European countries are facing a possible cyberattack as thousands of internet users were knocked offline at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The cyberattack that happened across Europe before the commencement of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, has left thousands of people without the internet, according to AFP.

According to a report by Orange, close to 9,000 users in France have been thrown offline by the country’s premier internet service provider ‘Nordnet’. The cyber-attack on February 24 allegedly happened at Viasat of the US.

Other internet service providers such as Eutelsat, the parent company of the bigblu satellite internet service, were quoted by AFP as saying that almost one-third of ibigblu’s 40,000 subscribers faced internet outage. Viasat subscribers in Germany, France Hungary, Greece, Italy and Poland also reported the outage.

Quoting Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security’s report, German daily Handelsblatt also reported that it was “conceivable that the outages were the consequence of a “cyberattack”.

The cyber event also rendered 5,800 wind turbines in Germany and central Europe, resulting in an output of 11 Gigawatts. Military and cyber experts are worried that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may lead to an outbreak of cyberattacks, a “cyber Armageddon” with major consequences for civilians in Ukraine and Russia, but also globally, through a far-reaching effect.