Operation Ababil

Last updated

Operation Ababil was a series of cyber attacks starting in 2012, targeting various American financial institutions and carried out by a group calling itself the "Cyber fighters of Izz Ad-Din Al Qassam".

Contents

Details

The cyber attacks, or more specifically denial of service attacks, were launched by the Cyber fighters of Izz Ad-Din Al Qassam also known as Qassam Cyber Fighters. The group announced [1] the attacks on September 18, 2012 on Pastebin where they criticized Israel and the United States and justified the attacks as a response to the Innocence of Muslims video released by controversial American pastor Terry Jones. Their targets included the New York Stock Exchange as well as a number of banks including J.P. Morgan Chase. [2] The result of the attacks was a limited disruption of the targeted websites. The attacks ended on Oct 23, 2012 because of the Eid al-Adha holiday [3] at which point they offered to speak to the media through e-mail.

Name of the group and operation

The group’s moniker, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, was a Muslim preacher who lead in the fight against British, French and Jewish nationalist organizations in the Levant in the 1920s and 1930s.

Disputed origins of attacks

On September 21, 2012, the Washington Post reported [4] that the attacks originated not from a hacktivist group but from the government of Iran and cited U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman as one who was a proponent of this idea. Lieberman told C-Span that he believed the Iranian government was sponsoring the group's attacks on US banks in retaliation for Western economic sanctions. [5] An early report by Dancho Danchev found the amateurish "outdated and virtually irrelevant technical skills" of the attack suspicious. [6] But Michael Smith, senior security evangelist at Akamai, found the size of the attacks—65 gigabits of traffic per second—more consistent with a state actor (such as Iran) than with a typical hacktivist denial of service attack which would be less than 2 gigabits/second. [7]

The controversial hacktivist, The Jester, claimed the Qassam Cyber Fighters had help with their attacks from the hacking group Anonymous. [8]

Phase two

On December 10, 2012, the Qassam Cyber Fighters announced [9] the launching of phase two of Operation Ababil. In that statement, they specifically named U.S. Bancorp, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Bank as targets and identified events such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 US Presidential Election as reasons for the delay of phase two. This announcement also mentioned disrespect towards the Prophet Mohammed as motivation and denied the involvement of any nation state. It was during this time that media attention increased with one journalist observing, [10] "Operation Ababil stands out for its sophistication and focus, experts say." and allegations of involvement by Iran also increased. [11] On January 29, 2013, an announcement [12] was made that phase two would come to a conclusion due to the removal of the main copy of the video from YouTube. The announcement also identified additional copies of the movie also hosted on YouTube.

Phase three

On February 12, 2013, the Qassam Cyber Fighters issued a warning [13] that the other copies of the movie referenced in their January 29 posting should be removed. They followed this with a "serious warning" [14] and then an "ultimatum" [15] after the additional copies of the video were not removed. On March 5, 2013, they announced [16] the beginning of Phase 3 of Operation Ababil on their Pastebin page. This was followed by several of the financial institutions on their target list reporting website disruptions. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacktivism</span> Computer-based activities as a means of protest

Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism, is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in hacker culture and hacker ethics, its ends are often related to free speech, human rights, or freedom of information movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qassam rocket</span> Palestinian homemade artillery rocket

The Qassam rocket is a simple, steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. These rockets cannot be fired to target specific military objectives in or near civilian areas, and are "indiscriminate when used against targets in population centers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izz ad-Din al-Qassam</span> Syrian Muslim preacher (1882–1935)

Izz ad-Din Abd al-Qadar ibn Mustafa ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Qassam was a Syrian Muslim preacher, and a leader in the Arab nationalist struggles against British and French Mandatory rule in the Levant, and a militant opponent of Zionism in the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades</span> Military wing of the Palestinian Hamas organization

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. Currently led by Mohammed Deif and his deputy, Marwan Issa, IQB is the largest and best-equipped militant group operating within Gaza today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salah Shehade</span> Palestinian leader (1953–2002)

Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade صلاح شحادة was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his assassination by Israel.

Nidal Fat’hi Rabah Farahat created the Qassam rocket, a homemade weapon produced by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Wa'el Nassar (1973–2004) was an active member and one of the senior leaders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, until his assassination by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on 30 May 2004 in Gaza City.

