In 2007, the Russians initiated multiple DDoS (denial of service) attacks against Estonia, one of the most wired countries in the world. They were ostensibly upset over Estonian removal of a statue celebrating Soviet soldiers who liberated Estonia from the Nazis to a less prominent location in their capital Tallinn. Non-Russian Estonians saw the Soviets as little better than the Nazis, but when the move was announced Russian residents rioted and things got a bit nasty for a while. Online services of Estonian banks, media outlets and government bodies were taken down by unprecedented levels of internet traffic because of the DDoS attacks.
The result for Estonian citizens was that cash machines and online banking services were sporadically out of action; government employees were unable to communicate with each other on email; and newspapers and broadcasters suddenly found they couldn't deliver the news.
How the Estonians responded will be discussed when I get around to reviewing the book. In the meantime, the attack, which the Russian government cleverly maintained was simply caused by vandals who were expressing their opinion (free speech being, naturally, a value in Russia) about the move and denied responsibility.
There was no concrete evidence that the Russians had orchestrated the attacks, but they surely encouraged them and it's quite possible, even likely,that other gangs of hackers with a grudge against Estonia joined in. Tim Maurer's Cyber Mercenaries: The State, Hackers and Power describes just such cooperation.
The monument was eventually moved, but the Estonians, a very clever group of people, decided to create something called e-residency. Basically, it means that anyone in the world can become an e-resident of Estonia with the right to operate a business from there (which they will facilitate) etc.
The implications for Estonia and the U.S. are quite interesting. Estonia is a NATO member, so how a cyber attack is labeled can make the difference between wider war or not. If many U.S. citizens oo citizens of other NATO members become e-residents, one could argue that it's not just Estonia that might have been attacked cybernistically but these other nations as well. (I just made up that word - the origin of the word "cyberspace" is a William Gibson novel.)
The Estonians have a little video describing the process and benefits. I'm tempted. Becoming a citizen of the world without borders sounds cool.
https://e-resident.gov.ee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Residency_of_Estonia
BTW DDoS attacks are really simply to pull off. Just some easily available software and off you go. Illegal, of course.
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