Slidstvo.Info website under DDoS attack after releasing an investigation into Agrarian Policy Minister

The website of investigative journalism agency "Slidstvo.Info" suffered a DDoS attack after releasing an investigation into the high-end property owned by the Minister of Agrarian Policy, Vitaliy Koval, the agency reported on September 24.

As the team notes, the website was attacked after the September 23 release of the investigation into the property of the Agrarian Policy Minister Vitaliy Koval "Minister lives in his mother-in-law's UAH 17.7 million apartment. The woman does not seem to have the official income to purchase it."

The Minsiter of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval. Photo edit by Slidstvo.Info

The website security company contracted by "Slidstvo.Info" reports that the attack began at 5:00 p.m. on September 23 (the investigation about Vitaliy Koval was released at 4:01 p.m.) and lasted for about half an hour. The agency's website continued to operate during the attack.

"Although the DDoS attack was not targeting any specific article on the website, it is hardly a coincidence that it started an hour after the release of the article about the Minister of Agriculture Industry and Food. Now, such attacks against investigative media shortly after incriminating publications in themselves testify to their purpose," said the Qurium Managing Director, Ester Eriksson. They continue to analyze the data that were recorded during the attack on the website.

Anna Babinets, head of Slidstvo.info, said on Facebook that the attack was directly linked to the investigation into Vitaliy Koval.

"The company that takes care of our website's security (it is, of course, not in Ukraine) believes this DDoS attack is directly connected with the release of our about Vitaliy Koval. The attack lasted half an hour, but our website sustained it. Now we are collecting all the data to understand who did it and why, and we will publish our findings later," wrote Anna Babinets.

In her comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative, she said that the team is convinced that the attack was triggered by this investigation, since the media outlet does not often post materials on their website and the attack began an hour after the release.

Also, according to Anna Babinets, there were attempts to block the video – it has been flagged multiple times.

In their investigation, the journalists discovered that the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, lives in a 170 square meter apartment in a premium residential complex in Kyiv. This apartment belongs to his 69-year-old mother-in-law, who does not seem to have had any official income to purchase it.

Earlier, Rivne media received letters from "Limeo Agency", which claimed to be a marketing agency, with an offer to publish the Slidstvo.Info investigation into the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, for money. The head of Slidstvo.info, Anna Babinets, believes that such letters are intended to frame the agency's investigation as commissioned