#BLM Targeted By Racist Cyber Attacks

Civil liberties organisations are being  targeted by alt-right activists as protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands at the hands of Minneapolis police officers have spread across the US

Organisations advocating for racial justice and civil liberties are coming under frequent and sustained cyber attack by undisclosed groups of trolls, cyber criminals and other threat actors. Protests groups such as Black Lives Matter (BLM), have been the target o DDoS attacks with thousands of zombie machines to knock their websites offline. 

A DDoS attack is designed to take its target offline by bombarding its server, website or other network resource with connection requests or malformed packets, forcing it to slow down or crash altogether, thereby denying service to legitimate users.

Security experts at Deflect Labs  can trace much of the malicious traffic back to botnets and malicious scripts run by the Ghost Squad hacking collective, who very publicly denounced Black Lives Matter. But Deflect has written that their efforts were largely futile.  

Cloudflare are reported to have seen increasing levels of cyber attacks against many organisations fighting racism, numbering in the tens of billions, compared with previous times. It has a number of such public interest groups on its books, and supports those that may be at risk of cyber attack but not necessarily able to afford full-service cyber security protection through its Project Galileo service, which was set up in 2014 in the face of a trend of disproportionate attacks against those advocating for marginalised groups, political dissidents, artistic groups and humanitarian organisations.

Cloudflare did not identify any specific groups that might be attacking advocacy organisations, but some of the attacks will very likely have been organised by small-time internet trolls with links to the far right. It is also possible that some of the activity could have been orchestrated by nation state-backed threat actors in China or Russia seeking an opportunity to destabilise the US still further.

Advocacy groups promoting the Black Lives Matter message weren’t the only recipients of DDoS attacks during the period. Cloudflare said it also recorded a 1.8-times increase in attacks on government sites and a 3.8-times increase in malicious traffic targeting military sites during the same period.

Vice:      Computer Weekly:       Information Security Buzz:   Forbes:       Infosecurity Magazine

You Might Also Read: 

Attacks On Anti-Racism Sites Surge:

 

« The Costs Of A Data Breach
WEBINAR: How to improve threat detection and hunting in the AWS Cloud »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Gartner insights into How to Select the Right ZTNA offering. Download this FREE report for a limited time only.

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: What Is A Next-Generation Firewall (and why does it matter)?

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: What Is A Next-Generation Firewall (and why does it matter)?

Watch this webinar to hear security experts from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SANS break down the myths and realities of what an NGFW is, how to use one, and what it can do for your security posture.

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North IT (North Infosec Testing) are an award-winning provider of web, software, and application penetration testing.

Metasploit

Metasploit

Metasploit penetration testing software helps find security issues, verify vulnerabilities and manage security assessments.

SafeCharge

SafeCharge

SafeCharge is a global provider of technology-based multi-channel payments services and risk management solutions for demanding businesses.

Protiviti

Protiviti

Protiviti consulting solutions span critical business problems in technology, business process, analytics, risk, compliance, transactions and internal audit.

ESL Bangladesh

ESL Bangladesh

ESL is the Largest IT Infrastructure & Telecom Service Provider in Bangladesh.

Approachable Certification

Approachable Certification

Approachable Certification is a UKAS accredited certification body offering down-to-earth and competitively priced audits against ISO Management Systems standards.

IT Career Switch

IT Career Switch

An IT Career Switch Traineeship is the easiest way to start a new career in IT or Cybersecurity with fantastic career prospects.

Elemental Cyber Security

Elemental Cyber Security

Elemental is a game changing cyber security compliance automation and enforcement technology provider.

Axur

Axur

Discover and eliminate digital fraud and risks on the web. Utilize Axur’s entire AI potential, along with thousands of bots dispersed throughout the surface web as well as the deep and dark web.

NTT Group

NTT Group

NTT offers agile, scalable technology services to bring it all together seamlessly, securely, and sustainably. We help you adopt a holistic security approach across your network, clouds, applications.

RegScale

RegScale

RegScale helps organizations comply in real-time with multiple compliance requirements (NIST, CMMC, ISO, SOX, etc), scalable to meet the needs of the entire enterprise.

Quantropi

Quantropi

Quantropi is bound to be the standard for quantum-secure data communications – forever unbreakable, no matter what.

PhishFirewall

PhishFirewall

PhishFirewall is an advanced AI-driven CyberSecurity Awareness Education, Threat Emulation, and Human Security Analytics Platform.

Red Goat Cyber Security

Red Goat Cyber Security

Red Goat Cyber Security have created excellent, informative and interactive Social Engineering Awareness training which is suitable for all levels of staff.

Port-IT

Port-IT

Port-IT is a leading partner in cybersecurity solutions tailored for the maritime industry.

Deloitte Denmark

Deloitte Denmark

Swift incident management, worldwide support, and advanced defense strategies ensure comprehensive recovery and enterprise security with our IR service.

Cynch Security

Cynch Security

Cynch Security are passionate about building a world where every business is resilient to cybersecurity risks, no matter what their size.