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October 02, 2024 – Ukraine –
Within an hour after Slidstvo.Info published a high‑profile investigation detailing a luxurious apartment secretly owned by the mother‑in‑law of Vitalii Koval—Ukraine’s newly appointed Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food—the outlet’s website came under a targeted cyber‑attack. According to the platform’s security provider, the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) assault began precisely at 17:00 local time, just sixty minutes after the article’s 16:01 publication, lasting around 30 minutes. Though the website remained online, the timing strongly indicates the attack was a calculated attempt to disrupt the outlet’s reporting.
The exposé had uncovered that Koval’s 69‑year‑old mother‑in‑law, with minimal declared income, owns a 170 m² Kyiv apartment valued at UAH 17.7 million (approximately US $650,000) — a property purchase made during a period when Koval’s affiliated enterprises secured substantial governmental contracts in Rivne Oblast. The suspicious wealth and the timing of the cyber intrusion imply the hack was likely orchestrated to intimidate Slidstvo.Info and delay the dissemination of potentially embarrassing corruption allegations.
The International Press Institute (IPI) swiftly condemned the attack, underlining the importance of online security for investigative platforms and calling for accountability for such digital intimidation tactics. IPI emphasized that DDoS attacks are a form of censorship, aiming to suppress independent journalism and obstruct access to information.
This incident is part of a broader pattern of cyber‑harassment aimed at investigative media in Ukraine and beyond. Mapping Media Freedom has reported five waves of DDoS attacks against news outlets across the EU and candidate nations in early 2024, highlighting the rising prevalence of digital threats tied to politically sensitive reporting
Reference –
Ukraine: IPI condemns cyber-attack targeting Slidstvo.Info – ipi.media
