Killnet DDoS’ed Earthquake relief

Killnet has claimed responsibility for DDoS attacks that disrupted North Atlantic Treaty Organization earthquake relief operations in Turkey and Syria.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck the region on Feb. 6, causing widespread damage and death.

The overwhelming majority of countries are providing humanitarian relief, but not so Russia, who has instead thought it was acceptable to disrupt NATO relief efforts. Even amid a dirty war in Ukraine with multiple reports of civilian massacres, interfering with earthquake relief efforts with tens of thousands of civilian deaths is a new low, even for Russia.

The Killnet DDoS attack took down numerous websites, including NATO Special Operations Headquarters in Belgium and the Strategic Airlift Capability, which NATO uses to provide military and humanitarian airlifts. SAC aircraft are currently being used to transport search and rescue equipment to the earthquake-stricken area.

In one direct incident caused by the attack, SAC was unable to communicate with a C-17 aircraft while it was in flight due to network disruption. Fortunately, the plane later landed safely.

Killnet attacks is an example of how a cyberattack can impact real life and that although there was no breach of NATO systems, the fact that the services were disrupted most likely resulted in lost lives in Turkey.