Pro-Kremlin group launches 'sophisticated' cyberattack on EU Parliament

A Russian-aligned hacker group has claimed responsibility for a major cyberattack on the European Parliament on Wednesday after the body voted to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola confirmed the same day that the legislature's website was under attack from malicious digital actors.

"The [European Parliament] is under a sophisticated cyberattack. A pro-Kremlin group has claimed responsibility," Metsola posted on Twitter. "Our IT experts are pushing back against it & protecting our systems. This, after we proclaimed Russia as a State-sponsor of terrorism."

"My response: #SlavaUkraini," she continued, which translates as "Glory to Ukraine."

European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili identified pro-Russian cyber group Killnet as responsible and described the attack as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), which entails funneling outsized amounts of online traffic to specific servers to overwhelm them, according to Politico. 

"We have a strong indication that it is from Killnet, the hackers with links to Russia indeed. This is my information, but it is under control. It only cut the external access to the Parliament's website ... Unless there is extra attacks we expect it to be back and accessible very soon," Kaili said.

Russia is already under extensive sanctions from the European Union due to its invasion of Ukraine and the designation as a state sponsor of terrorism is largely symbolic, The Hill noted.

The attack comes amid renewed Russian airstrikes on Kyiv and Ukrainian infrastructure nationwide.