The International Press Institute (IPI) battling targeted cyberattacks

The attacks against the International Press Institute (IPI), a partner of OBCT in the MFRR programme, were denounced in a statement released days after the digital aggression began. It consisted in a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that initially took the IPI website offline. Despite restored and scaled up security measures, the attackers continue in their efforts to breach the Institute's security.

The cyberattack began just days after a report was released by the Vienna-based organisation. The press release highlighted a recent wave of DDoS attacks that have downed the websites of dozens of independent media outlets in Hungary over the past months.

"These DDoS attacks are a new form of digital censorship that is further threatening Hungary’s already besieged independent media. We call on Hungarian law enforcement to identify and hold those responsible to account, and urge greater attention from the European Union" the IPI declared. The institute filed a report with the cybercrimes unit of the Austrian police.

OBC Transeuropa stands in solidarity with the International Press Institute against all threats against legitimate and valuable work supporting journalism everywhere.

This content is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response  (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The project is co-funded by the European Commission.