A hacktivist collective named Mysterious Team Bangladesh has been identified as the source behind over 750 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and 78 website defacements since June 2022. This group's primary targets have been government, financial, and transportation sector organizations, with a strong emphasis on India, according to a recent report by cybersecurity firm Group-IB.
Although Mysterious Team Bangladesh first emerged in 2020, it gained global recognition in 2022 due to its cyber campaigns targeting high-profile entities in India, Israel, and other nations. The group's activities underscore the often underestimated threat posed by hacktivism. Unlike ransomware actors who engage in negotiations, hacktivists aim to disrupt critical systems, potentially resulting in substantial financial and reputational losses for the targeted organizations.
Religious and political motivations drive Mysterious Team Bangladesh's actions, as outlined in the Group-IB report. The group has extended its activities beyond India, also targeting countries such as Australia, Senegal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Ethiopia.
The group has managed to breach web servers and administrative panels, likely exploiting known security vulnerabilities or weak passwords. The report indicates that Mysterious Team Bangladesh typically exploits vulnerable versions of PHPMyAdmin and WordPress, using open-source tools for executing DDoS attacks and defacements.
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The founder of Mysterious Team Bangladesh is believed to be an individual identified as D4RK_TSN, active on the messaging platform Telegram.
Group-IB anticipates that the hacktivist collective will expand its operations in the upcoming year, intensifying its attacks across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Financial institutions and governmental bodies are expected to remain focal points for the group's activities, with potential ramifications for these entities' operations and reputations. The report highlights the critical importance of bolstering cybersecurity measures to counteract hacktivist threats and safeguard against disruptions that could have widespread consequences.
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Inputs from IANS
