Internet slows for Melita customers as company faces cyberattack

Internet services slowed for Melita customers on Wednesday afternoon as the telecommunications provider faced a cyberattack.    Customers reported being intermittently unable to load websites or send messages using online services starting from just after 12.30pm.  In a statement, the company said that it was suffering a DDOS attack by "cybercriminals aiming to extort money".  A DDOS attack, or distributed denial-of-service attack is a commonly-used method by cybercriminals to overwhelm a website with too much traffic, forcing it to crash. Melita said none of its systems had been breached as a result of the attack. The attack has been reported to the police.  "Internet services are being disrupted and Melita’s team is implementing mitigation measures to counter and resolve the threat as it evolves," the company said.  "Cyberattacks of this nature, are increasingly common and Melita invests substantially in cybersecurity to ensure service continuity and to protect customer information. The impact of such cyberattacks is being largely mitigated thanks to these extensive cybersecurity measures," it said. A company spokesperson said calls, SMS and television services were not...