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More web attacks on Finnish media outlets

The website of the newspaper Iltalehti was the target of a denial of service attack on Wednesday, following attacks on several websites owned by the Sanoma media group the previous day. Communications authorities have undertaken measures to identify the source of the attacks.

Grafiikkaa.
Image: Yle

"It looks like the attacks over the past couple of days have been targeted only at Finnish internet services. So, whoever is behind these attacks wants some kind of visibility here in Finland," says Kauto Huopio, a senior data security expert at the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority.

According to Huopio denial of services attacks are generally only carried out to gain attention. Speaking with Yle, he declined to speculate if the Tuesday attacks against the Sanoma media sites and the Wednesday attack against the Iltalehti site came from the same quarter.

"The targets have been major Finnish media, so everyone can draw his own conclusions," Huopio noted.

According to Kauto Huopio, there are a number of ways to identify the source of the attacks, but this requires cooperation among different network operators and internet service providers.

"Often the tracks lead abroad, so international cooperation is needed to trace the origin. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it's tough."

Sources: Yle