Russian hacker group attacks Sweden under the guise of Islamists

Since February, Sweden has been the victim of a series of coordinated cyberattacks aimed at preventing the country from joining NATO. The hacker attacks are being carried out by Russians pretending to be Islamists.

Source: Bloomberg

Hackers from Russia pretend to be Islamists A hacker group calling itself Anonymous Sudan has attacked dozens of Swedish airports, hospitals and banks since February, allegedly in response to the burning of a Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm earlier this year. The DDoS attacks, which overwhelm websites and services, have taken down online programs on Sweden's national public broadcaster, the websites of Scandinavian Airlines, state-owned energy company Vattenfall, and defense company Saab AB.

Anonymous Sudan claims to be composed of hackers from the East African country whose goal is to persecute "anyone who opposes Islam." 

According to Matthias Wellen, who led the investigation into the hacking attacks, a close examination of Anonymous Sudan's social media accounts - and attack data - shows that the group is neither Sudanese nor Islamist. Instead, Anonymous Sudan shows signs of a well-organized group of Russians with a sophisticated knowledge of Swedish politics and social issues," he said. "Their motivation is to create attacks aimed at increasing tensions with the country's Muslim minority and putting pressure on Turkey to firmly reject Sweden's offer to join NATO. 

The origin of Anonymous Sudan was learned from Telegram Velen said that clues to the true origin of Anonymous Sudan were contained in publicly available information on the group's Telegram channel. On its bio page, Anonymous Sudan listed Russian as its primary language and Russia as its location.  The group has also teamed up online with Killnet, a pro-Russian political hacking group that targets organizations and countries that oppose the war in Ukraine. Another clue is that Anonymous Sudan appears to be well-funded.

Instead of using networks of infected computers to carry out cheap attacks - as hackers usually do - the group rented 61 servers in Germany to conduct its operations. The group has carried out attacks on countries such as Denmark, France, Germany, India, and Israel. Experts believe that its main goal is to stop supporting NATO expansion, which would strengthen the defense of Northern Europe against Russian aggression.