Cyber Incident Victim: Central Bank of the Dominican Republic
Date:
May 2016
Location:
Dominican Republic
Summary
A hacktivist collective, Anonymous, in collaboration with Ghost Squad, conducted distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting multiple international financial institutions, including the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. The attacks temporarily disrupted online services, causing website outages for several central banks across different regions. The operation, dubbed Op Icarus, aimed to protest perceived financial corruption and was part of a broader campaign threatening over 160 banking entities globally. While the impacted websites were restored relatively quickly, the incident highlighted vulnerabilities within the financial sector’s digital infrastructure amid escalating hacktivist activities targeting high-profile institutions for political motives.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On 6 May 2016, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic experienced a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that temporarily disrupted access to its official website. The attack was part of a coordinated campaign dubbed "Operation Icarus," orchestrated by the hacktivist collective Anonymous in collaboration with Ghost Squad Hackers. That same day, the websites of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the Central Bank of Maldives, and the Dutch Central Bank were also forced offline by similar DDoS attacks. The National Bank of Panama and the Central Bank of Kenya suffered disruptions on 7 May, while the Central Bank of Mexico and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina were subsequently targeted. All affected banking websites resumed normal operations shortly after the attacks, with no reports of data breaches or unauthorized access to financial systems beyond the temporary service interruptions.
Anonymous had publicly announced the campaign through a video released on 4 May 2016, declaring intent to execute "one of the most massive attacks ever seen in the history of Anonymous" against global financial institutions. The group cited political motivations, specifically highlighting the Panama Papers leaks as justification for targeting the National Bank of Panama. Their published target list included 160 banks and financial entities, including major institutions like the US Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank, and Bank of England, though only approximately ten banks had been successfully disrupted by early May 2016. This incident occurred amid heightened cybersecurity concerns for the banking sector following high-profile breaches like the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist and the Qatar National Bank data leak. The attacks demonstrated hacktivists' ability to disrupt critical financial infrastructure but did not result in permanent damage or financial theft beyond temporary service unavailability.