National Insurance Institute denies its website was brought down by hacker group
‘Anonymous Sudan’ claims to crash sites of NII and Mossad spy agency, in response to reports that Jerusalem has offered to mediate conflict in African nation
The National Insurance Institute (NII) denied that its website was taken down in a cyberattack late Monday, after a hacker group claimed to have successfully disrupted the sites of both the NII and the Mossad spy agency.
A group of hackers that goes by “Anonymous Sudan” claimed Monday evening that it had brought down the sites of the Israeli organizations.
“This attack is just a preparatory attack… for the big attack,” the group posted on Telegram.
“Message to Israel, we do not want any mediation from you in Sudan, put all your mediation in your ass,” the group added, referencing a report earlier in the day that Israel had offered to mediate between the currently warring factions in Sudan.
In a statement, NII said the group had attempted but failed to bring down its website.
“They are trying to attack the site even now but have not succeeded,” it said, adding that its cybersecurity team “is following any such activity or attempts, and working to continue securing the system.”
Mossad did not publicly respond to the claim, though it rarely issues any public statements.
Both websites were up and running normally as of Tuesday morning.
Anonymous Sudan appeared to react angrily to the NII’s claim that it had been unsuccessful, saying that it had brought down the site again in response: “Don’t say we are liars again, idiots,” the group wrote on Telegram.
“We took you down for an hour. We can bring you down for a longer period of time, but we do not want to waste time, as we are preparing for the big attack,” it added. “An hour is enough to silence you, idiots.”
The NII site provides Israelis with access to disability, pension, unemployment and maternity leave benefits as well as subsidies for low-income families and other medical insurance claims. The Mossad site is largely just an informational hub.
Monday’s purported attack followed a successful hacking attack by Anonymous Sudan earlier this month against Israel’s national mail service and major banks.
That attack was quickly squelched, authorities said, with apparently no significant harm or data leaks, though the websites of two telecoms and more banks later went down. The National Cyber Directorate said the site for Israel’s national mail service was back up and running after a few minutes. Bank Mizrachi’s page was down for half an hour, it said.
The attacks only caused “occasional interruptions,” it said. The directorate noted that the hackers did not gain access to internal documents or files, but merely the customer-facing interface. A short time later, the websites for the HOT cable service provider and 012 mobile carrier went down, with the group claiming responsibility for those as well.
The attacks coincided with the marking of Quds Day, an Iran-promoted event featuring virulently anti-Israel marches and rallies in Tehran and elsewhere.
In recent months, Anonymous Sudan has claimed several brief attacks on government services, healthcare and other operations in European countries. Some experts have speculated it may be linked to Russia’s Killnet hacking group rather than Sudan.
The past 10 days of urban combat in Sudan have killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners. At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies. The sides agreed early Tuesday on a US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire.
Fighting erupted on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and those of his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Citing unnamed Foreign Ministry officials, the Walla news site reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and the ministry’s director-general Ronen Levy have been in direct contact with Burhan and Dagalo since the fighting erupted and urged them to reach a ceasefire.
The Foreign Ministry officials quoted in the report said neither Burhan or Dagalo ruled out Israel’s offer to host negotiations and appeared to be considering it seriously.
Israel and Sudan agreed in 2020 to normalize diplomatic ties as part of the US-backed Abraham Accords, but a final agreement has remained elusive and the fresh hostilities threaten to make the prospect of a deal even more remote.
Part of the delay in normalizing relations stemmed from a dispute between Sudan’s military and civilian leadership over whether to normalize with Israel. While Burhan had backed normalization, the effort was later put on the back burner. After Burhan and Dagalo deposed the civilian government and seized power, the US cut aid to Sudan, further setting back the initiative.
