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SiegedSec

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SiegedSec
Nickname"Gay Furry Hackers"
FormationApril 2022
TypeCybercrime gang
PurposeHacktivism
Region
International
MethodsHacking
Membership
Unknown
Official language
English
Leader"vio"

SiegedSec, short for Sieged Security and commonly self-referred to as the "Gay Furry Hackers",[1][2] is a black-hat criminal hacktivist group that was formed in early 2022, that has committed a number of high profile cyber attacks, including attacks on NATO,[3][4][5] The Idaho National Laboratory,[1][2] and Real America's Voice.[6][7] On July 10, 2024, the group announced that they would be disbanding after attacking The Heritage Foundation.[8]

Description[edit]

SiegedSec is led by an individual under the alias "vio".[9] Short for "Sieged Security",[10][11][12] SiegedSec's Telegram channel was first created in April 2022,[13] and they commonly refer to themselves as "gay furry hackers".[14][15] On multiple occasions, the group has targeted right-wing movements through breaching data, including The Heritage Foundation,[16][17] Real America's Voice,[18] as well as various U.S. states that have pursued legislative decisions against gender-affirming care.[19]

Notable attacks[edit]

  • University of Conneticut: In July 2023, SiegedSec sent a series of spoof emails to undergraduate University of Conneticut students using LISTSERV, falsely announcing the "Unfortunate Passing of Radenka Maric". During an interview with the Hartford Courant, Vio claimed responsibility for the incident, explained the vulnerability which allowed for them to perform the hack, and said that they "did it for the lulz".[9]
  • Idaho National Laboratory: In November 2023, Idaho National Laboratory's Oracle HR system was compromised leading to the leaking of personal employee data,[20] with the group demanding that the laboratory put research into "creating real-life catgirls" in exchange for the data to be removed.[11] On February 7, 2024, a number of employees received ransom payment requests in the mail with their data.[21]
  • NATO: In 2023, NATO portals were compromised twice by SiegedSec. The leak totalled over 3000 internal documents.[22][3][4][5] The portals compromised were Joint Advanced Distributed Learning, NATO Lessons Learned Portal, Logistics Network Portal, Communities of Interest Cooperation Portal, NATO Investment Division Portal, and NATO Standardization Office.[23] Shortly after the incident, NATO announced that they would be investigating the attack.[24][25]
  • Bezeq: On October 30, 2023, SiegedSec attacked Bezeq, one of the largest Israeli telecommunication providers. The hackers released information on nearly 50,000 customers.[26]
  • Atlassian: On February 14, 2023, major Australian software provider Atlassian had it's data leaked on the internet by SiegedSec using stolen employee credentials. Leaking 13,000 employee records where effected in this hack, SiegedSec was also able to obtain floorplans for Atlassian offices.[27]
  • The Heritage Foundation: In July 2024, SiegedSec announced that they had breached and leaked data from conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, which has led the Project 2025 proposals. They released a statement on Telegram, calling the proposals "an authoritarian Christian nationalist plan to reform the United States government."[15] The group released chatlogs of a conversation on Signal between "vio" and Heritage Foundation executive Mike Howell, in which Howell stated that he, in collaboration with the FBI, were "in the process of identifying and outting [sic] members of your group." After releasing the chatlogs, SiegedSec announced that they would be disbanding "for our own mental health, the stress of mass publicity, and to avoid the eye of the FBI."[28]

#OpTransRights movements[edit]

In June 2023, SiegedSec targeted several United States government entities to protest anti gender affirming care bills. The hackers released a variety of data including data from the Government of Fort Worth Texas, The Supreme Court of Nebraska, and South Carolina police files.[19]

In April and May 2024, SiegedSec began their second trans rights operation, #OpTransRights2. The hackers successfully targeted and leaked data from Real America's Voice.[6][7] and River Valley Church.[29]

Investigations[edit]

