The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has issued a strong warning regarding a series of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting British organizations. This phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by authorities, who are reporting persistent and growing activity by groups linked to Russia.
These attacks, often called “basic” due to their technical simplicity, consist of saturating a site with unwanted traffic, making it unreachable for legitimate users. While they don’t require sophisticated intrusion techniques, they can cause significant damage in terms of time and resources required to restore services.
While many forms of cybercrime are aimed at financial gain, the campaigns described by the NCSC do not appear to be profit-driven. Rather, these attacks are driven by a strong ideological motivation linked to the perception of Western support for Ukraine. The perpetrators often operate outside of a state’s direct control, but with a clear political orientation.
The UK cybersecurity centre highlights that the main targets include local authorities and critical infrastructure operators, sectors that, if taken offline, could have widespread impacts on the population.
A typical DDoS attack causes a website or service to collapse due to heavy requests. This not only hinders access but forces the affected organizations to analyze, mitigate, and restore systems and resources, a time-consuming and costly process.
Recent warnings published in late 2025 indicate that groups such as Cyber Army of Russia Reborn (CARR), Z-Pentest, NoName057(16), and Sector16 are exploiting vulnerable devices to target infrastructure in the water, energy, and food sectors.
The NCSC is encouraging organizations most at risk to strengthen their defenses and improve their resilience against these attacks. Affected organizations must be prepared not only to prevent but also to respond quickly if they find themselves targeted by a DDoS campaign.
One of the key measures suggested is identifying the most vulnerable network points and working with service providers to mitigate attacks before they reach critical systems.
Infrastructure designs that enable rapid resource scalability and “controlled degradation” service plans help keep core functions operational even under stress.
Finally, regular defense testing and continuous monitoring provide insight into the attack volume an organization can handle, a critical element in successfully responding to threats.
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