Ukrainian group claims responsibility for NATO hack

Hackers apparently attacked several NATO websites Saturday, but they did not interrupt operations nor was the integrity of NATO’s systems affected, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Twitter. The websites were down for several hours from what’s known as distributed denial-of-service attacks, she said. NATO did not say who was responsible, but a Ukrainian website claiming to belong to a group called Cyber Berkut declared in Russian that it originated the attack.

Ukrainian hackers are claiming responsibility for a cyberattack that brought down a pair of NATO websites today, in an act of protest against Western powers on the eve of a major vote that could see a portion of Ukraine handed over to Russia. The hacktivist group, Cyber Berkut, says that it took down NATO’s primary website and the website of its cyber defense center; the group also claimed to have taken down the website of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly, though it’s unclear if this happened, as the site is currently live. Cyberattacks from both sides have escalated over the prior weeks, as Crimea — a Ukrainian peninsula bordering Russia that’s about the size of New Jersey — approaches a vote tomorrow over secession, which is expected to end in the region joining Russia.