Cyber Incident Victim: Zeebrugge
Date:
Oct 2024
Location:
Belgium
Summary
A pro‑Russian hacker collective known as NoName057 launched Distributed Denial of Service attacks against the websites of several Belgian ports and municipalities, including Zeebrugge and Antwerp, as well as towns such as Sint‑Genesius‑Rode and Linkebeek, citing Belgium’s support for Ukraine as motivation. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium described the attacks as non‑dangerous overloads that temporarily made the sites inaccessible, and the group warned of further action ahead of upcoming local elections.
| 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 Tuesday morning at 8:44 am, the pro‑Russian hacker collective NoName057 posted a list of targets on its Telegram channel, naming several Belgian municipalities and the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. The list also included the municipalities of Sint‑Genesius‑Rode and Linkebeek. This attack marked the second incident in two days; on Monday the same group had disrupted a number of provincial websites. The attackers employed a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) technique, flooding the servers with requests. The resulting overload made the targeted websites inaccessible to legitimate users. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) identified the activity and emphasized that the attacks were not dangerous. In their Telegram message the hackers cited Belgium’s support for Ukraine, specifically referencing a proposal to transfer Caesar artillery units to Kyiv, as their motivation.
As a consequence of the DDoS flood, the websites of the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge became overloaded and could not be accessed by real users during the attack. The same overload affected the websites of Sint‑Genesius‑Rode and Linkebeek, rendering them unavailable to visitors. The hackers also warned on their Telegram channel that they might cause further disruption on Sunday 13 October, the day of Belgium’s local elections. No additional technical details regarding detection, mitigation, or the duration of the outage are provided in the source material. The CCB’s statement that the attacks were not dangerous indicates that no lasting damage or data compromise was reported.