The official website of the United Kingdom’s Royal Family faced a significant disruption on Sunday due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, as reported by credible sources.
The Royal.uk website became inaccessible for about 90 minutes, starting at 10 a.m. local time. Although the site was quickly restored to full functionality, Cloudflare implemented checks to ensure that accessing IP addresses was not automated bots.
Killnet Claims Responsibility for Attack on Royal Family Website
While a notorious Russian hacktivist group called Killnet claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel, these claims have yet to receive official confirmation.
Oseloka Obiora, CTO of cybersecurity firm RiverSafe, stressed the universal importance of organizations strengthening their security posture.
“Regardless of your status, cyber-criminals pose a significant threat. This incident is a stark reminder of the dangers of sophisticated online attacks,” he remarked.
“Moving forward, organizations of all sizes must promptly enhance their cybersecurity defenses, including skills and software, to thwart malicious hackers and their insidious objectives.”
DDoS attacks have become a favored tool for Russian hacktivists aiming to influence global events, often targeting Ukraine’s allies to achieve geopolitical goals.
In October of the previous year, Killnet claimed responsibility for launching a series of DDoS attacks on over a dozen U.S. airport websites. The European Parliament website also fell victim to a similar attack a month later.
In the United Kingdom, several websites, including those linked to the Bankers Automated Clearing Service (BACS), the London Stock Exchange, and even the Prince of Wales, experienced DDoS attacks during that period. Fortunately, these disruptions were brief, offering attackers only momentary notoriety.
It’s worth noting that over the past year, Ukraine’s hacktivists and supporters have also targeted Russia. In January, the country’s largest internet service provider (ISP) reported detecting 21.5 million web-based attacks on its 600+ corporate clients in 2022, with DDoS attacks making up the majority (79%) of incidents.
Among these attacks, one particularly stood out—a massive 760Gb/s DDoS attack, described by Rostelecom as a “record-breaking DDoS attack in terms of power and duration.
