DDoS Attackers Target Russian Election Webcams

Hackers have started attacking the huge network of web cameras installed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to publically monitor voting in the country’s forthcoming presidential elections.

As the first two cameras in the Siberian town of Novosibirsk in time for the first voting, Deputy Communications Minister Ilya Massukh admitted that the cameras had already been on the receiving end of DDoS attacks.

“We are launching this site ahead of time in order to understand the nature of the threats,” he told Reuters.

To date, telecom company Rostelecom had installed 54,000 cameras from an eventual network of 182,000 that will monitor voting at more than 91,000 polling stations, he told Reuters.

Having spent a reported 13 billion roubles ($387 million) installing the network in an attempt to convince the country’s mistrustful population that the elections will be conducted fairly, the network is likely to be attacked repeatedly by anti-Putin elements within the country.

The extent to which DDoS attacks have caused the camera network within the country remains unknown, but the chances of some disruption are high.

Russian’s presidential elections are due to take place on 4 March, pitting the country’s dominant political leader Vladimir Putin against four other candidates.

More often seen as the origin for much of thw world’s malware and DDoS attacks, there is growing evidence that the Russian Government and its allies have also in recent times been the focus of targeted attacks from other states.