On April 8, Finnish websites suffered a series of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks carried out by the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16), according to Finnish broadcaster Yle.
Matias Messia, an expert from the Finnish National Cyber Security Centre, reported that nearly all of Finland’s parliamentary parties, along with several organizations and election-related websites such as vaalit.fi and äänestyspaikat.fi, were targeted in the attacks.
Messia noted that the attacks began the day before and that it's unusual for political party websites to be targeted. He believes the motivation behind the operation is tied to Finland’s upcoming regional and municipal elections.
NoName057(16) claimed responsibility and stated that the attacks were in response to Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s recent proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine starting April 20.
“We urge the Russophobic Finnish authorities to calm their fervor — we took down several websites to convince them,” the group posted on the social media platform X.
Messia also pointed out that similar cyberattacks occurred when Finland was actively discussing NATO accession.
