Ukraine: Government websites down after a hacking attack

Ukrainian officials and media reports say a number of government websites in Ukraine are down after a massive hacking attack

KYIV, Ukraine -- A number of government websites in Ukraine were down on Friday after a huge hacking attack, Ukrainian officials and media reports said.

“As a result of a massive hacking attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other government agencies are temporarily down. Our specialists are already working on restoring the work of IT systems,” spokesman of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook on Friday.

According to the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper, websites of the country's Cabinet, seven ministries, the Treasury, the National Emergency Service and the state services website were unavailable as the result of the hack.

The report also said that the Foreign Ministry's website contained a message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, saying that Ukrainians' personal data has been leaked to the public domain. “Be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future," the message read, in part.