After the alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people near Damascus, most of the world turned its eyes on Syria. Hackers are no exception.
Over this past week, we’ve seen a large number of cyberattacks, or cyberattack threats, that are somehow related to Syria.
First, the notorious Syrian Electronic Army hacked the systems of Melbourne IT. This allowed them to disrupt the websites of The New York Times, Twitter and The Huffington Post.
Later, after Melbourne IT claimed that the problem was addressed, the hacktivists defaced the company’s official blog.
The Australian Internet company confirmed that the Syrian Electronic Army used spear phishing to gain access to sensitive information.
After this incident, Vice Motherboard and Brian Krebs published reports in which they claimed to have identified two members of the Syrian Electronic Army. The hackers have denied that the information is accurate.
Krebs and Vice have made som e updates to their articles, but not before one member of SEA, ThePro, threatened Vice for exposing the identity of an “innocent friend.”
The US is said to be preparing for a military attack against Syria in response to the chemical weapons attack. However, experts warn that countries such as Syria and Iran could always retaliate with cyberattacks.
At this point, the Syrian Electronic Army seems to be one of Syria’s main cyber armies. However, some say there are
Also, while the SEA’s attacks might not be sophisticated, experts warn that it’s not wise to underestimate their capabilities.
Anonymous hackers have also become involved in the Syria matters. Some hackers have launched a campaign called OpSyria, while others disrupted the official website of World Wrestling Entertainment to raise awareness of the situation in the country.
Pro-US hacker The Jester disrupted the website of the Atomic Ene rgy Commission of Syria.
“Bad things happen to bad people, and there's an unequal amount of good and bad in most things,” he told us.
As far as social media account hacks are concerned, the list of victims includes Tahrir News, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia, American singer Ariana Grande, and Islamic preacher Bilal Philips.
When it comes to DDOS attacks, this week’s list of targets includes Germany’s Pirate Party, New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau, and China.
Yes, China. The country has been hit by what it calls the largest DDOS attack in history.
Here are some other interesting stories you may have missed:
Spammers lure Twitter users to scam websites by saying they can appear in celebrity music videos
Hacker admits selling access to US Energy Department super computers
Hashcat can now be used to crack 55-character passwords
Google Palestine defaced by pro-Palestine hackers
Java 6 zero-day spotted in the wild
Websites of Austrian members of parliament hacked by Anonymous
Tens of Filipino government websites defaced by Anonymous in protest against pork barrel funds
