MIA: Cyber Attack Might Have Been Carried out Both from Inside and Outside the Country

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has released a statement regarding the large-scale cyber attack that occurred on October 28 on numerous governmental, presidential and commercial websites in Georgia.

"The cyber attack might have been carried out from both inside and outside the country," the Ministry said in a statement, adding that within the framework of the investigation, they are actively cooperating with the law enforcement agencies of partner countries. 

“The Ministry of Internal Affairs continues investigative activities in connection with the cyber attack on various Georgian websites on October 28. All those who might have important information for the investigation are being questioned, and technical equipment is being searched. Relevant expertise has also been scheduled. At this time, access to most websites has been restored. The functionality of other websites will be fully restored in the near future. The cyber attack might have been carried out both inside and outside the country. The investigation established that during the attack, the main pages of the websites have been changed (so-called Deface). The majority of the affected companies are served by Georgian private companies. The cyber attack style on each website was identical,” reads the statement released by the MIA.

Yesterday, two Georgian television stations, Imedi and Maestro, and thousands of websites, were knocked out, in what was thought to be a wide-scale cyber attack.

It also affected court websites containing docket information and personal data.

Government websites (with .GOV endings) were paralyzed. For the cybercrime, the attackers utilized a photo of Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili sporting a Georgian flag and the message “I’ll be back”. 

By Ana Dumbadze 

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