Russian hackers hit Georgian websites

ATTACKS by Russian hackers against Georgian websites, including one hosted in the US, continued even as Russian president Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to hostilities against Georgia.

Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Atlanta-based web-hosting firm Tulip Systems, said the website of the president of Georgia was the target of a flood of traffic from Russia aiming to overwhelm the site.

Mr Burling said bogus traffic outnumbered legitimate traffic 5,000 to 1 at president.gov.ge.

The US-based Shadowserver Foundation, which tracks internet attacks, said they had noticed commands to attack Georgian sites being issued to networks of computers that have been surreptitiously subverted by hackers. On Monday, hackers took over the website of Georgia’s parliament and replaced it with an image that drew parallels between Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili and Hitler.