On Tuesday, several government websites and services were knocked offline in Belgium, after the massive distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Cyber attack by Belnet, the internet service provider (ISP) for the country’s public sector.
According to Belnet, the assault began on Tuesday morning and affected all the about 200 institutions and organisations that utilise the services of the company. Public offices, universities and research institutes were all left without internet access, partially or fully, and their websites were all but inaccessible.
“There is no indication that any network has been infiltrated by cyber criminals. The attack was aimed solely at the saturation of the Belnet network, “the ISP said.
In fact, DDoS attacks, involving overwhelming traffic targets with a wide range of botnet-corral devices, are often used to extort money from targets or as a cover for other attacks.
DDoS attacks cost millions of dollars, not to mention reputational damage, in any of its flavours. In a sense, Belgium’s attacks can be seen as a worrying testimony to the extent of the global cyber threat.
Meanwhile, Euractiv also reported that online COVID-19 reservation systems also feel the effects of the attack. Wallonia-Brussels Federation parliament also had to postpone committee work.
Cyber Mainframe
The DDoS attack occurred successively on the Belgian network provider’s status page. Ultimately, Belnet and Belgium’s Cybersecurity Center could control and mitigate the attack. The situation stabilised until Wednesday morning, but if the storm fails, the team is on high alert.
“The situation remains stable. However, we remain vigilant against new attempts. Other incidents are addressed with necessary priority in close cooperation with affected customers, “Reads the latest situation update. There’s nothing behind the cyber assault.
