Finland hit by cyberattack, airspace breach

Finland was hit with cyberattacks and an airspace breach on Friday while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was speaking to the Finnish Parliament. 

The country’s Ministry of Defense tweeted earlier Friday its website was under attack and it would shutter until further notice.

A few hours later, after resolving the issue, the department clarified that the cyberattack was a denial-of-service attack, which aims to shut down a website so users are unable to access its information. 

The attack also affected the Finnish foreign ministry’s websites, according to the ministry’s Twitter.

The ministry said it was investigating the matter and got its sites working hours later.

Right before the cyberattacks, Finland announced a Russian aircraft had potentially violated the country’s airspace, Bloomberg reported.

Amid the violation of Finnish airspace and the cyberattacks, Zelensky was speaking to Finland regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“President Zelenskyy gave a historic address to the Parliament today,” the foreign ministry tweeted. “Finland firmly supports Ukraine in its efforts to defend freedom and democracy. #StandWithUkraine.”

Finland has been reconsidering its stance on NATO membership since the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, angering Moscow. 

Russia previously threatened Finland and Sweden if they attempted to join the NATO alliance. 

“Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said soon after Russia attacked Ukraine.