Report: Putin spox: Moscow to abstain from cyberattack accusations

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (PRIME) -- Russia takes all necessary measures to ensure cybersecurity of critically important systems, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told radio station Kommersant FM on Monday.

President Vladimir Putin’s Web site is attacked by hackers every day. “There are days when we see thousands of efforts to break into the Web site and gain control over it. When our authorities in charge try to track these attacks, the path goes to European countries, the U.S., Canada, China and India,” Peskov said.

Moscow will not, however, accuse other countries of cyberattacks.

“Wouldn’t you agree that it is unreasonable and even ridiculous to step forward with accusations of official capitals…The presidential Web site faced attacks several times last year, which could not have been done by individual hackers or even groups of them because of their intensity and mass character. These were DDoS-attacks, not coming from individuals, but we did not voice any groundless statements here,” he said.

Attacks on the country’s information systems, resources, mass media and banks have been registered for a long time, the presidential spokesman said.

“There are periods of high intensity and lower intensity. It’s an old story,” Peskov said.

Mass media earlier reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump intends to make a final decision after the upcoming inauguration and consultations with experts on steps against Moscow, which is accused by Washington of cyberattacks on its resources.

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