Anonymous Strikes on Bahrain Government’s E-Visa Service: Cybersecurity Concerns Arise
Anonymous Collective, a hacktivist group, reportedly striked the Bahrain government’s e-visa service, according to The Cyber Express. The security of the data is an issue, but the nature of the attack and the information potentially compromised are still unknown.
The Cyber Express team reports to have conducted an independent investigation, only to discover that the official website of the Bahrain government’s e-visa service functions as usual, thus making the claim of the Anonymous Collective unreliable. It is possible that the motivation behind such a feat is to gain attention.
There is no official statement, which leaves the locals and the experts in a state of uncertainty. Anonymous Collective, according to The Cyber Express, is known for its activism relating to socio-political issues. Organizations and goverments which seem to be opressive or are associated with ambiguous activities are often their target.
This attack is similar to many previous ones, such as the one in December 2023, when the group claimed to be responsible for attacking the UAE government portal, taking it offline. Furthermore, the Anonymous Collective claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Cosmote, the largest mobile network operator in Greece. Another attack was targeted towards Cairo International Airport, a DDos attack (Distributed Denial of Service), motivated by the perceived support of Egypt to Israel in the Gaza conflict. There were no official statements or conclusions following these attacks, not even in the airport attack, despite it suffering extensive damage.
The Bahrain government’s response to the cyberattacks will be followed by international communities for potential consequences on national security and diplomatic relations, raising concerns about the effectiveness of cybersecurity efforts and governments’ struggles in safeguarding digital assets against persistent threats, according to The Cyber Express.
