Government websites in Senegal hit by cyber attack
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Opponents of Senegal President Macky Sall fear he may seek a third term in office in the February 2024 election.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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DAKAR – A group of hackers called Mysterious Team made multiple Senegalese government websites go offline overnight on Friday by hitting them with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, a government spokesman said.
The group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a series of Twitter posts with the hashtag #FreeSenegal, used by campaigners alleging political repression in the country.
The attacks come at a time of heightened political tensions in Senegal, widely seen as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies. One person was killed on Friday in the latest violent stand-off between state security forces and opposition supporters.
In a statement early on Saturday, government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said all efforts were being made to bring the sites back online. By the evening, the presidency’s site was online but other official websites still appeared to be offline.
DDoS attacks work by directing high volumes of Internet traffic towards targeted servers in a bid to knock them offline.
Senegal has been shaken by over two years of sometimes violent protests over a host of issues, including fears among the opposition that President Macky Sall may seek a third term in office in the February 2024 election.
The opposition has also accused Mr Sall’s government of using the judicial machinery to target potential challengers such as popular politician Ousmane Sonko, who placed third in the 2019 presidential race.
The authorities deny that ongoing legal cases against Mr Sonko are politically motivated.
On its Twitter account, the so-called Mysterious Team says its members are “cyber warriors from Bangladesh”.
The group is little known, but has carried out previous cyber attacks against the Ethiopian Health Ministry and the Indian media, said the European Repository of Cyber Incidents, an independent research consortium that analyses cyber incidents.
The connection between Bangladesh and Senegal was not clear. Contacted by Reuters about its reasons for targeting the Senegalese authorities, a representative of Mysterious Team said: “We are working for justice for Senegal innocent peoples.” REUTERS
