BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/04/2008

US-funded radio says it faces cyber attack in Belarus, other countries

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Internet Web sites of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in more than half a dozen countries have been attacked, the broadcaster said Monday.

The radio network said in a statement that the cyber warfare began Saturday and is still continuing. It said the attackers have been using a denial-of-service attack that floods the computer servers with fake traffic so that legitimate visitors cannot get through.

The attack is aimed mainly on the Web site of the radio's Belarus service, but Internet sites in Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia have also been affected, it said.

The broadcaster said it was taking measures to restore service at the Web sites.

Jeffrey Gedmin, the network's president, compared the attack to the situation during the Cold War when broadcasting to communist countries was jammed.

"Dictators are still trying to prevent the kind of unfiltered news and information that RFE/RL provides from reaching their people," Gedmin said. "They did not succeed in the last century and they will not succeed now.

The head of the radio's Belarusian service, Alexander Lukashuk, said the attack began on the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in neighboring Ukraine. He said a similar attack took place the same day one year ago but lasted only for hours and did not hit services in other languages.

"We have a large Internet audience (in Belarus) that was relying on us to report live a rally of thousands of people protesting the plight of uncompensated Chernobyl victims and a government decision to build a new nuclear power station," he said.

The broadcaster suggested the government of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko could be behind the attack.

"It's very hard to be certain in these cases but because the target was the Belarus service it does look like it's coming from the Belarus government," said Diane Zeleny, spokeswoman for the broadcaster.

"For our listeners in Belarus, it's quite dramatic," Zeleny said. "They cannot reach us right now. This is a pretty massive attack.

"There was no immediate response from the Belarusian government.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, nonprofit corporation that receives funding from the U.S. government. It was established in 1949 to spread pro-Western news and promote democratic values and institutions in countries behind the Iron Curtain.

The station moved its headquarters to Prague from Munich, Germany, in 1995, after the collapse of communism.

It broadcasts in 28 languages to 21 countries, including Iran and Iraq since 1998, and Afghanistan since 2002.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/us-funded-radio-says-it-faces-cyber-r561004.htm

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