Perspective of the Month | Anonymous Sudan | June – July 2023

Perspective of the Month | Anonymous Sudan | June – July 2023

Anonymous Sudan: Unleashing Cyber Chaos with Massive DDoS Attacks in June and July 2023

In June and July 2023, Anonymous Sudan shook the cyber world with a series of powerful DDoS attacks, significantly impacting various industries and online platforms, including Microsoft, SWIFT, and Riot Games.

Since January 2023, the hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan, or Storm-1359, has been grabbing global attention. With their infamous Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, they’ve disrupted critical infrastructure and diverse industries across the globe, reaching countries such as Denmark, the UAE, the US, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, France, Kenya, and Iran. From financial services to aviation, education, healthcare, software, and government entities, their operations have left a significant impact.

Despite the name, there is no apparent connection between the group and Sudan or its previous Anonymous group. Recent findings indicate a concerning affiliation between Anonymous Sudan and the pro-Russian hacktivist collective, Killnet. There are strong indications that the group might be state-sponsored Russian actors adopting the facade of Sudanese actors with religious motives, possibly to obscure their actions against Western targets. While the hacktivist group predominantly operates in English and Russian, their recent posts in Arabic appear to make cultural and nationalistic references to Sudan. Nevertheless, the timing of their first Arabic post coincided with security researchers questioning the group’s true ideological affiliations, raising doubts about their true motivations and origins.

Different Attacks by Anonymous Sudan in 2023

Details of Attacks

Strikes to the Giants: Microsoft and SWIFT

In June 2023, Anonymous Sudan targeted Microsoft with a massive DDoS attack, causing significant disruptions and outages across various Microsoft services, including Azure, Outlook, and OneDrive.

The group launched multiple Layer 7 DDoS attacks against the tech giant to exhaust system resources with high loads of SSL/TLS handshakes and processing HTTP(S) requests. Although Microsoft confirmed the service disruptions, the company stated that no customer data had been accessed or compromised.

Figure 1: The announcement about DDoS attack for Microsoft on Anonymous Sudan channel
Figure 1: The announcement about DDoS attack for Microsoft on Anonymous Sudan channel
Following their success in targeting Microsoft, in mid-June, Anonymous Sudan aimed at a new and significant target – the SWIFT payment system.

The group announced its intentions on its official Telegram channel, stating plans to launch a “massive attack” on European and US financial institutions in collaboration with the pro-Russian hacktivist collective Killnet and the infamous Russian cybercriminal group REvil. The motivation behind this attack was to protest against what they perceived as the West’s financial and military support of Ukraine.

Figure 2: The announcement about DDoS attack for SWIFT with Killnet and REvil Ransomware groups
Figure 2: The announcement about DDoS attack for SWIFT with Killnet and REvil Ransomware groups

Taking on US Companies: Riot Games and More

Making a daring decision, Anonymous Sudan also declared war against the US companies by citing America’s attitude towards Sudan. The group launched a DDoS attack against Riot Games, a renowned video game developer, and publisher famous for its multiplayer online battle arena game, League of Legends.

The hacktivist group announced the attack on their Telegram channel, boasting that it lasted between 30 minutes to one hour.

Figure 3: The announcement about DDoS attack for Riot Games on Anonymous Sudan channel
Figure 3: The announcement about DDoS attack for Riot Games on Anonymous Sudan channel
Anonymous Sudan continued its distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the US companies, targeting several prominent online platforms and services, including Tumblr, Flickr, Reddit, Archive of Our Own (AO3), Coinbase, Wattpad, 4chan, iFunny, Lyft, UPS, and OnlyFans. These platforms are widely used by millions of users globally, making them attractive targets for hacktivist groups seeking to gain attention and spread their message.

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