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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the largest development institution in the world, headquartered in Washington DC, has become the latest victim of Russian-allied hacktivist groups Killnet and Anonymous Sudan.
These hackers have been targeting major financial institutions, with their latest focus being the European banking system. On Wednesday morning, the IFC’s website was reported to be down, although it was functioning normally by the afternoon.
Timeline of the Events
Killnet initiated the attack and announced it on its Telegram page, bidding farewell with a waving hand emoji and sharing a picture of the IFC building on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC. Interestingly, the IFC is located just one mile northwest from the White House on the same avenue.
KILLNET along with Anonymous Sudan claims to have targeted the website of International Finance Corporation.
Note – website is down at the moment.#USA @IFC_org#killnet #anonymousudan pic.twitter.com/nbS8LvhyEP
— FalconFeedsio (@FalconFeedsio) June 21, 2023
Shortly after Killnet’s announcement, Anonymous Sudan reposted the claims on its own Telegram channel, urging the Bank’s partners and staff to leave as the IFC was no longer operational.
Furthermore, Killnet shared links to multiple cryptocurrency accounts, seeking donations for their actions.
Earlier this week, the hacktivist groups took credit for disrupting several European banking systems, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), which acknowledged the attack on Twitter.
We are currently facing a cyber attack which affects the availability of https://t.co/P3qatt3Uz5 and https://t.co/bGl0aO1Gwl. We are responding to the incident.
— European Investment Bank (@EIB) June 19, 2023
Killnet’s Telegram channel featured a statement boasting their allegiance to the Kremlin, expressing their intent to only target unfriendly countries and pledging loyalty to their homeland while destroying enemies.
More about the APTs
These hacker groups have been consistently making headlines since January, primarily in response to America and NATO allies’ support of Ukraine during the Russian-led invasion.
Anonymous Sudan gained attention for its recent attacks on Microsoft, specifically targeting Microsoft’s 365 services, including Outlook, and Azure platforms for an extended period. The group also made news with its Valentine’s Day attacks on Sweden and repeated targeting of SAS Airlines.
Microsoft eventually acknowledged being taken offline by Anonymous Sudan’s preferred method of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Meanwhile, Killnet has focused on targeting NATO and other Ukrainian supporters throughout the first half of 2023. They have been actively promoting pro-Russian propaganda, advertising their darknet hacker school, claiming to become a private military organization, and even announcing their disbandment at one point.
Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and another Russian-linked hacker group known as REvil declared themselves the Darknet Parliament, discussing their coordinated attacks on the financial sector.
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