Staying true to its reputation of being known for relying majorly on DDoS attacks, the pro-Kremlin hacking group Killnet has struck again and this time, their target was the European Parliament website.
This DDoS attack took place after the governing body voted to declare the Russian government a state sponsor of terrorism.
The distributed denial-of-service attack or DDoS attack took place on Wednesday afternoon European time and the website stayed down for a few hours before becoming operational again.
It is worth noting that the DDoS attack came just days after Killnet claimed responsibility for targeting government sites in the United Kingdom and vowed to target more in the coming days.
Killnet members quickly claimed the credit for the attack shortly after and posted screenshots showing the European Parliament website was unavailable in 23 countries on Telegram. Furthermore, the text accompanying the images included a homophobic remark toward the legislative body.
“Strap-on shelling of the server part of the official website of the European Parliament!” the group posted to its Telegram channel.
The attacks against the European Parliament came hours after the agency adopted a resolution officially identifying Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. It was adopted by the member states with 494 votes in favor, 58 against, and 44 abstentions.
Members of the European Parliament “highlight that the deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by Russian forces and their proxies against civilians in Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of international and humanitarian law amount to acts of terror and constitute war crimes,” the declaration stated. “In light of this, they recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that ‘uses means of terrorism.’”
Since the Russo-Ukraine war began in February, Killnet has launched 76 attacks against countries supporting Ukraine.