2014 World Cup Brings DDoS Attacks to Brazil
Anonymous, the infamous hacktivist collective, announced it plans to DDoS various high-profile FIFA World Cup 2014 sponsors.
The Brazilian government has already received a lot of criticism regarding the world’s largest single-sport event. The facilities are far from ready, despite a seven-year heads-up; the longest preparation period for any World Cup host ever. Many corruption allegations were made as well.
A lot of Brazilians are aggravated by what they see as lavish spending on the World Cup, while large portions of the country still lags on issues like education, sanitation and hospitals. Many protesters think the money would be better spent on eliminating violence, drugs and weapons from their streets.
Hacktivists around the world are joining the local protests. A hacker going by the alias “Che Commodore” says in a Reuters interview: “We have already conducted late-night tests to see which of the sites are more vulnerable. “We have a plan of attack.” The short list of sponsors targeted for attack includes Adidas, Emirates Airlines, Coca-Cola and Budweiser.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry’s computer networks have also been attacked resulting in dozens of confidential emails being leaked. A hacker called “AnonManifest” used phishing tactics to hack into the Foreign Ministry’s databases and exfiltrate emails.
This news makes it very clear that DDoS attacks can happen to organizations at any time, but especially during highly profiled events such as the World Cup. Large organizations and entities such as governments and banks easily attract criticism, especially when they become affiliated with controversial events. A large set of banks have been attacked Following the recent bank attacks and Anonymous DDoS announcements in the US, federal advisory committee FFIEC has advised US banks to prepare against DDoS attacks. It’s a good time to ask yourself: Is your organization ready? The next attack is not guaranteed to be announced ahead of time.
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