(MENAFN) Belgian telecom providers Proximus and Scarlet faced short-lived service disruptions early Wednesday due to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyberattack, according to reports.

Proximus spokesperson Fabrice Gansbeke said unusual traffic was detected at 7:20 a.m. local time (0620 GMT), prompting immediate countermeasures. "From 7.30, we saw a sharp increase in traffic. The impact was very limited: our systems held up," he added.

DDoS attacks overwhelm websites with large volumes of traffic, temporarily blocking access without compromising user data. Around the same time, Ghent University Hospital experienced a similar attack, which slowed communications with some external systems and briefly delayed access to certain information.

The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 claimed responsibility on Telegram, citing attacks against Scarlet, Proximus, and an internal Telenet portal. Telenet, however, denied that its systems were affected. The group referenced recent remarks by Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken, who said NATO would “flatten” Moscow if Russia attacked Brussels, warning the minister "not to throw such statements around."

NoName057 has a history of targeting Belgium, including repeated disruptions of government websites ahead of last year’s October elections and again in March.

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