The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack on several official websites belonging to Romanian institutions on Sunday, May 4, the day of the first round of the presidential elections.

The official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the official website of the Ministry of Justice, as well as the official website of the coalition's candidate, Crin Antonescu, went down throughout the day due to DDoS-type cyberattacks. Authorities confirmed the attack the same day.

At around 14:00, the websites were operational again, according to Digi24.

Independent journalist Victor Ilie was the first to warn that a hacker group previously labeled pro-Russian, but without direct ties to the Kremlin, launched the cyberattack.

“NoName057 is a pro-Russian group specialized in DDoS-type attacks. They are probably the most famous pro-Russian hacktivists, born out of the chaos of the Russia-Ukraine war. Generally, they attack targets that side with Kyiv. For example, they also attacked Romanian websites on the day Zelensky visited or the day before a NATO exercise at Capu Midia,” journalist Victor Ilie wrote on his personal Facebook page. 

The group later confirmed that they were behind the attack. In a post on their official Telegram group, the hackers stated that they managed to “send DDoS surprises” to the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the website of the Ministry of Justice. 

“The presidential elections have begun in Romania, where the leader of the nationalist party AUR, George Simion, who positions himself as an ally of Vladimir Putin, is considered the favorite. We are not staying away from the event and are sending our DDoS surprises to Romania,” the NoName057 group claimed.

A DDoS attack involves “abnormal traffic, leading to poor website functionality or sending it completely offline.” It is among the most common forms of cyber attacks. 

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Piotr Zajda | Dreamstime.com)