Cyber Incident Victim: Almuzamiyah Principality
Date:
Jan 2014
Location:
Saudi Arabia
Summary
Almuzamiyah Principality's website was among the sixteen Saudi Arabian government sites defaced by the Syrian Electronic Army as part of the #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism campaign. The defacement featured messages condemning the Al Saud regime and accusing it of employing terrorist groups, after which the affected sites were taken offline. Shortly thereafter, the Syrian Electronic Army’s own online presence was compromised by the Turkish hacking collective TurkGuvenligi, which posted a protest message and left the group’s site inaccessible. The Syrian Electronic Army is known for conducting phishing operations to harvest credentials and access victims’ social media accounts.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 3 techniques |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On January 16, 2014, the Syrian Electronic Army announced that it had breached and defaced sixteen Saudi Arabian government websites. The attackers stated that the operation was conducted under the banner #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism and posted a message condemning the Al Saud regime for allegedly employing terrorist groups. The targeted sites were described as belonging to various administrative regions, also referred to as principalities. At the time of writing, the affected websites had been taken offline.
Earlier, on January 15, 2014, a Turkish hacking collective called TurkGuvenligi compromised the Syrian Electronic Army’s own website after breaching the group’s hosting provider. TurkGuvenligi left a defacement message that included religious verses and criticism of the SEA’s tactics. The SEA’s site remained offline, with the group noting that it would stay that way until a new hosting provider could be found. The SEA acknowledged that its operations would continue normally and promised updates via social media.
The incident resulted in the temporary unavailability of the sixteen Saudi government sites and the SEA’s own web presence, prompting both victims to take the pages offline while they addressed the compromises. The Syrian Electronic Army indicated that further attacks were planned and that its activities would persist despite the setback. Turkish group TurkGuvenligi also claimed responsibility for earlier defacements, including the OpenSSL website, which it attributed to weak hosting‑provider passwords. The sources do not specify which particular principality, such as Almuzamiyah Principality, was among the sixteen Saudi sites, so its exact involvement cannot be confirmed from the provided material.