Massive cyberattack disrupts popular online forum used by Hong Kong protesters

Digital Attack Map
Digital Attack Map

Hong Kong is making headlines almost every day and the world knows what the current situation is. But recently it was revealed that hackers have targeted a popular online forum which is used by protesters and hit its servers on Saturday.

As per the information provided by the Digital Attack Map, which provides data on daily cyberattacks around the world, Hong Kong is at the centre of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

DDoS is a malicious network attack that involves hackers forcing numerous Internet-connected devices to send network communication requests to one specific service or website with the intention of overwhelming it with false traffic or requests, explained Malwarebytes.

In this case, a forum called LIHKG was used by the Hong Kong protesters to organize mass rallies in the city. But on Saturday the forum mentioned that its servers were hit maliciously by a large DDoS attack and such cyber attack they never encountered before.

Due to this DDoS attack, some LIHKG services were interrupted. While trying to access the forum it showed an error, even people are also talking about this issue on Twitter.

It should be noted that this is the second large cybersecurity incident to target applications used this summer by the Hong Kong demonstrators.

Earlier another cyber attack event was reported when the popular messaging service Telegram was hit by a powerful attack that was linked to China.

DDoS attacks launch:

  • Hackers need DDoSTool to enslave computers.
  • It can be an email attachment or link to a website that the cybercriminals controls and from where malware is sent.
  • Through emails and messaging apps, hackers can send links which an attacker wants the victim to click on again to trigger the download of a DDoSTool.
  • Drive-by downloads or click scams.

DDoS attackers can secretly load several apps with a malicious DDoSTool. In August 2018, a massive Android-device DDoS attack came to light.

It happened when a botnet dubbed WireX struck targets in a variety of industries including hospitality, gambling and domain name registrars. It turned out that up to 300 malicious Android apps penetrated Google Play (which the company scrubbed after being informed of the threat), co-opting devices into a botnet across more than 100 countries.

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