The royal family's official website recently experienced a cyberattack, which resulted in the site being down for at least an hour over the weekend. The website, Royals.uk, has since been
restored with added security measures to safeguard against future cyber threats.
The cyberattack was attributed to a Russian hacker who goes by the pseudonym KillMilk. The hacker claimed responsibility for the disruption on the Telegram message board and posted images related to the attack, including one of King Charles and a map showing the countries that lost access to the website, which included the UK.
KillMilk is associated with a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) group known as Killnet. DDoS attacks aim to make a targeted machine or network resource unavailable by overwhelming it with excessive traffic, such as incoming messages and connection requests.
Notably, this isn't the first time Killnet has targeted members of the British royal family. In November 2022, the group claimed responsibility for a short-lived takedown of Prince William's official website. Killnet posted a message suggesting that the attack was in response to alleged arms supply to Ukraine.
Following the initial cyberattack in February 2023, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the UK and met with King Charles. During their meeting, King Charles expressed his concern and support for Ukraine.
In response to the recent cyberattack, the Royal Family's official website has implemented additional security checks, including verifying user identities to ensure they are human. Despite the disruption, the website now provides access to resources such as The Royal Diary and The Court Circular, which offer information about upcoming and past royal engagements, along with photos and news items.
The motive behind this specific cyberattack has not been disclosed by the hackers. However, the Royal Family's website is now back online with enhanced security measures to protect against future threats. Photo by Kai Stachowiak, Wikimedia commons.
