Two Sudanese have been charged by US prosecutors for their alleged involvement in Anonymous Sudan, a group that launched several thousand “denial of service” (DDOS) attacks. The latter, which consist of saturating Internet sites to make them inaccessible, have been launched against US government agencies, airports, several hospitals and numerous companies around the world. In France, the group attacked several ministries in March: despite the little damage observed, Matignon then mentioned a computer attack by a “unprecedented intensity”.
Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer, 22, is accused of setting up the group’s infrastructure and posting messages on Telegram claiming responsibility for the attacks. Another defendant, his brother, Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer, 27, is accused of having participated in the manufacture of the attack tools. Both are detained outside the United States and have been interrogated by FBI agents, federal prosecutors detailed.
For the attack on the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a large hospital in Los Angeles that had to reject patients due to an action by Anonymous Sudan, Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer is accused by the American justice system of having attempted “knowingly and recklessly causing death.” As such, he risks life in prison, an exceptionally harsh charge for computer hacking, especially denial-of-service attacks whose damages are generally limited and temporary. If convicted, it would be the first conviction for cybercrime linked to physical harm in the United States, said Martín Estrada, federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, who is leading the investigation. Several French hospital websites were also attacked in June 2023, with much minor damage.
More than 35,000 attacks
According to US prosecutors, the tool designed by the group was used to launch more than 35,000 attacks of this type – which stood out for their power and their ability to cause damage – in one year. The total list of its targets is dizzying: Anonymous Sudan attacked government organizations and companies in the Netherlands, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Israel, and the United Kingdom. According to prosecutors, Netflix, Riot Games Inc, Europol, the FBI, the Department of Defense and the Department of State are among the specific targets.
In France, the group was the subject of two investigations by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI): the first was launched in March 2023 after the group demanded the blocking of the websites of several French airports, and the second a year later, after The attack on the ministries.
The group pursued a “Sudanese nationalist ideology” and chose very varied objectives but always according to this ideology, Estrada added, describing the accused as “insensitive and shameless”. In its messages, Anonymous Sudan claims its anti-Americanism but also its hostility towards LGBT+ people or towards Israel, as well as its support for Palestine.
The origin of the accused, a surprise
The nationality of the two main defendants (prosecutors specified that two other pirates had been identified, without giving their names or nationalities) is surprising, since the group seemed aligned with Russian interests. “What we can say about Anonymous Sudan is that they are so close to Russian ideas that we doubt they are Sudanese. There are reasons to believe that they are a false sense of smell on the part of the Russians to give their action a more international air.explained to World John Hultquist, a leading expert on state pirate hunting, a few months ago.
However, prosecutors said the group was led by people based in Sudan. “although the group may share ideologies with Killnet [un groupe d’hacktivistes DDOS fortement soupçonné d’être russe] and other similar hacktivist groups, and sometimes appears to act in accordance with them.according to the sworn statement of an FBI agent, in support of the accusation against Ahmed Salah.
Last year, a person who identified himself as a spokesperson for Anonymous Sudan on Telegram told a Bloomberg reporter that the group had partnered with Russian hacking groups because “Russia had already supported Sudan and, in addition, these groups [les] had helped a lot and [qu’ils voulaient] return the favor. US authorities carried out an operation in March to dismantle the technical infrastructure of Anonymous Sudan, the Telegram page ceased activity before disappearing.
