Afghanistan Railway Authority

The Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) is the governmental body tasked with overseeing the country's railway sector. It operates under the authority of the Afghan state and is responsible for railway policy, regulation, and infrastructure development. The organisation's headquarters is situated in Afghanistan, reflecting its national mandate. As a public authority, it coordinates with other ministries and agencies on transport-related initiatives. Its primary focus is on enabling rail transport for both freight and passenger movement within Afghanistan.

On September 1, 2016, the Afghanistan Railway Authority's website was compromised in a coordinated defacement campaign by the hacktivist group Ghost Squad Hackers. The attackers exploited a common server vulnerability to replace the site's content with anti-government messages. Ghost Squad Hackers stated that their motivation stemmed from opposition to alleged drug-related ties between Afghan authorities and the United States, as well as grievances regarding the treatment of citizens. The defacement affected twelve domains across various Afghan ministries and agencies, with the attackers promoting hashtags linked to social justice and anti-government sentiment. This incident followed similar website disruptions targeting Israeli government websites carried out by the same group earlier in the year.