Estonian government, business Web sites under attack

TALLINN, Estonia — Estonia, one of the most wired societies in Europe, has been subjected in recent weeks to massive and coordinated cyber attacks on Web sites of the government, banks, telecommunications companies, Internet service providers (ISPs) and news organizations, according to Estonian and foreign officials here.

Computer security specialists here call it an unprecedented assault on the public and private electronic infrastructure of a state. They say it is originating in Russia, which is angry over Estonia's recent relocation of a Soviet war memorial. Russian officials deny any government involvement.

The NATO alliance and the European Union have rushed information technology specialists to Estonia to observe and assist during the attacks, which have disrupted government e-mail and led financial institutions to shut down online banking.

The Estonian government stops short of accusing the Russian government of orchestrating the assaults, but alleges that authorities in Moscow have shown no interest in helping to end them or investigating evidence that Russian state employees have taken part. One Estonian citizen has been arrested, and officials here say they also have identified Russians involved in the attacks.

Estonian officials said they traced some attackers to Internet protocol (IP) addresses that belong to the Russian presidential administration and other state agencies in Russia.

Russian officials deny that claim. The economic success of the tiny former Soviet republic is built largely on its status as an "e-society," with paperless government and electronic voting. Many common transactions, including the signing of legal documents, can be done via the Internet with digital signatures.

The attacks began on April 27, a Friday, within hours of the war memorial's relocation. On Russian-language Internet forums, Estonian officials say, instructions were posted on how to disable government Web sites by overwhelming them with traffic.

The Web sites of the Estonian president, the prime minister, Parliament and government ministries were quickly swamped with traffic, shutting them down. The Estonian government began blocking Internet traffic from Russia on April 30, but experts noticed government Web sites and new targets, including media Web sites, under attack from electronic cudgels known as botnets. Bots are computers that can be remotely commanded to participate in an attack.

Roughly 1 million unwitting computers worldwide were employed, said Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonia's minister of defense. Officials said they traced bots to the United States, China, Vietnam, Egypt and Peru. By May 1, Estonian Internet service providers were forced to disconnect all customers for 20 seconds to reboot their networks.