During the last week before the election, several independent online media of Mykolayiv and Kherson Oblasts suffered a strong DDoS attack. At the moment, such online newspapers of Mykolayiv as Nabat (Alarm), Korabelov.info, and Prestupnosti.NET either aren't responding to user requests or are working with frequent interruptions. In Kherson, Khersonska Pravda (Kherson Truth), Peak, and Kherson Online got into a similar situation.
OPORA spoke to the General Manager of the UMG IA, who owns the website Prestupnosti.Net — Artem Dyblenko.
In the comments to OPORA, Artem Kostiantynovych expressed confidence that hack attacks were directly connected with the editorial policy of the medium. Persons unknown who ordered services of hackers simply want, for the election period, to shut the medium up that positions itself as independent. On the pages of the publication, materials criticising both the Party of Regions and the oppositional forces often appear.
Also, Artem Dyblenko said that the website, from its very beginning (2008), regularly has been subject to DDoS attacks but there hasn't ever been such a strong one. As estimated, unknown persons spend around 2 to 4 thousand dollars daily to pay for the work of hackers, if not more, General Manager of the Ukrainian Media Group IA is sure.
It is worth mentioning that other websites have also often criticised activities of the Party of Regions, and during the election campaign — also candidates who stand for the election in single-member electoral districts from the PR.
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action. Professional monitoring at all stages of the election process indirectly influences the quality of the campaign. The public opinion, both foreign and domestic is formed through gathering and spreading of information among the target audience. From a strategic perspective public monitoring of elections focuses upon improving the system and certain procedures. In 2012, during Parliamentary elections in Ukraine OPORA is carrying out a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizing a statistical vote-count by the results of voting with the proportional component of the electoral system on a basis of representative selection, will provide 100% coverage of polling stations by observers in separate single-mandate majoritarian districts. OPORA observers will work in all 225 electoral districts, and 3,500 activists will join them on the voting day. Organization will use the latest means of spreading information on observation results, including infographics and interactive maps.