MORE than 100 Cypriot websites were temporarily taken offline on Sunday and yesterday, after a wave of attacks attributed to Turkish hackers.
“No terror in sports” was the slogan branded on the websites of some 100 private Cypriot companies and organisations. The hackers also posted the emblem of Pinar Karsikaya, a Turkish basketball team, on the websites as well as showing a map of Cyprus dyed red with a crescent on it. Complaints were being made to the police’s Anti-Cyber Crime Office.
The basketball team Pinar Karsikaya were subjected to violence last Tuesday in Nicosia at a FIBA Eurochallenge game with APOEL, when APOEL hooligans began throwing things at them. There was speculation the hack attack was ‘payback’ for that incident.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos stated that the evidence the police have indicates that the hacking had originated in Turkey. “Our first port of call was to the companies and to those who deal with the websites and they have already begun to restore the sites that have been hacked,” said Katsounotos.
Companies were forced to temporarily take down their websites after the attack causes the website to freezing. Katsounotos also confirmed the fact that by the hackers putting up their own data, they end up blocking the system. The slogan “No terror in sports” was written in three languages: English, Greek and Turkish.
According to Katsounotos, a whole range of websites were hacked, all private, some of them being car-sale websites and some of them being media websites, with one thing in common, that they were under one server. The specific host server is based in Limassol.
“Three of the companies have already showed a willingness to come forward and file written complaints,” said Katsounotos.
None of the compromised websites were governmental, he added.
Some of the websites, such as online newspaper Kathimerini, were up and running again yesterday. According to a journalist with Kathimerini, the website was not damaged nor was any data stolen.
A number of the websites attacked were of online publications belonging to the Sppmedia group. Such sites included: must.com.cy, mydeejay.com.cy, livingetc.com.cy, and sppmedia.com.
A source with the police’s Anti-Cyber Crime Office said that a popular forum called www.cyber-warrior.org may be linked to the attack on the Cypriot websites. Hackers affiliated to the forum have in the past reportedly carried out attacks in other countries, including Greece and Israel.
The same ‘group’ of hackers were likely behind a recent attack on the Archbishopric’s website, the Mail has been told. The actual attack was not publicised.
