CYPRUS: Limited attack against government servers was prevented on election day

Cyprus’ government IT Department prevented on Sunday an attack of limited scale against its servers, while voting for the presidential elections was in progress. Officials are not in a position to verify that the attack came from “Anonymous” hacker group.

On Sunday, a video was posted on the internet, claiming that the “Anonymous” would hit government servers during the announcement of the first election results.

Andreas Kyprianou from the Department of Information Technology Services (DITS) told the Cyprus News Agency that “there was indeed a limited attempt to impede the transmission of election results or to gain unauthorized access to websites related to the elections”.

He added that the DITS prevented the attack and assured that all necessary measures are being taken, to secure government networks. Such incidents, he went on, are very frequent, and the Department is always alert, not just during elections, but all-year round.

Asked if the attack came from the “Anonymous” hacker group, Kyprianou said that the origin of the attack can not be identified.

Cyprus Police Spokesperson Andreas Aggelides said from his part that the Force continues to monitor the incident, in cooperation with relevant authorities and is in constant cooperation with them, in light of the second round of Presidential elections, due next Sunday, February 24.