August 11th, 2008
Georgia turns to Google's Blogger amid Russia onslaught
What do you do when your country is under attack by Russia and your government’s Web sites pummeled by an alleged cyber attack? If you’re Georgia you turn to Google, specifically Blogger.
To get its message out, the government of Georgia is posting updates to Blogger and the mainstream media is using the blog for information. As most of you know, Russia and Georgia are in a war. If you go to the Georgia’s government site you get:
Google has no such problems and the government of Georgia is doing what it can to get its message out–in English to the West, which could in theory help the country. The latest is that Georgia’s troops have retreated to defend the capital.
A spokesperson for Georgia’s government told ZDNet UK that it couldn’t confirm that Russia was responsible for the attack, but asked “Who else might it be though?”
ZDNet UK: Georgia accuses Russia of co-ordinated cyberattack
Here’s Georgia’s statement on the cyber attacks, which Dancho Danchev has analyzed.
Cyber Warfare Attacks by Russia Disable Georgian Websites; Government of Georgia Established Alternative Websites
A cyber warfare campaign by Russia is seriously disrupting many Georgian websites, including that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you cannot access official Georgian government websites, please go to the following sites for the latest official Government of Georgia news.
* http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/ (this site)
* The website of the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński: www.president.pl (go to the link: “information about the latest developments in Georgia.”)
The bottom line is that warfare will increasingly have a cyber attack riding shotgun. When these attacks happen a country can be reduced to a blog pretty quickly.
Here’s some video via CBS News:
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Smart Planet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 08/11/08
