Cyxymu

Cyxymu is a screen name of a Georgian blogger who was targeted in a co-ordinated series of attacks on social networking sites Facebook, Google Blogger, LiveJournal and Twitter, taking the latter offline for two hours on August 7, 2009.[1] The name mimics a Cyrillic spelling of Sukhumi (Сухуми), capital town in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. The blogger, who extensively covers the suffering of Georgian civilians during and after the War in Abkhazia, accuses Russia of trying to silence him using cyberattacks. Facebook came out in defense of Cyxymu, with chief security officer Max Kelly stating that “It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard."[2][3]

Before the 2009 attack

Cyxymu's Russian-language LiveJournal blog was a source of information from Georgia for the news media during the 2007 state of emergency[4] and 2008 Russo-Georgian War.[5]

Cyxymu's LJ blog had previously been targeted by denial-of-service attacks in October 2008, rendering the LiveJournal servers unavailable three times during October 26–27.[6] The attack on Cyxymu is internationally seen as part of an ongoing cyberwar between Russia and Georgia.[7]

References
  1. Mills, Elinor (August 6, 2009). "Twitter, Facebook attack targeted one user". CNET News. San Francisco, California, USA. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  2. Parfitt, Tom (August 7, 2009). "Georgian blogger Cyxymu blames Russia for cyber attack". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  3. "Web attack 'aimed at one blogger'". BBC Online. London, United Kingdom. August 7, 2009. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  4. В условиях информационной блокады источником новостей из Грузии стали блоггеры. NEWSru.com, November 8, 2007.
  5. Kim Hart. Longtime Battle Lines Are Recast In Russia and Georgia's Cyberwar Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post, August 14, 2008.
  6. Противники сухумского блогера обвалили ЖЖ. Lenta.Ru, October 27, 2008.
  7. Patalong F, Stöcker C (August 7, 2009). "Hacker fegen georgische Regierungsseiten aus dem Netz" (in German). spiegel.de

See Also

Cyberattacks during the Russo-Georgian War (cyberattacks that occurred intended the Georgian side and Georgian factions)

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