14 DAY TRIAL // Belgium was hit by a major cyberattack on Tuesday, according to Belgian media, affecting many of the country's most important institutions. Its source is still unknown.
The attack was a major distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that took down both internal and public-facing networks.
Hackers targeted Belnet, Belgium's government-founded Internet Service Provider that connects national government organizations such as the Parliament, ministries, educational institutions, and research centers. In addition, all the websites hosted on the .be top-level domain were affected.
It is estimated that more than 200 Belgian government agencies have been affected by the attack. Although Belnet claims the situation is currently stabilized, they remain vigilant.
Online systems for coronavirus vaccination centers were partially disrupted. Unfortunately, the country's COVID-19 vaccine reservation site, hosted on Belnet's infrastructure, was down on Tuesday morning.
According to Belgian media, and prosecutors' offices in Brussels had problems using their Internet connection. My Minfin, the government's official tax and form-filing site, is among the services affected, as are IT systems used by schools and universities for remote learning applications.
What is the purpose of these cyberattacks?
According to Oliver Bogaert, a cybersecurity expert at Belgium's Computer Crime Unit, the cyberattacks are primarily driven by a desire to make a profit or "crash the system, run ransomware,”.
He also explains that the attacks can be used to gather information, spy on businesses, and sell their data to a third-party firm that is specialized in the same sector.
According to Green MP Wouter De Vriendt, China may be behind this attack. He states that “Conclusions about the cyberattack are premature. But it is important to identify this sensitive context. Denying that is naive,”
Dirk Haex, director of Belnet Internet Service Provider, told VRT broadcaster “this is the first time that we’ve faced such a gigantic attack. It is tough to counter an attack like this.”