Authorities in Ukraine said they had received internet indications that hackers were planning big attacks on government agencies, banks, and the defense sector on Tuesday.
Ukraine has been the victim of a series of cyberattacks in recent weeks, which Kiev has blamed on Russia. Moscow, which is embroiled in a conflict with the West over Ukraine, has denied any involvement.
On Monday, Ukraine’s government-run cybersecurity agency CERT-UA announced that it had discovered warnings on a hacking forum.
One message “referred to the lease of servers to prepare further attacks on the websites of the public sector, the banking sector, and the defence sector,” according to the message.
Ukraine stated last week that Russia was most likely behind an attack that took down the defence ministry’s web page and interrupted banking and terminal services at key state-owned lenders.
The cyber attacks and threats of more follow Western countries’ accusations that Russia is contemplating an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. Moscow denies any attack is planned, but has requested security guarantees, including a pledge that Ukraine will never join NATO.
Ukraine has already accused Russia of launching cyberattacks in order to cause panic and bring the country’s financial system to a halt.
