Websites of Dutch organizations have been the target of DDoS attacks this week. These attacks have been claimed by the hacktivist group NoName057(16).
Since the war in Ukraine, we have seen an upsurge in hacktivist groups carrying out DDoS attacks. The NCSC has been tracking the rise of these groups for quite some time. [i] Since 2023, Dutch organizations and companies have also been targeted. [ii]
About DDoS attacks
With a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, websites, or other systems of online services, are attacked. This attack occurs because a large amount of requests are sent to the website or online service by the attacker. As a result, the website becomes temporarily inaccessible.
Limited impact
The impact of DDoS attacks is often limited and symbolic. Groups behind DDoS attacks use strong rhetoric to call attention to their executed digital attack and political goal. They often spread this through social media.
The observed DDoS attacks can last from a few minutes to hours and, in exceptional cases, days. As a result, the websites or other online services of affected organizations and businesses are temporarily unavailable or reduced.
A DDoS attack prevents the attacker from accessing confidential information. Also, in many cases, an organization's business operations are limited or not dependent on a Web site. Therefore, in many cases, the impact of a DDoS attack remains limited.
The NCSC continues to monitor the situation
The NCSC is in contact with its national and international cooperation partners, monitoring the situation and keeping an eye on the activities of hacktivist groups such as NoName057(16). The NCSC has also released several knowledge products that can help mitigate DDoS attacks.
