Maastricht Aachen Airport and OV-NL are not the only parties besieged by pro-Russian hackers this week. The port companies in Groningen, the municipality of Vlaardingen and Chamber of Commerce were also targets of DDoS attacks. Meanwhile, the websites of these parties are working properly again. This is according to research by VPNGids.nl.
In recent days, several Dutch companies and organizations have been the target of a DDoS attack. This involves servers or company networks being partially or completely shut down because they are bombarded with connection requests and data requests. At some point, the systems can no longer handle this pressure, causing a site to work very slowly or not at all.
Maastricht Aachen Airport and OV-NL, the association of public transport companies in the Netherlands, confirmed that they were attacked by pro-Russian hackers this week. As a result, their websites were inaccessible for some time. The DDoS attack had "no operational value," a spokesperson for OV-NL said.
The Limburg airport's site has been back up for some time. OV-NL says it is doing everything possible to make the site accessible again. IT workers have not succeeded so far.
The DDoS attack on Maastricht Aachen Airport and OV-NL was claimed by the Russian hacker group NoName057(16). Because of Dutch support for Ukraine -in particular the decision to supply minesweepers and naval vessels to the Eastern European country- they sought retaliation.
Members of this group attacked not only the airport and the umbrella association for public transport in the Netherlands this week. The Chamber of Commerce (KvK) was also targeted by the Russian hacktivists. "Currently KvK is facing a DDoS attack. KVK is taking measures for this. Because of this you may experience inconvenience on our website and with our services. We are also currently unable to help you by phone. Please try to reach us again later via the website. Apologies for the inconvenience," writes the KvK on its website.
The municipality of Vlaardingen also suffered. In a brief press statement, the South Holland municipality writes that its website was inaccessible Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning due to a DDoS attack. "There appear to be no further consequences of the attack. The hackers did not penetrate our systems and they did not gain access to confidential information," the municipality said.
FalconFeedsio, someone who keeps a close eye on cyberattacks, posted a message on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the SNS Bank and Groningen port companies have also been stormed by the Russian hacker group. From the Eemshaven/Delfzijl, we know that the website was down on Wednesday. It is now operational again. We have not been able to verify that with the SNS Bank.
The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) reported earlier this week that several Dutch organizations had been targeted by DDoS attacks, without naming them. "The impact of DDoS attacks is often limited and symbolic. Groups behind DDoS attacks use strong rhetoric to draw attention to their executed digital attack and political goal. They often spread this through social media," the NCSC said.
