This week’s attacks on both Facebook and Twitter appear to have been the work of some cybercriminals targeting one particular user who happens to be Georgian.

That’s Georgian as in someone from the former Russian state, not somebody from Atlanta or Valdosta.

The targeted user had accounts on a variety of social networking sites and most of these came under attack Thursday.

The Twitter assault seemed to be the most successful — for the attackers. Twitter was knocked out completely, while the security folks at places like Facebook and Google were able to contain the DDoS attacks.

The blogger in question, using the name Cyxymi (technically СҮХҮМИ in Cyrillic) had accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal and YouTube.

Tensions between Russia and Georgia have remained high since hostilities erupted last year just about this time, and it appears that Cyxymi’s posts were annoying opponents of the Georgian cause.

The social networking sites involved appear to be cooperating in their hunt for the perpetrators of Thursday’s well-coordinated, very sophisticated attack.

It remains to be seen what they can actually do about it, since the international nature of the crime may preclude prosecution. The attacks may also have been officially sanctioned by one of the governments involved in the ongoing dispute, and that could make going after the hackers an almost-impossible chore.

Tags: DoS attack, Facebook, Google, Russia, Twitter, YouTube