The
North
Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
(NATO)
has
been
the
victim
of
a
series
of
distributed
denial
of
service
(DDoS)
attacks,
causing
temporary
disruption
to
some
of
its
sites.
The
DDoS
attacks
have
been
linked
to
the
Russian
hacktivist
collective
Killnet
which
had
posted
via
an
encrypted
channel
on
social
media
platform
Telegram
that
it
was
planning
to
launch
attacks
against
NATO.
The
group
also
appeared
to
be
asking
for
cryptocurrency
donations
to
launch
further
attacks.
Jens
Stolberg,
secretary
general
of
NATO,
said
that
protective
measures
had
been
deployed
in
response
to
the
attack.
Stolberg
noted
that
NATO’s
classified
networks,
which
are
used
to
communicate
within
its
command
structure
and
on
active
missions,
were
not
affected
by
the
DDoS
attack.
He
also
said
that
“the
majority
of
NATO
websites
were
functioning
as
normal”
and
that
the
organization’s
technical
teams
were
“working
to
restore
full
access”.
Despite
Stolberg’s
assurances
that
the
network
was
not
affected,
it
has
been
reported
that
communications
between
NATO
and
its
Strategic
Airlift
Capability
(SAC)
were
affected
by
the
attack.
The
SAC
has
been
used
as
part
of
NATO’s
response
to
the
magnitude
7.8
earthquake
that
hit
Syria
and
Turkey
on
6
February
and
its
subsequent
aftershocks,
with
an
aircraft
being
used
to
fly
search
and
rescue
teams
and
their
equipment
to
an
airbase
in
Turkey.
The
SAC’s
ability
to
communicate
with
the
aircraft
it
was
allegedly
affected
by
network
disruption
although
it
did
not
fully
lose
contact
with
the
plane.
What
are
hacktivists?
Hacktivists,
or
hacktivism,
describes
hackers
who
are
motivated
not
by
monetary
gain
but
by
their
political
views.
Hacktivists
used
cyber
attacks
to
further
their
ideology
or
make
political
statements
using
disruptive
threat
vectors
like
DDoS
attacks
to
take
websites
or
services
offline.
Hacktivists
may
also
steal
sensitive
or
embarrassing
information
about
their
political
adversaries
to
post
online,
a
technique
known
as
doxxing.
Hacktivists
targeted
Iran’s
steel
industry
On
June
28,
2022,
one
of
Iran’s
largest
steel
manufacturers
was
targeted
by
the
hacktivist
group
Gonjeshke
Darande
(Predatory
Sparrow).
Khouzestan
Steel
Company
was
forced
to
close
its
plant
due
to
technical
issues
as
a
result
of
the
attack,
with
the
company’s
website
also
down.
Predatory
Sparrow
posted
a
video
on
social
media,
claiming
to
have
affected
multiple
other
steel
companies
in
the
attack
including
Mobarakeh
Steel
Company
and
the
Hormozgan
Steel
Company.
The
attack
was
orchestrated
against
Khouzestan
Steel
Company
as,
according
to
Predatory
Sparrow,
the
company
has
continued
to
operate
despite
government
sanctions.
In
January
2021,
several
companies
connected
to
the
steel
industry
in
Iran
were
sanctioned
by
the
US
Treasury
Department
after
it
was
alleged
that
the
metal
producers
had
been
using
their
revenue
to
fund
the
Iranian
regime
and
its
nefarious
activities.
The
group
also
said
that
the
attacks
were
launched
in
response
to
the
“aggression
of
the
Islamic
Republic
[of
Iran]”,
and
that
they
were
carried
out
“carefully
so
to
protect
innocent
individuals”.
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