14 DAY TRIAL // Robert Mugabe has won last week’s election in Zimbabwe and will continue to lead the country. However, the election has been highly controversial, with the opposition determined to go to court to demonstrate fraud.
Before and after the election, several cyberattacks have been launched against entities that directly or indirectly had something to do with the event, TechWeek Europe reports.
GreenNet, an Internet service provider and web host, reported being hit by a massive distribute denial-of-service (DDOS) attack which caused a large number of websites to go offline.
GreenNet’s customers include the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, which also suffered a separate DDOS attack, Privacy International and Fair Trade Africa.
Electionride.com, one of the many services that issued reports about rigged elections, also suffered an attack and was forced to take down its website.
Kubatana.net, which provides election information, was blocked from sending mass text messages. Apparently, the government ordered the organization’s mobile provider, Econet Wireless, to enforce the block.
US-based hosting provider HostGator also reported being targeted with a DDOS attack. The operation disrupted Nehanda Radio, a popular news service in Zimbabwe.
GreenNet revealed that the attack, which impacted all its 3,000 customers, peaked at 100Gbps. The company believes that the DNS reflection attack launched against its systems is the work of a government or a corporation.
“The nature and magnitude of this attack does suggest corporate or governmental sponsors, likely a very unsavory one,” the company wrote on Twitter after the attack started.
Zimbabwe’s president is also fiercely contested by Anonymous Africa. In June, the hacktivists launched attacks against a number of Zimbabwe websites, including the one of the country’s Ministry of Defense.
The hackers also targeted organizations they accused of supporting Robert Mugabe.