The European Parliament announced on Wednesday November 23 that its website had been the target of a cyberattack claimed by a "
pro-Kremlin group
", a few hours after a vote by MEPs qualifying Russia as a "
State promoter of terrorism
".
On Twitter, the institution's spokesperson, Jaume Duch, spoke of "
a DDOS attack
" (by denial of service) paralyzing "
the availability of the website
" of the institution.
“
Parliament teams are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible
,” he added.
"
A pro-Kremlin group has claimed responsibility
" for this "
sophisticated cyberattack
", then said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
"
My answer: #SlavaUkraini
" (Glory to Ukraine), she retorted.
Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks involve targeting a computer system by flooding it with messages or connection requests.
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While MEPs are meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, the institution's website, on which the debates in the hemicycle are broadcast and the parliamentary votes are posted online, was blocked from the beginning of the midday.
“
This seems to have mainly affected the website of the European Parliament, my teams have noticed connection problems without this preventing the smooth running of
parliamentary work,” French MEP Fabienne Keller told AFP.
At midday, MEPs overwhelmingly adopted a text describing “
Russia as a State that promotes terrorism and as a State that uses terrorist means
”.
This vote, purely symbolic in the absence of an adequate legal framework in the EU, was immediately welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.