Anonymous Sudan Claims a Cyber Attack on Department of Commerce in the US

The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) has allegedly become the target of a cyber attack. Falcon Feed, a threat intelligence service, took to Twitter to share the news about the attack on Department of Commerce’s website.

The alleged threat actor, Anonymous Sudan, claimed responsibility for taking down the website. However, at present, the website appears to be operational, suggesting that the attack may have only caused a temporary disruption.

The Cyber Express reached out to the Department of Commerce to learn more about the alleged cyber attack on DOC. However, no official response or statement has been issued as of yet. It is important to note that Anonymous Sudan should not be confused with the hacktivist group Anonymous.

Anonymous Sudan has gained attention for religiously motivated denial-of-service attacks against various Western nations since the beginning of this year.

Attack on Department of Commerce: Is it a follow-up?

In 2020, the Department of Commerce and the US Treasury found itself in the clutches of a cyber attack. Reports suggest that a supply chain attack targeted SolarWinds, a renowned security vendor assisting numerous Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, compromising the communication systems of the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments. 

According to a Reuters story, the hackers in that particular attack were believed to be Russian threat actors allegedly monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments. However, no official hacker group was named in the attack, leaving speculation about the attacker’s profile. Moreover, Anonymous Sudan is a hacker group that came into the spotlight with its attacks in early 2023, leaving further speculation if both of these attacks are related or not.

Apart from the alleged attack on Department of Commerce, Anonymous Sudan announced its plan to attack Sweden. They claimed responsibility for a service outage experienced by Sweden’s government-owned passenger train operator, SJ. 

Another prominent threat actor, UserSec, recently allied with a new hacking groups. Anonymous Sudan has reportedly pledged its support to target NATO members alongside threat actors like UserSec and KillNet.

Attack on Department of Commerce: The Anonymous Sudan spree

According to a report by Bloomberg, Anonymous Sudan is linked to Russia and has been involved in high-scale data breaches against organizations such as Microsoft. Cybersecurity researchers have connected this group’s activities to Anonymous Sudan’s actions targeting Sweden, Israel, and the United States.

“Anonymous Sudan” describes itself as a hacktivist group fighting on behalf of oppressed Muslims worldwide from Africa. The group claimed responsibility for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Microsoft on June 5, citing retaliation for US policy regarding Sudan’s military conflict. 

Mattias Wåhlén, a threat intelligence expert at Stockholm-based Truesec, led an investigation into Anonymous Sudan. In a report by Truesec in February, the group was identified as a front for Russia, a conclusion substantiated by other security experts who examined its activities. 

Despite its brief existence, Anonymous Sudan has consistently employed cyber attacks to propagate a single narrative: that the West is hostile toward Islam. With the latest attack on Department of Commerce, Anonymous Sudan is evolving into a big threat to the cyber world. With support from other threat actors, the group is expected to grow further and launch large-scale attacks. 

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