Cyber Incident Victim: Alduwadimi Principality
Date:
Jan 2014
Location:
Saudi Arabia
Summary
Hackers affiliated with the Syrian Electronic Army defaced sixteen Saudi Arabian government websites, posting a message that condemned the Al Saud regime and accused it of supporting terrorist groups under the banner #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism, after which the affected sites were taken offline. The group warned that further attacks would follow and noted that its own site had been compromised by the Turkish hacking collective Turkguvenligi through its hosting provider, leaving the Syrian Electronic Army’s page offline until a new host could be secured.
| 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 January 16, 2014, the Syrian Electronic Army breached and defaced sixteen Saudi Arabian government websites, which the article describes as belonging to various administrative regions known as principalities. The attackers carried out the intrusions under the banner #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism and posted a message condemning the Al Saud regime for allegedly employing terrorist groups. The defaced pages displayed this condemnatory statement while the sites remained accessible to visitors. At the time of writing, the impacted websites had been taken offline by their administrators.
The Syrian Electronic Army indicated that their operations would continue and warned that further attacks would follow in the upcoming period, including additional targeting of Microsoft services. Separately, the Turkish hacking group Turkguvenligi reportedly breached the Syrian Electronic Army’s own website through its hosting provider, compromising the SEA’s online presence. In response, the Syrian Electronic Army stated that its website would remain offline until it could secure a new hosting provider willing to accommodate the group. Despite the disruption, the SEA asserted that its normal operations would persist and promised to provide updates via its social media channels.
The immediate impact of the incident was the temporary unavailability of sixteen Saudi Arabian government sites, which were removed from public access while administrators addressed the defacement. No further details about restoration timelines or additional mitigations were provided in the source material. The narrative concludes with the attackers’ declaration of ongoing activity and their commitment to communicate future developments through social media.