It has been reported that some 2,000 websites in Georgia, including those of the president, courts, and media were hacked in a massive cyber-attack today. They displayed a photo of Georgia’s exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili with an inscription “I’ll be back!”
Interpress said the website for Georgia’s general jurisdiction courts as well as websites of a number of government agencies, NGOs and media outlets were also hit by cyber-attacks. The attack also affected servers of Georgia’s two major broadcasters, Maestro and Imedi TV, temporarily sending the television stations off the air.
The scale of this cyber attack is unprecedented, and Georgia will almost certainly have to face vast repercussions once the problem is resolved. However, the “I’ll be back” signature is ominous, and I have no reason not to believe that they won’t be, unless the nation of Georgia makes some serious changes to their cyber security protocols.
This attack should act as a reminder to every nation, regardless of their size or wealth, that it is essential to invest in safe, secure IT servers and operate modern technology systems which are protected against the threat of any cyber attacker.
The cyber-attacks in Georgia demonstrate once again the shaky infrastructure upon which so much of our world is built. We use software to do business, to run government, and to communicate. Software is critical infrastructure, but the functionality we\’ve assembled has far outpaced our ability to make it secure and resilient. Such a coordinated, widespread attack almost certainly is the work of another nation state, and is likely intended to promote the attacker\’s geopolitical agenda.
While defence against a well-resourced tsunami of attacks is very challenging, the entire software ecosystem is evolving to a state where mounting such attacks will become increasingly difficult. Organisations worldwide are understanding that a security-first approach to software development, and a growing awareness of the complex supply chain of software is helping to make software that is safer, more secure, and more resilient.