A number of news sites picked up on Russian cyber attacks on Georgian websites which started as the invasion began. According to the Christian Science Monitor:
In an Internet first, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reopened its site on Google’s free Blogger network and gave reporters a Gmail address to reach the National Security Council.
But the NY Times explains why the damage wasn’t worse:
Cyberattacks have far less impact on such a country than they might on a more Internet-dependent nation, like Israel, Estonia or the United States, where vital services like transportation, power and banking are tied to the Internet.
A likely modus operandi described by Tech News World could be adopted by Arab hackers targeting Israeli sites:
The problem for Georgia and outside observers is that the recent cyber attacks follow a pattern established by suspected Russian criminals who specialize in organized online crime.
“They’ve done that before,” James Lewis, senior fellow for technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told TechNewsWorld. “It’s a nice trade for everybody. The criminals get a little protection, the Russian government gets to have something happen without having their fingerprints on it. That’s the assumption. Like Estonia, we don’t have links to the Russian government, but it’s not a fluke where we magically have this happen when a shooting war starts.”
Related reading: Hacking Back
