Cyber Incident Victim: Syrian Electronic Army
Date:
Jan 2014
Location:
Saudi Arabia
Summary
The Syrian Electronic Army breached and defaced 16 Saudi Arabian government websites, targeting administrative regions under the banner #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism. Hackers condemned the Al Saud regime, accusing it of employing terrorist groups, and displayed messages on compromised pages before the impacted sites were taken offline. The group indicated plans for additional attacks while acknowledging their own website remained inaccessible due to a separate breach by Turkish hackers, vowing to continue operations via social media updates.
| 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 January 16, 2014, hackers affiliated with the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) breached and defaced 16 Saudi Arabian government websites representing various administrative regions or principalities. The attackers replaced site content with a political message condemning the Al Saud regime under the banner #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism. Their defacement explicitly accused Saudi Arabia of employing terrorist groups to conduct its "dirty work," framing the attack as retaliation against perceived state-sponsored terrorism. The compromised websites were rendered inaccessible following the incident, with administrators taking them offline entirely. No technical details regarding intrusion methods or specific vulnerabilities exploited were disclosed in available reporting.
The SEA simultaneously announced intentions to continue cyber operations against Microsoft in the near future, though no specifics about these planned attacks were provided. This incident occurred amid operational challenges for the SEA, as their own official website had previously been compromised by Turkish hacker group Turkguvenligi through a hosting provider breach. The SEA acknowledged their website would remain offline until securing alternative hosting, but emphasized ongoing hacktivist activities would proceed uninterrupted. They directed followers to monitor their social media channels for operational updates while their primary site remained inoperative. The defaced Saudi government portals showed no signs of restoration at the time of reporting, with disruption to regional administrative web services confirmed.