14 DAY TRIAL // The official website of Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior (moi.gov.kw) was hacked and defaced last week by a couple of hacktivists using the online monikers Shmook Amer and Dr.Hjd.
The attack on the Ministry of Interior’s website comes around two months after officials of Western and Arab states met in Kuwait for the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria.
Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has promised $500 million (€363,000) to help the Syrians affected by the civil war that has been taking place in their country for the last three years.
In the message posted on the defaced website of the Ministry of Interior, the hackers apologized for the intrusion and urged Kuwaiti officials to do more to put an end to the current situation in Syria.
They’ve urged Middle Eastern countries to join forces and launch military action to address the Syrian crisis, HackRead reports.
“We need actions because they are louder than words,” the hackers wrote in Arabic on the defaced website.
At the time of writing, the website has been restored. However, mirrors of the defacement are available on zone-h.org and via Google’s cache.
As far as cyber security is concerned, apparently, Kuwait is far from having a secure cyberspace. After all, if the Ministry of Interior’s website can be easily hacked, other government websites are probably just as vulnerable.
Back in September-October 2013, the United States International Trade Administration sent a delegation of 13 US companies that specialize in cyber security and critical infrastructure protection to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to offer products, technologies and services to public and private entities in the safety and security industries.