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Swiss government hit by cyberattack ahead of Ukraine peace summit

The Swiss government said Thursday that its websites had been hit by a wave of cyberattacks ahead of Switzerland hosting this weekend's summit on peace in Ukraine.

Published: 13 June 2024 12:09 CEST

A protester displays a giant Ukrainian flag during a pro-Ukraine demonstration in Berlin.

Russia is trying to sabotage the Ukrainian peace summit. Photo: John MACDOUGALL/AFP.

Switzerland government websites were hit Thursday by the first of an expected wave of cyberattacks ahead of a weekend summit on peace in Ukraine hosted by Bern.

The National Cyber Security Centre said the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which make websites or network resources unavailable by flooding them with malicious traffic, resulted in minor outages.

“A first DDoS attack on various federal government websites and organisations involved in the summit on peace in Ukraine began this morning,” the NCSC said.

“The attacks were expected and are presumed to be in connection with the summit. They resulted in minor outages… The operation of the affected units was not significantly affected.”

The NCSC said it would issue regular updates.

“The DDoS attacks are intended to impact the availability of websites. The security of data and systems was never at risk. Hacktivists use such cyberattacks to launch disruptive manoeuvres in cyberspace to spread political messages and attract attention,” it said.

“The attacks are within the expected range and there is currently no acute danger.”

On Saturday and Sunday, Switzerland will host the first Summit on Peace in Ukraine, at the luxury Burgenstock resort outside Lucerne.

The Swiss government says dozens of countries have confirmed their participation.

The summit will try to come up with a roadmap for involving both Ukraine and Russia in a future peace process.
Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow said it was not interested in attending the conference and therefore was not invited.

According to a study by Dreamlab Technologies, which uses specially created Swiss servers to measure how many cyberattacks are taking place at any given time, the number of Russian attacks has risen significantly.

Normally, a few hundred occur per month. In April, however, their number rose to 1,600, and in May to 4,600.

READ ALSO: Swiss summit on Ukraine set to thrash out path to peace

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Swiss pull out the stops for Ukraine summit security

With dozens of heads of state and government flying in for the gathering at the swanky Burgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, up to 4,000 troops are being deployed and a ring of steel has been put in place.

Around 6.5 kilometres of fencing and eight kilometres of barbed wire is going up, while the valley behind the exclusive hotel complex has been turned into a temporary military heliport.

“An event on this scale requires comprehensive protective measures,” Swiss President Viola Amherd said ahead of the summit.

High on a mountain ridge, surrounded by water on three sides, the Burgenstock is relatively straightforward to seal off.

More than 400 local residents with homes and farms beyond the checkpoint need a special pass to access the “red zone”.

Despite the event’s international importance, security responsibility falls to the tiny rural canton of Nidwalden.

The fifth-smallest of Switzerland’s 26 cantons in terms of both size and population, Nidwalden has just 45,000 residents.

Mud and helicopters

The military will protect infrastructure, provide air transport and reconnaissance, conduct surveillance and interventions on the lake, and offer logistics and command support.

Soldiers have for days been taking position on the winding turns on the road up to the Burgenstock.
Overlooked by cattle with their cowbells clanging, the heliport was built with metal trackway on a squelching field.

Big enough to accommodate five helicopters, it is surrounded by a double layer of steel fencing and barbed wire.

“The army has the ability to set up a temporary take-off and landing zone anywhere in the country,” said Major General Daniel Keller, commander of the Swiss army’s Territorial Division 2, which encompasses Nidwalden.

“The foreign ministry decides which people fly from here and to here. The army provides the infrastructure,” he told reporters this week.

He said the armed forces were accustomed to maintaining air sovereignty.

“Federal law clearly alludes to the possibility of shooting down an aircraft,” he said, while remaining tight-lipped on potential threats such as drones.

“I am tense but I’m confident we can master this.”

The Swiss intelligence services will also work to identify and prevent threats.

Mindful of potential nuclear, biological and chemical threats, specialists will intensify the monitoring of radioactive emission levels in the area, authorities said.

Cyberattacks, ‘extreme’ misinformation

Besides potential physical threats, Switzerland is also dealing with attacks in cyberspace and a deluge of misinformation surrounding the event.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, is not attending the summit.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said there was “an obvious interest in disturbing the smooth running of the conference”.

He said there had been an increase in misinformation, including “hysterical broadcasts or offensive broadcasts, even as far as fake news”.

Amherd said the misinformation was “so extreme it’s clear that very little of this information is in line with reality”.

A first wave of distributed denial-of-service attacks on government websites and organisations involved in the summit began on Thursday.

DDoS attacks make websites or network resources unavailable by flooding them with malicious traffic.

“The attacks were expected and are presumed to be in connection with the summit. They resulted in minor outages,” said the National Cyber Security Centre.

It has set up an emergency centre for technical analyses and a communications platform for reporting “cyber-threat developments” during the summit.

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