Cyber Incident Victim: Kingdom of Belgium
Date:
Oct 2015
Location:
Belgium
Summary
The online hacktivist group Anonymous Belgian conducted DDoS attacks against several government websites, including the Prime Minister's official site, under the banner #OpGuerilla. The group claimed responsibility via social media and a video message, citing opposition to alleged censorship and corruption as motivation. Targeted sites experienced temporary downtime before being restored.
| 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 October 11, 2015, the hacktivist group Anonymous Belgian executed distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against multiple Belgian government websites under the campaign designation #OpGuerilla. The primary targets included the official website of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel (premier.be), the Brussels parliament website (parlbruparl.irisnet.be), and the Federal Public Services Home Affairs domain (ibz.fgov.be). These coordinated attacks rendered the sites temporarily inaccessible to users during the incident window. Anonymous Belgian publicly claimed responsibility via Twitter, framing the operation as retaliation against alleged government censorship and corruption. The group reinforced this narrative through a YouTube statement asserting, "The Belgian government challenged us. They should now take responsibility for their mistakes. We will always be here to defend the people."
Technical confirmation of the disruptions emerged through multiple channels. Demorgen, a Belgian media outlet, verified the Federal Public Services Home Affairs website experienced operational interference consistent with a cyberattack on October 11. Flanders, an English-language Belgian news platform, independently corroborated downtime affecting both the Prime Minister's site and the Brussels parliament portal. All targeted services were restored to normal operation within a short timeframe, with full functionality confirmed by October 14 when incident reports were published. No data breaches, defacements, or secondary compromises were documented in available sources. The attacks exclusively employed service disruption tactics without evidence of persistent network intrusion or exfiltration of sensitive information. Belgian authorities did not disclose specific mitigation measures undertaken beyond restoring accessibility to affected websites.