Russia's KillNet group claims major DDoS attack on the Royal Family's website

The British Royal Family’s website suffered a significant cyber attack that resulted in the website being unavailable for hours.

According to Sky News, the royal website suffered a denial of service attack (DDoS) that flooded the website with excess traffic over the weekend. This resulted in overwhelming its hosting server and disrupting its functions.

A royal source told the media that the attack started on Sunday morning and lasted over an hour. While the website was up and running by noon, the Royal Family’s IT staff added an extra layer of security before allowing users to visit the website.

“Checking if the site connection is secure. www.royal.uk needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding,” reads the website’s display before redirecting visitors to the main content.

The royal source added that the identity of the hacker is unknown and that the hacker group did not exfiltrate any data from the website.

The infamous pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet has claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack on the British royal family’s website. In a post on its Telegram channel, the group said the “royal official site” was not working. “Perhaps this is due to the supply of high-precision missiles to Ukraine.”

“Also today all medical institutions, government services and online services stop working,” the group added.

The Killnet hacktivist group has been targeting nations that have sided with Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war. Last year, it targeted several government websites in Lithuania including the State Tax Inspectorate (STI), e-government services, and B1.lt, one of the country’s largest accounting service providers.

It also claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on U.S. aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corporation. According to The Moscow Times, Killnet targeted Lockheed Martin on the 1st of August last year and launched a debilitating DDoS attack on the American military aviation giant. The group said that it targeted the defence industry giant because the company provided the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System to Ukrainian armed forces.

“From now on, Lockheed Martin Defense Corporation will be subject to cyber attacks. The production management system of industrial complexes will be paralyzed! All data of employees of this terrorist company will be published in public access,” Killnet said in a statement shared with the media.