ALBAWABA - The Anonymous Sudan group, a politically motivated hacking collective, has pledged to persist in targeting ChatGPT, a platform owned by OpenAI, as part of its ongoing campaign against Israel and its supporters.
The group has already claimed responsibility for several ChatGPT service disruptions in the past month, with the latest occurring on Thursday. OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, acknowledged resolving a major outage that lasted approximately 40 minutes, rendering the service intermittently unavailable, according to CNBC.
Anonymous Sudan declared its responsibility for the cyber attack during the service outage on its Telegram channel. The motive behind targeting ChatGPT is linked to Tal Broda, the head of research at ChatGPT, who expressed support for Israel during the conflict in Gaza. The group stated on its Telegram channel, "We will continue to target ChatGPT until Tal Broda, the supporter of genocide, is expelled, and until ChatGPT stops dehumanizing Palestinians."
Broda posted an apology on Sunday for some tweets he had previously shared in support of Israel during the October 7th events on the Ex, formerly Twitter. In his apology, he expressed shock and deep sadness about the "horrific massacre" carried out by Hamas on October 7th in Israel. He clarified that his intention was to voice his objection to Hamas, not to civilians in Gaza who are currently suffering.
Who is Anonymous Sudan?
Anonymous Sudan is an electronic hacking group involved in various attacks against targets in Sweden, Denmark, the United States, Australia, and other countries since early 2023. The group claims to be based in Sudan and targets what it calls "anti-Muslim activities," but its actual origins are unclear. Researchers in the threat intelligence field have identified potential logistical and ideological links to Russia.
History of Attacks:
Starting in February 2023, the group targeted several websites in Sweden and Denmark in response to an extremist right-wing activist publicly burning a copy of the Quran. In April 2023, the group attacked various Israeli websites in support of the Israeli Defense Forces during clashes with Hamas.
In July 2023, the group targeted the AO3 website, citing religious objections to the site's content. In March 2023, Anonymous Sudan and its ally attacked a series of Australian universities, hospitals, and airports.
In June 2023, the group, along with the Reville hacking group, threatened to attack the vital banking infrastructure for reasons related to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Some threat researchers believe that the group originates from or is supported by Russia, given the language used by Anonymous Sudan and its hacking methods. Efforts to uncover more about the group's origins and motives are ongoing.
