Hackers increasingly attacking government computer networks

Moscow, June 14 (UNI) Hackers are increasingly attacking government computer networks in Russia, head of the centre for communications security of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Viktor Gorbachyov said here today.

''Attacks on official Web resources of Russian state bodies are constantly increasing every year,'' Gorbachyov told RIA Novosti news agency.

''This is particularly true of mass attacks, when thousands of simultaneous attempts to break into sites are made within a short period of time,'' he said.

He added that hackers based in the United States had attacked the website of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry on April 22 followed after some days by Chinese hackers who launched a 12-hour assault on the websites of the Russian Interior Ministry and Foreign Intelligence Service.

Mr Gorbachyov pointed out that as a whole, the FSB had registered about a million attacks made by hackers in Russia every year, but they were all successfully repelled by protection programmes created in cooperation with the FSB.

He said hackers made several high-profile attacks on Russian websites last year, including one on Russia's first 24-hour English-language television channel, Russia Today. The channel was temporarily forced off air in December after hackers tried to break into its computer network.

Recently, databases containing the information of MTS cell phone users, pension fund beneficiaries and Central Bank transactions have been hacked into and sold in the black market.

UNI XC SHR KP1755