A rising tide of digital attacks against Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is gathering momentum. These cyber events suggest social and political turbulence as a result of the power fluctuations elsewhere in the region.
“Winning the land war in Iraq is on course. Keeping the peace whilst bringing democracy to Iraq is equally important,” said Executive Chairman of data provider mi2g, DK Matai, “The toppling of Saddam’s regime is giving citizens of GCC countries and Iran a stronger sense for democracy. External and internal forces appear to be making this point by launching attacks on representative governments’ computer systems.”
While the majority digital attacks in the Middle East are launched by groups operating outside the region, some local groups such as Arab VieruZ, a Saudi group targeting internal as well as external targets, have grown in stature following the outbreak of war.
Significant Denial of Service (DoS) and vandalism attack victims include over 10 government targets in Saudi Arabia in March and early April including The Directorate of Education in the Eastern Province as well as eight government and organizational targets in Iran such as the city of Isfahan and the Electrical Engineering society in Ardabil.
The Massive Denial of Service (MDoS) attacks seen in GCC countries as well as Iran and Turkey have caught many online businesses and government departments completely unprepared. The digital eye of the Middle East DoS storm, which is consuming enough bandwidth to make the users experience a significant slowdown, sets a precedent for digital unrest particularly in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Turkey as a result of the Iraq war.
Some hacker groups from North and South America are now aiding the greater cyber freedom movement within the traditional regimes of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE through the messages being left behind, which often include political messages against Israel, the US and UK as well as condemnation for the GCC governments.
Both the pro-war and anti-war supporters continue to target Turkish and Israeli computer systems. The Turkish government computers have been the fifth most targeted in the last twelve months including March 2003. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
