Russia election hit by 1,000 DDoS waves, official says

Russia's electoral chief said more than 1,000 waves of distributed denial-of-service attacks had targeted infrastructure used in the country's election process in recent days, as voting continued in a three-day parliamentary election.

Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia's Central Election Commission, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the attacks were recorded against infrastructure “specifically involved in the electoral process”. She did not say who was responsible.

Pamfilova said the attacks appeared to have been carried out by “highly professional, well-coordinated groups using artificial intelligence tools”. DDoS attacks overwhelm a system with internet traffic so that it cannot function normally.

Voting is under way to fill all 450 seats in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. The ruling United Russia party, which backs President Vladimir Putin and has won every Russian parliamentary election since 2003, is widely expected to win again.

The election is Russia's first parliamentary vote since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Parties cleared to run support Putin and the Ukraine offensive, while Russia's Supreme Court struck the anti-war Yabloko party off the ballot weeks before the vote.

Moscow has also organised voting in occupied parts of Ukraine. The European Union has criticised the elections, saying repression had denied voters a genuine choice. Russia's exiled opposition has urged anti-Kremlin voters not to boycott the election but to vote against United Russia.