How were denial-of-service attacks used against Estonia in 2007?

In April and May 2007, Estonia experienced a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that targeted key government, financial, media, and commercial websites. These attacks occurred during a period of heightened political tension between Estonia and Russia regarding the relocation of a Soviet war memorial in Tallinn.123

The attacks were carried out by hijacking a large number of computers to create botnets—groups of "zombie" computers—which were then used to overwhelm the targeted systems with traffic. By flooding these sites with requests, the attackers effectively prevented legitimate users, including government officials and citizens, from accessing essential information and communication services.41

While it was widely alleged that Russian hackers, potentially including civilians or organized-crime syndicates, were responsible for the campaign, the involvement of the Russian government has never been definitively proven. These events are frequently cited in discussions regarding cyberwar and the use of cyberattacks as tools of political pressure during regional conflicts.413