U.S. Army Website Defaced and Taken Down by Syrian Hacker Group

Hacker groups are plentiful, and many of them represent a strong force that has attacked large entities including many government departments in the United States. Among the latest attacks, a hacker group known as the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), defaced and later brought down the U.S. Army's website.

The SEA is known as a hacker group that supports the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During the attack, the SEA was able to post several messages of the Army.mil website some stating the text, "The defender of honor, Syrian Aram Army," "Your commanders admit they are training people they sent you to die fighting," and others. The defacement of the U.S. Army site also included a graphic (figure 1.) showing Syrian troops instead of the normal imagery used to showcase U.S. Army personnel.

Figure 1. Syrian Arab Army graphic used to deface Army.mil website

During the attack on the U.S. Army website, the SEA wanted to be sure everyone was clear who attacked the site by promptly claiming responsibility by posting a tweet through their Twitter account. Additionally, the SEA suggested that they were able to gain access through the Limelight content delivery network, a site permissions interface.

This is not the first time such an incident occurred were a government site was attacked and defaced by cybercrooks. Such occurrences have taken place on government sites belonging to many other countries, including several sites belonging to China.

Experts are calling the defacement of the U.S. Army's website an embarrassment. Though, it would be prudent to mention how aggressive hacker groups have become over the course of the past few years. Some groups are relentless in their efforts to attack large businesses and governments in opposition of what they stand for and believe in. The Syrian Electronic Army is just one of many aggressive hacker groups who emerge to attack government sites or those who oppose their beliefs. It just so happens that the U.S. Army site was vulnerable enough to the point that the hackers utilized a platform to gain access for the defacement and take down of the site.

As we look to safeguard government and large business sites and infrastructures, hackers and their fortified groups seem to have an upper hand in finding ways to slip in and do damage. The priorities of the U.S. government may be first to protect their data and after that their websites, which may be in response to the data breach that took place recently to extract 4 million government workers' personal data. Either way, the message is now clear on what needs to be done in all facets.