[UPDATE]: This has been picked up in the mainstream news and covered in much more detail on other sites. Wired.com has a particularly good description of the attacks, including many other links, here.

In the recent conflict that has broken out between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia, a different kind of war has been waging. There has been a series of cyberattacks against various Georgian websites including news agencies and governmental organizations.

The information is appearing on the wikipedia article as more information becomes available. Many of the websites involved in the attacks are unavailable.

Here are the hacks known to be associated with the conflict:

• 2 Ossetian news sites hacked by Georgian officials to cover up news.
• Georgian National Bank website defaced
• Many Georgian news portals are unavailable
• Georgian Ministry of Foreign affairs website defaced

These are only the reported attacks thus far. The website defacing that has occurred is usually in the form of comparing the Georgian President Saakashvili to Adolf Hitler. This is an image that was grabbed from the main website of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mfa.gov.ge) before it was taken down:

These attacks are reportedly very similar to the ones that occurred in the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia.

As more information is provided, this page will be updated to reflect the ongoing attacks. If you would like to stay updated, then please be sure to subscribe to my feed.

[UPDATE] - This post has been featured at Sky News. Check out more information here.

[UPDATE] - As events occur, I will do my best to add them to the map. It seems that Russia is no longer focusing on South Ossetia, but instead has started attacking all areas of the country of Georgia. The attacks are marked on the map and it can be seen that they are spread throughout the country.

[UPDATE] - Cyberattacks have been commencing against various governmental and news organizations for the country of Georgia. The website for the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mfa.gov.ge) has been defaced, for example. Instead of a website, you are treated to an image of Hitler and Saakashvili. More details (including the image) can be found in this post.

Though the conflict has been going on for some years, today the region of South Ossetia has fallen victim to levels of violence not seen for quite some time.

Russia has decided to attack Georgia for their response against the South Ossetians. Many of whom, Russians say, are still Russian citizens.

It seems a bit too convenient that just a month ago, thousands of troops were meeting with other countries in the region for training exercises called “Immediate Response 2008.” You can see some photos of the event here. In addition, Russia has recently been critical of Georgia for wanting to join up with NATO.

I thought I might be able to get a decent view of the area with Google maps. However, there is very little data for the region. So, as I have done before, I created my own map to further my understanding of what is going on in the region. The map was created through research and the use of a map that was uploaded to Wikipedia detailing the region.

I tried my best to locate the various towns and villages that are scattered throughout the area. In addition, if you click on the View Larger Map link, then you can see the list of conflicts in the order they occurred along the left. I hope that others will be able to use this map to further their understanding of the region and what is really taking place.

In this map, you can find small towns and villages marked with a small green indicator, larger towns with a yellow indicator and capitals marked with reddish indicators. The area known as South Ossetia is highlighted in orange. In addition, if you zoom in, you can see the approximate route that the refugees are most likely taking to flee the area to Russia. The exclamation points mark where conflicts/attacks occurred and the tent-looking images represent military bases that have been attacked:

Now that I have completed the map I feel like I have a much better idea of what is going on over there. I hope that this map will help provide others with the same kind of knowledge.

Please let me know if there are any corrections that need to be made and I would be glad to make them. Also, if you liked this post, please be sure to subscribe to my feed.