Alabama Government Websites Suffer Multiple DDoS Cyberattacks Due To 'Political Reasons

By Thea Felicity

Mar 14, 2024 08:53 AM EDT

US Army Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency (NSA), delivers opening keynote remarks September 25, 2013 during the fourth annual Cybersecurity Summit held in Washington, DC. The leader of the embattled National Security Agency doubled down Wednesday against calls from Capitol Hill to restrict US government surveillance programs a campaign he attributed to sensationalized reporting and media leaks. Alexander instead emphasized the NSA isnt listening to Americans phone calls and reading their emails, and he urged technology and government leaders at the conference to help get the facts out and get our nation to understand why we need these tools in the wake of Edward Snowdens disclosures.
(Photo : Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images))

Alabama's state and city governments face a pair of cyber incidents, mainly with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks-disrupting their websites.

Alabama Government Faces Cyber Incidents

State officials, including those from the Alabama government, are working tirelessly to defend against these cyber threats and restore normal operations, according to CNN.

Fortunately, despite the attacks, there have been no reported breaches of government networks or data theft so far.

Due to DDoS attacks, Birmingham, one of Alabama's key cities, is dealing with a separate network issue that is causing service disruptions.

This problem affects various city transactions, such as licensing, taxing, and permitting.

At present, there has been no official update from the Alabama city government regarding this issue, leaving many questions unanswered.

How DDos Attacked Alabama Government Websites

The cyberattack on Alabama government websites involved a classic DDoS attack, wherein hackers flooded the sites with fake traffic to disrupt services.

Although effective, these attacks are not highly sophisticated. The group responsible,

Anonymous Sudan has claimed political motives for the attack, though their connection to Sudan remains unclear.

With this development, it's worth noting that Alabama cyber incidents are not the first to face attacks due to politics. VCPost also reported that the South Korean government reported the same, with North Koreans as perpetrators.

Alabama government's cyber incidents are only part of the ongoing cybersecurity challenges faced by state and local governments across the US. Due to limited resources and personnel for these types of cases, government websites often have difficulty fighting these cyber dangers.

Unfortunately, the repercussions of these incidents extend beyond government websites, affecting important services that people in the community need.

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