Russian hacker group attacks Romanian government websites on election day

A Russian hacker group attacked several Romanian government and presidential candidates’ websites on Sunday as the country votes for its next president, Romanian news outlet G4media reported.

The attack, by the group known as DDOSIA/NoName057, hit the website of the Romanian Constitutional Court, the main government portal, the Romanian foreign ministry site and the websites of four presidential candidates.

The candidate websites attacked included Crin Antonescu, who is backed by Romania’s governing parties, and Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, who is running as independent, according to a list provided by the National Cybersecurity Directorate, G4media reported. 

The Cybersecurity Directorate did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The hackers claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on their Telegram channel, listing the websites of the ministries for internal affairs and justice among the targets, Romanian TV channel Digi24 reported. The attack was through the distributed denial of service (DDoS) method, which overwhelms the target with a flood of internet traffic.

The Cybersecurity Directorate said that all websites the hacker group listed were operational as of 2 p.m. local time, adding a Star Wars reference: “May the Force be with you,” according to a post on Facebook.

The attack came as Romanians are voting in the first round of a presidential election re-do. The country’s top court canceled the initial round last year over allegations of illegal campaigning by the winner of that round, little-known ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, and potential Russian influence. 

There were more than 85,000 cyberattacks against Romania’s election IT system in the day of the election last November and after, according to Romanian declassified intelligence documents.