On 14 May 2024, the website of tech news site Dev.ua was targeted in a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyber attack, according to reports by Ain.ua, which publishes on similar topics, as well as by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian press freedom group. Quoting Dev.ua editor-in-chief Stas Yurasov, Ain.ua reported that the attack came just after Dev.ua switched off its online protection programme provided by Cloudflare, justifying its decision by the fact that the company continued working in Russia after 2022, due to which Dev.ua reportedly experienced technical difficulties linked to Ukrainian legislation.
As a result of the attack, users experienced difficulties accessing the site for an unspecified period. The DDoS attack was repelled after some time, Yurasov explained, however hackers later targeted the IP address of Dev.ua’s hosting service, as a result of which discrediting content was published on the website. Full access to Dev.ua was later restored.
Yurasov said that he believed the attack could have been organized by Russia, and linked it to recent publications, in particular an interview with a high-ranking Ukrainian official who heavily criticised Telegram for its alleged links to Russia.