Hacktivists on the Ukrainian side have targeted a portal that is critical for the delivery of alcoholic drinks in Russia with DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. These types of cyberattacks are coordinated efforts to overload servers with junk traffic and fake requests, preventing them from serving real visitors.
According to various Russian media agencies, several vodka makers and distributors allege they are unable to access the EGAIS (ЕГАИС) site as required by government laws. As a result, the transportation and distribution of alcoholic drinks to retail outlets have deteriorated significantly in recent days, heightening the likelihood of actual shelf shortages.
Vedomosti learned from a field worker that “Due to a large-scale failure, factories cannot accept tanks with alcohol, and customers, stores, and distributors, can not receive finished products that have already been delivered to them.”
Recently, many manufacturers opted to entirely suspend shipments to warehouses and, as a result, reduce their production rate, owing to an overabundance of items that have yet to be delivered. The EGAIS portal is still unavailable at the time of writing, so it can be presumed that the DDoS attack is still happening.
The related websites have been identified as targets on Ukraine’s IT Army Telegram channel, indicating they are likely behind these cyberattacks. The Telegram postings are intended to aid in the coordination of DDoS attacks that are performed by lone actors using tools like the Liberator.
Ukraine’s IT Army is a unique form of cyber force that brings together volunteers from all over the world with the purpose of executing retaliation cyberattacks against important Russian targets. Ukraine’s government declared the establishment of this otherwise unlawful task force in February 2022, and it has been engaged on the cyber front line since that day.
This isn’t the first time an assault has been launched against Russia’s domestic goods supply lines to cause disruption and maybe even shortages. Miratorg, a Moscow-based meat manufacturer and distributor, revealed in March that its IT systems had been encrypted in an attempt to destroy its operations. Another governmental information system, VetIS, which is employed by veterinary enterprises, was the breach’s site.
