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Coronavirus pandemic

Hacker attack on website issuing permits for Moscow residents detected

The perpetrators are trying to create an additional burden on the nedoma.mos.ru website through generating a high number of requests, according to Moscow’s anti-coronavirus crisis center

© EPA-EFE/HAYOUNG JEON

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. A hacker attack has been detected on the website created for the issuance of travel permits for Moscow residents during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Moscow’s anti-coronavirus crisis center informed on Monday.

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Moscow issues around 1 million digital passes in first day of system operation

"Malicious users of the JoyReactor portal are offering to "take down" the website for the issuance of digital permits [mos.ru — TASS]. A group of perpetrators are trying to create an additional burden on the nedoma.mos.ru website through generating a high number of requests. The crisis center recalled that the digital permits would be introduced in Moscow starting April 15, with two days being left until the launch of the program.

To date, a total of 18,328 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,470 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 148 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,800,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 114,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 428,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

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