Greek Government, Intelligence Agency And Businesses Knocked Offline By Cyber-Attacks
Cyber War Escalating Between Greece And Turkey
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Several Greek government websites have been attacked with many of the sites going offline in the aftermath. Turkish hackers have claimed responsibility.
Websites affected by the cyber-attacks include Greek Parliament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, National Intelligence Services (EYP), Athens Stock Market and several Greek businesses. Media reports from both Greece and Turkey highlighted the attacks.
A Turkish hacker group called Anka Neferler said it was behind the cyber-attacks. The group stated that it was retaliating for the Greece government not recognizing a November 2019 agreement between Turkey and Libya to establish an economic zone. The regional dispute generally applies to different approaches by countries participating in the Eastern Mediterranean gas market.
Shortly after the attacks were disclosed, a Greek group calling itself Anonymous Greece launched cyber-attacks on Turkish websites.
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Scope And Scale Of Attack Detailed
Australian publisher of Greek community news, Neos Kosmos, recapped a list of Turkish websites that were part of the hack. Email services were the most common victims while government VoIP systems and the country’s “112” emergency call number have also been impacted.
Sources in the Greek government said that the attacks used Denial of Service (DOS) as a means to disrupt normal internet operations. The flood of network traffic was detected by government authorities who disconnected servers before additional damage could occur. However, the website for the Greek Parliament went offline from the DOS attack. No data has been reported stolen.
Website Greek City Times reports that the Foreign Affairs outage will have widespread impact on the ability for Consulates and Embassies to communicate outside of the country, which will lead to operational issues in the coming weeks.
An investigation into the attacks is ongoing. Despite the Turkish’s group claim of responsibility, no indication of the attacker’s identity was left on the disrupted servers.
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