DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#1

Post by ptaipale » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 6:59 PM UTC

The recent dramatic policy shift in Russia has brought out two Citizens' Initiatives in the Finnish government's net portal. Both are about NATO membership in the country which is traditionally militarily non-aligned.

First initiative (open Feb 21) proposes a NATO membership referendum, the other (open Feb 28) proposes that parliament should go ahead to membership procedures without referendum, because of expected Russian harrasment and influence on the referendum procedures.

The government portal for initiatives has been very slow today. The authentication to sign any of the initiatives is done either by a person ID smartcard, or bank-based identification. Most people use the bank authentication (in most cases 2FA using mobile phone) because they don't bother with smart card readers.

The first of the initiatives has already passed the threshold (50 000) which automatically brings it to the table in Parliament. The other initiative has collected 35 000 signatures in 30 hours, meaning it will also pass the threshold tomorrow, despite many people not being able to sign it due to bank connections failing under DDoS.

YLE (state broadcaster) news about the attack: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12338542

Initiative 1 (referendum): https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/9866 Initiative 2 (parliament direct decision): https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/9997

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#2

Post by hutrdvnj » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

I mean it's kinda obvious that the DDoS is ordered by russians, but can we prove it?

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#3

Post by kichik » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:17 PM UTC

Any indication to suggest it's DDoS and not just too many legitimate visitors for the site to handle?

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#4

Post by wongarsu » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:24 PM UTC

hutrdvnj wrote: post #2

I mean it's kinda obvious that the DDoS is ordered by russians, but can we prove it?

Even if it's from within Russia it doesn't tell you if it's ordered by the government. Not every Anonymous hack is orchestrated by the US government, the same can happen inside Russia.

Unless someone screws up we will probably never know for certain.

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#5

Post by robotnikman » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:25 PM UTC

wongarsu wrote: post #4

hutrdvnj wrote: post #2

I mean it's kinda obvious that the DDoS is ordered by russians, but can we prove it?

Even if it's from within Russia it doesn't tell you if it's ordered by the government. Not every Anonymous hack is orchestrated by the US government, the same can happen inside Russia. Unless someone screws up we will probably never know for certain.

The Russian government pretty much turns a blind eye to their hackers as long as they don't target Russia

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#6

Post by container » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:26 PM UTC

In case anyone is wondering, the (only) article linked in this post only talks about the bank Nordea (which some users might use to verify their identity on the initiative site)

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#7

Post by zeruch » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:27 PM UTC

kichik wrote: post #3

Any indication to suggest it's DDoS and not just too many legitimate visitors for the site to handle?

This is a very valid question. While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against.

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#8

Post by tablespoon » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:35 PM UTC

zeruch wrote: post #7

kichik wrote: post #3

Any indication to suggest it's DDoS and not just too many legitimate visitors for the site to handle?

This is a very valid question. While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against.

> While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against.

I'm not so sure. It seems Putin really doesn't like NATO, and especially doesn't want Russia's neighbors belonging to it.

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#9

Post by zokier » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:39 PM UTC

Just to be absolutely clear, that YLE news article that OP linked does not mention the Citizens Initiatives platform at all. It reports only an attack against one bank (banks are popular authentication providers in Finland). There are total of 10 different banks providing authentication for the Citizens Initiatives platform, and additionally two non-banking based authentication options.

Re: DDoS attacks slow down Citizens' Initiative signing in Finland

#10

Post by zeruch » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 8:42 PM UTC

tablespoon wrote: post #8

zeruch wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very valid question. While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against.

> While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against. I'm not so sure. It seems Putin really doesn't like NATO, and especially doesn't want Russia's neighbors belonging to it.

I agree on that point, and it's history with Finland is quite...terse. It's been a duchy inside Czarist Russia, a buffer zone between it and Sweden (when both were kingdoms), it's had civil unrest fomented by the USSR, etc.

It's a relationship fraught with bad blood, but strategically it's second tier compared with CIS states, the Middle East, or the Baltic states.

At this stage I'm more curious as to whether (if Russia was actually DDoSing instead of just a poorly configured webhead with extra traffic due to 'timeliness' of the initiative) it makes sense to draw more negative attention to oneself, as Putin has, by doubling down on taking jabs at everyone he shares a border with...and if he's starting to see that himself, or if he's only observing through a very paranoid, myopic lens that he simply can't get out of his own policy rut long enough to not totally collapse the Russian state, and him with it.