Since the Kremlin launched an invasion of Ukraine last month, Ukrainian websites have been under constant attack by Russian hackers, according to Kyiv's cyber watchdog agency (Mar 5).
"Russian hackers keep on attacking Ukrainian information resources nonstop," Ukraine's State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection wrote on Twitter.
The president's, parliament's, cabinet's, ministry of defense, and ministry of internal affairs' websites were among those hit by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which work by sending a flood of traffic to targeted servers in an attempt to bring them down.
The sites, according to the agency, have so far weathered the storm.
"We will endure! On the battlefields and in the cyberspace!" it said.
Meanwhile, according to a senior U.S. defense official, Russia has launched 600 missiles since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine, and it has committed nearly 95 percent of its fighting force to the country.
Russian forces are still attempting to encircle Kyiv, Khakhiv, Chernihiv, and Mariupol, the official said.
Strong Ukrainian resistance to Russian advances has slowed the Russian assault.
Meanwhile, the large Russian convoy north of Kyiv, which covers 40 miles of road, is stuck, with no indication of how close it is to Kyiv. Late last week, it was about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv's city center.
The skies over Kyiv remain contested, with both Ukrainians and Russians retaining a significant portion of their air combat capability.
DDoS attacks have also targeted Russian websites. Ukraine has requested assistance from its hacker underground in protecting critical infrastructure and conducting cyber spying missions against Russian troops.
According to Reuters, Ukraine has turned to underground forums in search of a few good hackers. While there is no standing cyber force in the country, the Defense Ministry has begun to recruit people to spy on Russian forces and defend critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
Applicants must fill out a Google Docs form with their information, including professional references, and will be vetted before being asked to join.
On Friday, Russia's National Coordinating Center for Computer Incidents announced that Russian information resources had been subjected to "massive computer attacks."
The websites of the Russian government, military, and banks have all been hit by traffic tsunamis, though they appear to be holding steady for the most part. The hacktivist collective Anonymous appears to have claimed responsibility for a more successful DDoS that took Russian state news site RT offline Thursday and into Friday.
