RuTube, Russia’s version of YouTube, was knocked offline for a second day on Tuesday by a cyberattack tied to this week’s commemorations of World War II triumph over Nazi Germany.
Usually filled with video content, RuTube’s site is presently pitch black, with a brief note perusing: “Attention! The site is undergoing technical work. The site was attacked. At the moment the situation is under control. User data has been saved.”
The assault began on Monday, a big national festival in Russia commemorating the Soviet victory over Adolf Hitler, and President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech comparing that conflict to the current conflict in Ukraine.
“Someone really wanted to prevent RuTube from showing the Victory Day parade and celebratory fireworks,” RuTube stated. “It is not a sin to remember the battles our guys won. The battle for RuTube continues.”
The cyber attack was considered one of the worst in the site’s history.
According to screenshots obtained by Reuters, Russian satellite television menus were hacked on Monday to show viewers in Moscow statements concerning events in Ukraine, including “You have blood on your hands.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the websites of state-owned corporations and news organizations have been subjected to intermittent hacking attempts, typically to display information that contradicts Moscow’s official line on what it terms a “special military operation.”
RuTube stated a huge crew was working to restore service and rejected rumors that the website’s source code had been lost.
The lengthy outage helps to explain why Russia has not yet stopped Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube, despite frequently fining and warning the US service for removing some state-backed Russian channels and failing to erase information deemed unlawful by Moscow.
In early March, Russia limited access to Twitter (TWTR.N) and Meta Platform’s (FB.O) Facebook and Instagram.
Critics have earlier told Reuters that, although increasing weekly user numbers in early March as other international social media platforms were forced out of the Russian market, RuTube does have a long road ahead to compete with Google’s video product.
RUTUBE is a Russian video-sharing website. It has a library of licensed movies and TV shows, cartoons, shows, and live broadcasts. It also provides a platform for blogs, podcasts, game broadcasts, and educational information.
RUTUBE is available on the web, iOS, Android, and Smart TV. Its greatest attendance of 14.5 million viewers in 2011 will drop to 3 million in 2021.
