Ukrainian hackers have managed to disrupt the distribution of vodka in the Russian army by hacking into an online portal.
It is no myth that vodka is a particularly popular drink among Kremlin soldiers. So, faced with the invasion of their country by neighboring Russia, Ukrainian hackers decided to deprive Russian soldiers of vodka as much as possible. No physical violence was involved in the attack as it was merely digital.
Russian portal for the distribution of vodka and other spirits is subject to DDoS attacks
To disrupt the distribution of vodka, Ukrainian hackers launched several DDoS (denial of service) attacks. These attacks consist in launching false requests to a site or infrastructure, using numerous computers or connected objects, to severely slow down or even bring down the site or infrastructure, drowning out legitimate requests en masse, depriving them of access to the network.
In this case, the hackers targeted a strategic portal called EGAIS, commonly used by the Russian government to secure and coordinate the distribution of alcoholic beverages in the countryside. Several vodka producers and distributors would have the worst difficulties in accessing the famous portal.
DDoS attacks have caused major disruptions in the transportation and supply of alcoholic beverages across Russia in recent days. According to Russian media such as Vedomosti, the first attacks occurred on May 2 and 3, following the publication of a message calling for a collective hack against the portal’s servers.
The Ukrainian cyber-army is continuing its efforts
The DDoS attacks disrupted the system to such an extent that several factories were forced to halt shipments completely last week, effectively slowing down production to prevent too many undelivered products from piling up.
Late last week, the EGAIS portal still did not appear to be functioning normally, indicating a large number of attacks. Bleeping Computer noticed that members of the IT Army, the Ukrainian computer army, had added the Russian distribution portal EGAIS as an attack target.
This army, now made up of amateur hackers from all over the world who support Ukrainian forces, has even been legitimized by Kiev since February. In March, Russia already suffered a serious disruption of its meat distribution network following a computer attack.
Don’t drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly.