Cyber Incident Victim: United Nations
Date:
Apr 2015
Location:
Indonesia
Summary
A subdomain of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was defaced by the Indonesian Cyber Freedom hacker group, which replaced the legitimate page with a custom message and PHP shell. The attackers compromised the GEF Small Grants Programme site, citing inadequate security measures as their motivation. The defacement caused temporary disruption to the affected subdomain, mirroring previous incidents targeting UN web infrastructure. At the time of reporting, the compromised page remained under hacker control, displaying their signature message while the main UN website operations appeared unaffected.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On April 5, 2015, the Indonesian Cyber Freedom hacker group defaced a subdomain of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) website dedicated to the GEF Small Grants Programme. The attackers replaced the legitimate content of the subdomain (sgp.undp.org) with a custom defacement page displaying the message "Gotcha ! you got hacked by Indonesian cyber freedom." They achieved this compromise by uploading a PHP shell script (xZ.php) to the web server, allowing them to overwrite the site's main page. A representative from the hacking group cited "poor site security" as the primary motivation for the attack when contacted by HackRead journalists. The defacement remained active at the time of media reporting, with the compromised state verified through both the live subdomain and a Zone-h mirror archive entry documenting the intrusion.
The incident marked another security breach affecting United Nations digital assets, as the article referenced previous defacements of UN subdomains and primary websites. No specific technical details about vulnerability exploitation methods were disclosed beyond the use of a PHP shell for content replacement. The attack exclusively impacted the GEF Small Grants Programme subdomain, with no indication of lateral movement to other UNDP systems or data exfiltration. Historical context provided in the report suggested recurring security challenges for UN web properties, though this incident's operational disruption appeared limited to temporary unavailability of the targeted subdomain's legitimate content. The UNDP had not restored the service by the article's publication timestamp, and no institutional response or containment measures were described in the available source material.