Cyber Incident Victim: Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations
Date:
Jan 2016
Location:
Armenia
Summary
Azerbaijani hackers defaced the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations, along with its missions to NATO and OSCE, replacing the websites with messages and videos displaying Azerbaijan's military strength. The attack was part of an ongoing cyber conflict between Azerbaijani group Anti-Armenia Team and Armenian hackers MMCA, escalating after MMCA's prior breach of Azerbaijani government servers. The defacements targeted Armenian government entities across 40 countries, reflecting tensions rooted in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute and the absence of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On January 21, 2016, Azerbaijani hackers operating under the name "Anti-Armenia Team" conducted a coordinated cyber attack against Armenian diplomatic websites, including the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission to NATO, and the Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The attackers compromised these official government sites and replaced their content with defacement pages displaying pro-Azerbaijan propaganda. The defaced pages featured text and video content emphasizing Azerbaijan's military capabilities, including footage of the country's Prime Minister addressing the nation. Zone-H, a website that archives defacement incidents, preserved mirrors of the hacked pages as evidence. This attack occurred three days prior to its public reporting on January 24 and represented an escalation in an ongoing cyber conflict between Azerbaijani and Armenian hacking groups.
The incident occurred within the context of a protracted cyber warfare campaign between the Anti-Armenia Team and their Armenian counterparts, the Monte Melkonian Cyber Army (MMCA). This specific attack served as retaliation for MMCA's prior breach of Azerbaijani Ministry servers in December 2015, which had resulted in the leak of sensitive government data. During communications with media outlets, the Azerbaijani hackers referenced their July 26, 2014 cyber attacks against Armenian presidential and ministerial websites as evidence of their technical superiority, claiming Armenian cybersecurity professionals lacked adequate defensive capabilities. The attacks exploited the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which maintain no formal diplomatic relations due to unresolved territorial disputes over Nagorno-Karabakh. No technical details regarding attack vectors or restoration efforts were disclosed in available reporting, though the defacements visibly disrupted official diplomatic communications channels for an unspecified duration.