‘Sudanese Hackers’ Target Swedish Rail over Qur’an Burnings

A group of hackers linked to Sudan took credit for denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the websites of Swedish rail companies in revenge for burnings of the Islamic Qur’an.

Several rail operators in Sweden reported problems with other websites on Thursday morning including Inlandsbanan and Norrtåg, claiming that access to their websites was not available periodically.

Jonas Olsson, press spokesman for the government-owned rail firm SJ, commented on the issue, telling broadcaster SVT that the company was prepared for such attacks and “following developments very closely.”

According to SVT, the group behind the attack was Anonymous Sudan, which engaged in a denial of service (DDoS) attack — which involves attackers overwhelming websites with a large amount of traffic to the point where they are unable to cope.

The unrefined brute force attacks are just the latest from the group, as similar DDoS attacks were reported against the websites of Swedish airline SAS and the Skellefteå Airport.

Anna Sandell, a press officer for SAS Sweden, said that the Tuesday attack on the airline revealed the personal data of SAS passengers who have used the company’s app or website — but insisted no data had been stolen.

Anonymous Sudan has allegedly stated that it will continue to conduct attacks against Swedish companies and others unless Sweden formally apologises for the burning of the Islamic Qur’an by Danish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan that took place in January.

Little is known about the Anonymous Sudan group. Some have speculated they might not be linked to Sudan at all, with Swedish experts claiming they may be a front for Russia.

Anonymous Sudan rejected the claims, writing on the encrypted messaging app Telegram: “This is directed at the idiotic Swedish experts. Russia has nothing to do with these attacks.”

Many in the Islamic world have condemned Sweden following the Qur’an burnings, and the USA recently issued an alert over a heightened terrorist threat in Sweden in their aftermath.

The head of a mosque in the Swedish city of Gothenburg called for the banning of Qur’an burnings last week, and while Sweden has not formally banned the protests despite heavy pressure from the Turkish government and others, Swedish police have now begun denying permits for the demonstrations, supposedly over security issues.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.