Kyrgyzstan taken offline by cyber attack

Internet service in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan has been interrupted by a series of deliberate cyber attacks.

According to the Information Warfare Monitor, three of the country’s four Internet service providers have suffered major denial-of-service attacks since last week. Many websites have been disrupted and email service has been impaired.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a Russian ‘cyber-militia’ is behind the attack. Its motivation may be to punish Kyrgyzstan for hosting a US military base, or to scupper the former Soviet country’s fledgling opposition movement.

Similar incidents occurred in Georgia in the lead-up to that country’s conflict with Russia.

Pete Swabey

Pete Swabey

Pete was Editor of Information Age and head of technology research for Vitesse Media plc from 2005 to 2013, before moving on to be Senior Editor and then Editorial Director at The Economist Intelligence...

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