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Hacking group Black Shadow has allegedly leaked private information of users of the LGBTQ website Atraf, sparking fears that individuals who have used the website will be revealed to their communities.
Israeli LGBTQ dating website Atraf suffered an alleged cyber attack over over the last week, with hacking group Black Shadow posting user’s information online and demanding a ransom from the website's owners.
Last week, the cyber criminals leaked a small collection of private data online alongside demands of a ransom to prevent any additional leaks. However, it now appears that the information of up to one million website users has been posted online.
The Israeli Justice Ministry has confirmed that Google has prevented the hackers’ websites from being accessed from the search engine, making the information harder to find.
“The Google search engine blocked access to the sites of the group Black Shadow,” an Israeli Justice Ministry spokesperson said.
Speaking to the AFP, The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel board member Hilda Peer confirmed that many users fear for their safety following the leak.
Analysts believe that the leak was the most recent event in a long line of regional hacks thought to be conducted by warring Iranian and Israeli cyber groups.
Last week, Iranian state media confirmed that an alleged cyber attack shut down the nation’s civilian petrol stations.
Media outlet Jerusalem Post quoted state broadcaster IRIB noting that, “the disruption at the refueling [sic] system of gas stations ... in the past few hours, was caused by a cyber attack ... Technical experts are fixing the problem and soon the refueling [sic] process ... will return to normal.”
However, not all state media commentators agreed on the source. IRIB commentators were further quoted suggesting that the shutdown was as a result of a software glitch.
Reports have indicated that those suffering attacks are government-issued petrol card holders.
During the attack, petrol bowsers displayed the slogan “cyber attack 64411”, a reference to the Iranian government’s phone number that answers queries regarding Islamic Law.
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