Russia warned western powers on Thursday that cyber attacks launched against it could result in direct military confrontation, and would be met with severe countermeasures.
This comes after Russia’s housing ministry website was hacked over the weekend, and an internet search for the ministry’s site displayed a Ukrainian text translating to “Glory to Ukraine.”.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that critical infrastructure and state institutions were being heavily impacted by cyberattacks and blamed the United States and Ukraine for these attacks.
“The militarization of the information space by the West, and attempts to turn it into an arena of interstate confrontation, have greatly increased the threat of a direct military clash with unpredictable consequences,” it said.
The websites of various state-owned companies and news organizations have been hit by periodic hacking attempts since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The attacks were primarily intended to show information that totally deviated with Moscow’s official view on the war.
President Vladimir Putin called on the country’s IT experts to fortify the nation’s IT security as the number of cyberattacks by foreign “state structures” continue to increase.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
