Announcement on Telegram

Cyber hackers close to Putin want to sabotage election

Hackers from Russia are currently attacking the servers of the parliamentary parties.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Martin A. Jöchl/Gorodenkoff Productions OU)

Who is "NoName057(16)" and what is he up to? In the middle of the election campaign finale, Austria's political parties and the ORF are still dealing with this question. The cyber attacker with links to Moscow is behind several, mostly failed hacker attacks, some of which lasted until Tuesday morning. An expert sounds the alarm. And a Russian hacker collective has now even officially declared its intention to manipulate Sunday's election. 

"Temporarily unavailable" and "temporarily offline" could be read on the websites of several parties on Monday. Hacker attacks were carried out on the ÖVP federal party, its Tyrolean provincial party, as the "Krone" learned, but also on the SPÖ website, that of the FPÖ and the ORF. The Ministry of Finance and the Court of Audit were also victims of attacks. Almost all attacks were repelled and party server data was protected.

Attacks just a dress rehearsal?
The so-called DDoS attacks, which are distributed denial-of-service attacks, were all carried out at around the same time (around 5 p.m.) and probably not coincidentally shortly before the National Council elections on Sunday. Were these attacks perhaps just test attacks for a much larger attack on Sunday? One expert sounds the alarm.

"Behind this is a cyber attacker with links to Moscow," says Cornelius Granig, Head of the University Institute for Security Research and Crisis Management at Sigmund Freud Private University. According to Granig, the hacker is targeting the political parties in Austria shortly before the elections. "I think this is a diversionary tactic, someone is obviously trying to cause confusion. Who knows what else will happen between now and Sunday," explains Granig.

"NoName057(16)" is the hacker's pseudonym. However, he is apparently just one of many, as the "Krone" learned from well-informed security circles. A Russian hacker collective has already claimed responsibility on Telegram and declared its intention to sabotage the National Council elections on Sunday. The Ministry of the Interior has been informed and the domestic authorities have been warned.

The ORF is also preparing for a hacking attack and is on high alert. So that on Sunday evening, when the first projection of the national election is presented, the ORF does not go offline due to a hacker attack.