Russian hacker group ‘Killnet’ have claimed responsibility for the hack, which saw the website become inaccessible for around an hour & a half.
No access to the website, its systems or its content was gained, The Telegraph reports.
Anyone trying to access the website would have seen an error message instead of its usual content.
DDoS
Killnet, a pro-Kremlin group, conducted a ‘denial of service’ attack which sees websites disrupted because they are overloaded with superfluous traffic. The denial-of-service attack, or DDoS, is when an excess of traffic is directed to a website, overwhelming its server & disrupting its functioning.
The group has conducted similar attacks before against countries supporting Ukraine, particularly NATO countries.
Killnet’s leader, known as ‘Killmilk,’ posted on Telegram shortly afterwards about the cyber ‘attack.’
Security Checks
While the Royal website was online on Sunday lunchtime, it appeared to be running additional security checks on users before allowing them on the site.
Earlier on Sunday, the Royal.uk site showed an error message & would not let people access the website.
It is not known who was responsible for the attack, a source commented, adding that it was not a ‘hack’ & no access was gained to the website’s systems or content.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the attack.