Updated: 30 August 2011
The Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), a research collaboration between the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and the SecDev Group, an operational think tank based in a Ottawa, Canada, has uncovered an attempt to lure pro-revolution Syrian Facebook users into providing their login credentials by using a fake URL and login page. The source code of the fake Facebook page indicates that this page was set up to target pro-revolution users. However, we are not able to determine who is behind this particular attempt to harvest login credentials.
Read the full report here.
The IWM has published two reports documenting the activities of the Syrian Electronic Army, which appears to be an open and organized pro-government computer attack group that is actively targeting political opposition and Western websites, as well as compromising several Facebook pages run by Syrian opposition groups.
- Syrian Electronic Army: Disruptive Attacks and Hyped Targets
25 June 2011
This report examines the linkage between the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Although our researcher found no concrete evidence linking the SEA to the Syrian regime, the President’s statement of appreciation for SEA’s efforts and the fact that the group is able to operate with impunity over Syrian networks, show at least tacit support for their activities. - The Emergence of Open and Organized Pro-Government Cyber Attacks in the Middle East: The Case of the Syrian Electronic Army
30 May 2011
This report aims to assess to what extent evidence of Syrian government assistance for the Syrian Electronic Army can be found, and what the significance of the attacks themselves are for civil society and cyberspace contestation.