Anonymous Hacker Group Takes Egyptian President’s Website Offline

An anonymous hacking group attacked the website of the Egyptian presidency and took it offline for a short time on Thursday, according to a report at Al-Arabiya News.

The Egyptian government claims the attack was unsuccessful, and the attackers “did not hack any of the major systems.” The main page of the website was briefly taken down, but a cabinet spokesman said the site was soon brought “fully under control, thanks to the technical team.”

“The website of the Cabinet Decision Support Center (IDSC), the Egyptian cabinet’s official think tank, was also hacked and closed following the incident,” writes Al-Arabiya.

The government claimed it has not been able to identify the hackers, but a group calling itself “Anonymous Rabaa” claimed responsibility in a YouTube video, promising that more attacks would come. (Ahram Online reports the group renders its name as the “Anonymous R4BIA Team.”)

“Where are the rights of those who were killed in Sinai or the rights of the police officers that were killed in explosions; where are the rights of those who died in 25 January or those who died in Rabaa or at the Presidential Palace clashes of 2013? Why do you insist on dividing us when we should be one hand?” said the hackers, referring to a protest held in 2013 after the current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, overthrew President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Anonymous Rabaa insisted it is not connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now banned in Egypt.

Al-Arabiya notes there have been similar cyber-attacks recently, including one that closed down the website of the Cairo airport, replacing its main page with the image of a salute associated with Rabaa, plus a slogan, “The Revolution Continues.” The attack coincided with the second anniversary of the Rabaa incident.

Al-Arabiya claims the Cairo airport attack was believed to be the work of hackers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, while Ahram Online specifies it was a Turkish hacking team called “AkinCilar.”