President Putin’s economic forum speech delayed due to DDoS attack

The Russian Economic Forum was taking place in St. Petersburg when its proceedings were stalled due to a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) attack.

A DDoS attack disrupted the proceedings at the 25th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, regarded as the Russian answer to the Davos World Economic Forum.

The incident occurred on June 17. As a result, the speech of Russian premier Vladimir Putin got delayed for around 100 minutes at the country’s flagship forum. Putin had to start his speech more than an hour after its scheduled start time.

Another aspect worth noting was the absence of Western businesses and stakeholders at the forum, which is due to the recent wave of sanctions against Russia after the country invaded Ukraine. However, At the forum, state companies signed deals, and many companies displayed floor-to-ceiling display screens.

The Russian government’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the cyberattack, explaining that the accreditation and admissions systems were cut off after the attack.

However, Peskov didn’t specify any particular entity or individual responsible for the attack. The forum continually suffered from internet connectivity issues and low speed even during the premier’s speech.

Following massive cyber attacks on Russia's government websites and businesses believed to be supporting the Kremlin, Anonymous targeted Russia's military force itself with the drone hack.