The Royal family’s official website was forced offline after being targeted in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber-attack, which has now been claimed by the Russian hacktivist group Killnet.

As a result, the site was down for about an hour and a half on Sunday morning, but apparently, no access to the site, systems or content was gained.

The Royal family’s website was up and running again by midday but had earlier displayed an “error” message to anyone attempting to access it. DoS attacks differ from hacking in that the people targeting the website do not actually gain access or control of the site.

A DDoS attack is different from standard hacking, meaning that a site typically malfunctions and is forced to shut down due to a surplus of traffic.

The website was up and running about two hours after the initial attack.

Killnet claimed credit for the attack on its Telegram page, but their actual involvement has yet to be confirmed.

Further, checks are currently underway to confirm that no data or security was compromised as part of the attack.

Responding to the news, cyber expert Oseloka Obiora, CTO, RiverSafe said: “Whether you are a prince of pauper, cyber criminals are coming for you and this incident is another reminder of the dangers posed by sophisticated online attacks.

“Moving forward, organisations of all shapes and sizes need to urgently update their cyber defences, both in terms of skills and software, to prevent malicious hackers from achieving their insidious objectives,” he added.

Last year the group was named in a joint warning about cyberattacks on critical infrastructure from the “Five Eyes” alliance, made up of intelligence agencies in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

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Recently, another international cohort of national cybersecurity councils met to discuss ways in which democracies can defend and protect civil society members from being targeted in cyber-attacks, by which the Royal Family could be considered.

It is currently unclear if the Royal Family website will be undertaking any measures to mitigate their chance of attack.

Currently, the site has a CloudFlare security check before allowing people entrance into the website.