The Black Hand was an anti-Zionist and anti-British Jihadist militant organization in Mandatory Palestine.

The Russian Business Network is a multi-faceted cybercrime organization, specializing in and in some cases monopolizing personal identity theft for resale. It is the originator of MPack and an alleged operator of the now defunct Storm botnet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anonymous (hacker group)</span> Decentralized hacktivist group

Anonymous is a decentralized international activist and hacktivist collective and movement primarily known for its various cyberattacks against several governments, government institutions and government agencies, corporations and the Church of Scientology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyberattacks during the Russo-Georgian War</span> Series of cyber attacks during Russo-Georgian war in 2008

During the Russo-Georgian War, a series of cyberattacks swamped and disabled websites of numerous South Ossetian, Georgian, Russian and Azerbaijani organisations. The attacks were initiated three weeks before the shooting war began.

Cyberwarfare is the use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially the deliberate attacking of information systems for strategic or military purposes. As a major developed economy, the United States is highly dependent on the Internet and therefore greatly exposed to cyber attacks. At the same time, the United States has substantial capabilities in both defense and power projection thanks to comparatively advanced technology and a large military budget. Cyber warfare presents a growing threat to physical systems and infrastructures that are linked to the internet. Malicious hacking from domestic or foreign enemies remains a constant threat to the United States. In response to these growing threats, the United States has developed significant cyber capabilities.

Anonymous is a decentralized virtual community. They are commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals, like its organization, are decentralized. Anonymous seeks mass awareness and revolution against what the organization perceives as corrupt entities, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Anonymous has had a hacktivist impact. This is a timeline of activities reported to be carried out by the group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NullCrew</span>

NullCrew was a hacktivist group founded in 2012 that took responsibility for multiple high-profile computer attacks against corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CyberBerkut</span> Group of pro-Russian hackers

CyberBerkut is a modern organized group of pro-Russian hacktivists. The group became locally known for a series of publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Ukrainian government, and western or Ukrainian corporate websites. By 2018, this group was accused by western intelligence agencies, such as National Cyber Security Centre of being linked to the GRU, providing plausible deniability.

Cyberwarfare is a part of Iran's "soft war" military strategy. Being both a victim and wager of cyberwarfare, Iran is considered an emerging military power in the field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Obaida (Hamas)</span> Spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades

Abu Obaida, also spelled Abu Obayda, Abu Ubayda and Abu Ubaydah, is the nom de guerre of a Palestinian militant who is the spokeperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist Palestinian political and military organization Hamas.

Ahmed Ghandour, also known as Abu Anas al-Ghandour, was a Palestinian senior militant in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. As commander of the Northern Gaza Brigade, he was a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades' General Military Council and was considered to be a close confidant of Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif. In 2017, Ghandour was designated by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. In November 2023, he was killed by an Israeli airstrike amid the Israel–Hamas war.

References

  1. ↑ "Bank of America and New York Stock Exchange under attack" . Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Chase, NYSE Websites Targeted in Cyber Attacks". Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "The 6th Week, Operation Ababil" . Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  4. ↑ Nakashima, Ellen (21 September 2012). "Iran blamed for cyberattacks on U.S. banks and companies". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Deconstructing the Al-Qassam Cyber Fighters Assault on US Banks". 2 January 2013. Analysis Intelligence. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Danchev, Dancho. "Dissecting 'Operation Ababil' - an OSINT Analysis". September 28, 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Gonsalves, Antone. "Bank attackers more sophisticated than typical hacktivists, expert says". September 28, 2012. CSO. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Jester: Anonymous Hackers Helped Izz ad-Din al-Qassam DDOS US Banks" . Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Phase 2 Operation Ababil" . Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "Group halts bank cyberattacks" . Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Shachtman, Noah (27 November 2012). "Bank Hackers Deny They're Agents of Iran". Wired. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  12. ↑ "Operation Ababil Suspended due to removal of insulting movie" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Warning, Operation Ababil" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  14. ↑ "Serious Warning, Operation Ababil" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Operation Ababil, AlQASSAM ULTIMATUM" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "Phase 3, Operation Ababil" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  17. ↑ "Bank Attackers Restart Operation Ababil DDoS Disruptions" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.