Meduza, an independent, Russian-language media outlet, accused the Russian authorities of carrying out an unprecedented wave of cyberattacks last month with the intent to “destroy” it.
In a March 11 statement, the Latvia-based Meduza said the attacks began around the time when Aleksei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, died in an Arctic prison while facing a long prison term.
“In February 2024, the Russian authorities launched a series of cyberattacks against Meduza more intense than any we’ve ever faced,” the outlet said in the statement.
“While we don’t have direct evidence, we believe this campaign is an attempt to completely destroy Meduza,” it said.
Meduza said Russian authorities and Kremlin-affiliated organizations are increasingly blocking its mirror servers; launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to disable its website; attempting to disrupt its crowdfunding infrastructure; and hack into its journalists’ accounts using phishing and other techniques.
The outlet said the “high-value” attacks show the Russian authorities are willing to spend vast resources to achieve their goal.
Meduza said the attacks are part of a wider campaign by the authorities to “carpet bomb” the Russian Internet, including Internet outages and interference with messaging apps.
The attack on Meduza, a leading source of Russian news, comes ahead of tightly controlled presidential elections on March 15-17. President Vladimir Putin, 71, is expected to win a fifth term as he faces no competition.
Russia last year labeled Meduza, a reader-supported outlet, "an undesirable organization" as part of its sweeping crackdown on independent media, claiming it was a “threat” to Russia’s constitutional order and security.