Moldova's digital public services stay offline on Monday after fresh cyberattack attempt

Several digital public services in the Republic of Moldova remain unavailable on Monday, 26 October, after authorities detected a new attempted cyberattack on government systems, Radio Moldova reported.

A new attempt at forced access was identified and blocked overnight from Saturday to Sunday, at around 02:00, according to the E-Governance Agency (AGE), the Cybersecurity Agency (ASC) and the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Service (STISC). Some platforms remain offline as a precautionary measure while infrastructure is verified, and authorities have not announced when full functionality will be restored.

Government spokesperson Dumitru Ciorici said the incident from previous days had entered a new phase, with around 15 state cybersecurity specialists continuously monitoring the situation and blocking attacks.

Citizens and entrepreneurs are unable to request a range of documents online, including urban planning certificates, phytosanitary certificates for export and re-export, sanitary-veterinary authorisations for transport vehicles and trade-related notifications, as well as medicine import authorisations, food safety registrations, biocidal product registrations and accreditation certificates.

The disruption follows a large-scale attack on the night of 22 October, when around 11 million access requests were recorded, which authorities said aimed at illegally obtaining citizens’ personal data, Moldpres reported. Authorities have not said whether the attackers obtained any data or who was behind the attacks, and have warned the public against fraud attempts by callers posing as officials and citing personal details such as national identification numbers.

Sources: https://radiomoldova.md/p/88143 | https://moldova1.md/p/88566 | https://www.moldpres.md/eng/society/cyberattack-on-digital-public-services-authorities-block-about-11-million-access-requests