Russia's Official Media Websites Hit By DDoS Attack During President Putin's Speech

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech to the Russian parliament. (photo: sputniknews.com)

JAKARTA - Russian state media experienced website outages while broadcasting President Vladimir Putin's speech to the country's parliament on Tuesday 22 February.

Reuters journalists in several locations said they were unable to access the website of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) or the live broadcast platform Smotrim during the speech. On the VGTRK website, there is a message that "technical maintenance is being carried out" while the Smotrim website cannot be loaded.

Before the speech started, the state TV channel also aired a segment on the technical preparations being made to broadcast the speech and said the live broadcast would be broadcast on all major Russian TV channels.

State news agency RIA Novosti said the disruption was the result of a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. But Reuters was unable to independently verify the reasons for the disruption.

A DDoS attack is an attack that aims to make a service or website inaccessible to users. In a DDoS attack, a group of machines (or bots) that have been infected with a virus or malware, are arranged in a network called a "botnet", then used to access services or websites simultaneously.

With so many requests coming from the botnet network, the targeted server will become too busy to be able to respond to requests from real users.

The impact of a DDoS attack varies greatly depending on the target and purpose of the attack. If an attack is carried out on a commercial website, the impact can be both loss of potential profits and financial loss.

DDoS attacks can also impact the image of the target company or institution, as an inaccessible website can create the impression that the company is unable to provide good service.

On the other hand, DDoS attacks can also be used as a tool to protest a policy or action taken by a company or institution.

DDoS attacks can also be used as a way to disrupt and distract from governments. It can be used as a way to distract the public from current events or as an attempt to influence public opinion.