Belgian institutions reportedly hit by cyberattacks linked to pro-Russian hackers

​​​​​​​By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - The DDoSia pro-Russian hacker group carried out cyberattacks against Belgian government institutions ahead of an EU Council summit, Belgian cybersecurity firm Secutec reported Friday.

According to the Belga news agency, citing Secutec, which monitors critical infrastructure for Belgium's Cybersecurity Centre, nearly 1,250 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks were recorded between Dec. 2 and 18. None of the attacks were successful.

The hackers targeted the website of the federal parliament 40 times, the province of Limburg 45 times, and the province of Antwerp 32 times.

Nuclear and energy companies were also among the targets.

"In November the focus was mainly on local and provincial governments, while in December it shifted to federal institutions and critical infrastructure," said Secutec’s chief executive Geert Baudewijns, adding that "the aim was clearly to disrupt essential services in Belgium in order to maximise national impact."

Secutec said the number of attacks increased by more than 190% compared with the previous month, with around two-thirds targeting government bodies.

Health care organizations and other critical infrastructure, including Brussels-based energy company Sibelga and nuclear supplier ASCO Industries, were also heavily targeted.

The company warned of a dangerous escalation, noting that attacks are increasingly extending from public authorities to the energy and nuclear sectors.

"DDoSia has demonstrated its ability to identify and attack our most critical dependencies, from energy distribution linked to NATO headquarters to nuclear supply chains that account for up to 50 per cent of our electricity production," said Baudewijns.