Spokespersons for the Information System Authority (RIA) said Monday that the attacks targeted "a few dozen" public sector websites on Saturday and Sunday, including the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), the Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) and the Ministry of Justice, whose websites were subjected to the most intense DdoS waves, on the Saturday afternoon and whose sites consequently experienced a brief disruption or slower functioning speeds than usual.

The RIA spokespersons added that in recent years, the authority has implemented technical countermeasures which cover most of the major public sector websites and services, while assistance is also provided to the private sector on a needs basis, particularly to those companies engaged in vital services.

"As a result, DDoS attacks usually have no visible impact or the impact is minimal," RIA said, adding that its CERT-EE incident response department reacted quickly and managed to mitigate the impact of the attacks – which on Saturday numbered over three billion malicious requests.

"Pro-Kremlin hacktivist groups have mostly claimed responsibility for the attacks, and this was also the case last weekend," RIA went on, adding the attacks are intended on the one hand for public consumption in Russia, to "show" that the authorities there are disrupting life in Western countries, and on the other hand are an attempt to sow confusion and instability in those societies, in the context of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

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