Authorities on high alert for “imminent” cyberattack
Authorities on Thursday said they remained on alert for a possible cyberattack on critical infrastructures after threats made on the dark web by a known group of hackers.
Unnamed sources told the Cyprus News Agency that authorities were monitoring the situation, but that so far no cyberattack had taken place.
Earlier in the day, Commissioner of Communications Giorgos Michaelides had corroborated to Politis newspaper that authorities were on heightened alert due to the specific threats.
The attack was supposed to have occurred on Thursday.
Earlier this week, cybersecurity firm Odyssey had warned of an “imminent” cyberattack against Cyprus.
“We have observed that a hacking group known as LulzSec Black has publicly declared its intent to target the critical infrastructure of Cyprus,” Odyssey said.
“The attack appears to be politically motivated, citing Cyprus’ relationship with Israel as a factor behind the upcoming cyber offensive.”
The firm said the planned cyberattack was scheduled for October 17 “with potential tactics including distributed denial of service (DDoS), data breaches, and other exploitation techniques.
“The threat is further heightened by the involvement of the group ‘Moroccan Soldiers’ who have expressed their support for LulzSec Black in these operations.”
According to the cybersecurity firm, the targeted systems would include Cypriot infrastructure, specifically government, financial, and critical services, which may be at risk of service disruptions, data theft, or system compromises.