Bahrain’s E Visa Service was temporarily targeted by a hacker group back in January, which caused the website to go down briefly. News reports suggest that Anonymous, the infamous global hacking group, was responsible for the incident.
According to reports, the breach was discovered within minutes, and the Cyber Express team immediately began working on the situation. Cyber Express conducted a thorough investigation and determined that the E Visa service was fully functional. So far, no official statement has been made regarding the hack, whether any sensitive data was exposed, or what happened after the incident.
Anonymous Collective took credit for the incident, but some experts believe that the group might be attempting to use the minimal ‘cyberattack’ as a ploy to get more attention. To further add credence to this theory, there has yet to be any official statement from the government or cybersecurity experts about the recent attack.
Typically, Anonymous has been known to commit cyberattacks in an attempt to “restore justice” where the group feels like it’s being subverted. In most cases, the group goes after targets that they believe are acting illegally, reprehensibly, oppressively, or otherwise questionably.
This recent ordeal does match up to an attack claimed by Anonymous in December of 2023. During that hack, anonymous members went after the United Arab Emirates government portal and took it offline temporarily. After the incident, officials never clarified whether any data was compromised or how cyber experts handled the ordeal.
That same month, Anonymous also claimed an attack on Greece’s largest mobile network operator, Cosmote. Since claiming responsibility for the attack, Cosmote’s official website was inconsistent and didn’t work properly. Again, officials never released any statement to clarify what happened.
One month prior to these, Anonymous also took credit for a November 2023 DDoS attack on Cairo International Airport. The hacking group claimed that they initiated the attack in response to Egypt’s support for Israel during the recent conflict. This specific attack resulted in significant damage and financial loss for the airport. Digital infrastructure was destroyed. Despite all this, neither the government nor the airport made any statement regarding the attack.
Is Your Business Safe from Anonymous and Other Hackers?
These recent strings of attacks are on-brand for Anonymous, who has been conducting hacking activities since 2003. This group’s specialty involves social engineering, which means your business could be at risk even if you invest significantly in cybersecurity infrastructure to support your business.
Social engineering is a method of obtaining passwords, proprietary information, or other details from an organization by leveraging social trust.
To ensure that your business doesn’t fall victim to a social engineering attack, it’s important to not only invest significantly into cybersecurity and protection but also to keep your employees informed and aware of how to prevent cyberattacks.
If you’re ready to strengthen your business’s cybersecurity, then our team is prepared to help. Schedule a consultation with our team of cybersecurity experts now to learn more about your specific digital vulnerabilities and how to resolve them.