Following the Idaho National Laboratory attack, it was announced that the FBI as well as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had been contacted to help investigate the incident.[30]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Rich Stanton (2023-11-23). "Self-described gay furry hackers breach one of the biggest nuclear labs in the US, and demand it begin researching 'IRL catgirls'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  2. ^ a b "Self-proclaimed 'gay furry hackers' breach nuclear lab". Engadget. 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  3. ^ a b Lyons, Jessica. "NATO investigates hacktivist group's stolen data claims". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  4. ^ a b "NATO investigates alleged data theft by SiegedSec hackers". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  5. ^ a b Vicens, A. J. (2023-07-26). "NATO investigating apparent breach of unclassified information sharing platform". CyberScoop. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  6. ^ a b Thalen, Mikael (2024-04-16). "Furry hackers far-right campaign sets sights on Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  7. ^ a b "Gay Furry Hacker Group SiegedSec Breached a Far-Right Media Outlet and Wreaked Havoc". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  8. ^ Thalen, Mikael (July 10, 2024). "Read the furious texts the Heritage Foundation sent furry hacking collective SiegedSec after breach". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Cross, Alison (July 5, 2023). "UConn targeted in cyberattack allegedly by hacker in group known for targeting government agencies". Hartford Courant. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  10. ^ Anthony, Abigail (July 11, 2024). "Claws Out: 'Gay Furry Hackers' Target Heritage Foundation". National Review. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Yeo, Amanda (November 24, 2023). "'Gay furry hackers' breach nuclear lab, demand it create catgirls". Mashable. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  12. ^ Spindler, Emily (November 24, 2023). "Gay Furry Hackers Break Into Nuclear Lab Data, Want Catgirls". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  13. ^ Vicens, A. J. (July 9, 2024). "Hacktivists release two gigabytes of Heritage Foundation data". CyberScoop. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  14. ^ Cahill, Sebastian (July 14, 2023). "Gay furry hackers are targeting US states for passing anti-trans legislation". Business Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Musgrave, Shawn (July 9, 2024). ""Gay Furry Hackers" Claim Credit for Hacking Heritage Foundation Over Project 2025". The Intercept. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  16. ^ Hansford, Amelia (July 10, 2024). "'Gay furry hackers' steal 200GB of data in huge anti-Project 2025 cyber attack". PinkNews. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  17. ^ Liu, Nicholas (July 10, 2024). ""Gay furry hackers" claim credit for Heritage Foundation cyberattack". Salon.com. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  18. ^ Factora, James (April 19, 2024). "Gay Furry Hacker Group SiegedSec Breached a Far-Right Media Outlet and Wreaked Havoc". Them. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Wilson, Jason (June 29, 2023). "'Gay furries' group hacks agencies in US states attacking gender-affirming care". The Guardian. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  20. ^ Hart, Kaitlyn (November 20, 2023). "Idaho National Laboratory experiences massive data breach; employee information leaked online". East Idaho News. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  21. ^ "Data Breach Resources".
  22. ^ Greig, Jonathan (2024-04-16). "NATO 'actively addressing' alleged cyberattack affecting some websites". The Record. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  23. ^ Lyons, Jessica (October 4, 2023). "'Gay furry hackers' brag of second NATO break-in, steal and leak more data". The Register. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  24. ^ Vicens, A. J. (October 3, 2023). "NATO investigating breach, leak of internal documents". CyberScoop. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  25. ^ "Alleged SiegedSec attack against NATO under investigation". SC Magazine. October 4, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  26. ^ Thalen, Mikael (2023-10-30). "NATO 'actively addressing' alleged cyberattack affecting some websites". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  27. ^ Abrams, Lawrence (2023-02-16). "Atlassian data leak caused by stolen employee credentials". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  28. ^ Musgrave, Shawn (July 10, 2024). ""Gay Furry Hackers" Feud With Heritage Foundation Exec". The Intercept. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  29. ^ Thalen, Mikael (2024-04-01). "Furry hackers spend stolen church funds on inflatable sea lions after pastor calls out Biden". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  30. ^ Greig, Jonathan (November 22, 2023). "Federal agencies investigating data breach at nuclear research lab". The Record by Recorded Future. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
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