A Massive Cyberattack in Georgia

Unknown hackers carried out the biggest cyberattack in the history of Georgia.

On October 28, intruders defaced over 15,000 websites hosted on a local Pro-Service provider, including the site of the Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, mayoral offices, the courts and private companies such as newspapers.

Defacement is a form of vandalism in which a website is marked by hackers who are trying to make their mark. Usually, website defacement is used to mask a bigger crime being committed behind the scenes.

The defaced sites had their home pages replaced with images of former President **Mikheil Saakashvili **and a banner stating "I'll be back".

For those who didn't know, Mikheil Saakashvili is a Ukrainian and Georgian politician and the third President of Georgia. He managed to complete two consecutive terms as a president. Saakashvili is wanted by the new government of Georgia because he is accused of multiple criminal charges, which are “politically motivated” to him. Saakashvili was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship back in 2017 by Petro Poroshenko. It made him a stateless person.

Georgian security forces instituted the criminal proceedings concerning the hack of the official President's site.

Still, nobody knows who could commit such a large cyberattack. And the main question remains "What for?" Alan Woodward thinks that Russian security services could have taken part in organizing those attacks. Russia denied all the allegations but stated that "individuals in Russia" might have been responsible.