger as an alternative channel to disseminate information, but several blogs devoted to Georgian causes and purported to be set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have popped up.
The assumed MFA author of GeorgiaMFA.blogspot.com, for example, has accused Russia of seriously disrupting several sites and recommends the Polish president’s site as an additional source of information.
There are several links to other Georgian sites hosted on Blogger as well, including RussiaAndGeorgiaAtWar, which provides eyewitness reports like this one:
Vasiko, 31 , Lawyer: I went to the Republican Clinic to see my friend Beka, who was transported from Gori. Time to time lots of ambulances were bringing in wounded soldiers. Seeing the vehicles the parents of the soldiers started crying and screaming. They were calling: “Name, tell the name?” Than everyone were getting quiet and were saying prayers:” Oh, God, let me see my son wounded but alive.” And this was going on and on with each ambulance.
Another from a taxi driver compares Vladimir Putin to Satan, and calls on the US and Europe to stand up to “the Devil.” Another blog, titled StateMinister and purporting to be another government replacement site, posts photos of the carnage, including killed Georgian citizens and burning buildings.
StopRussia.org is also offline.
