Turkish Hackers Deface Government Websites in Greece Over Libya Dispute

The first report was published by Ekathimerini late yesterday. According to the news source, ‘Anka Neferler Tim’ (which loosely translates to “Phoenix’s Helmets”), a hacker team that’s based out of Turkey, had claimed responsibility for the attack on Facebook.

Turkish #hackers target #Greek #government #websites, #stockexchange https://t.co/xKBLfjz3TM #crime #Turkey #Greece #security #geopolitics via @ekathimerini

— Kostas Karamarkos (@Karamarkos) January 18, 2020

Ekathimerini confirmed that the websites for the Greek National Intelligence Agency, the Greek Parliament, the Foreign Ministry, Athens Stock Market, Finance Ministry, and the e-state website had all gone dark, and efforts to get them back online had so far proved futile. Ahval News, a separate medium, reported this morning that the attack was in relation to Greece’s perceived support of Libya in an ongoing conflict with the Turks. Earlier this week, General Khalifa Hifter, the commander of the Libyan main opposition army, made a surprise visit to Athens ahead of a weekend summit in Berlin to seek Greece’s support in a bid to counter that of Turkey for his opponents.

Territorial Disputes Over Libya

Turkey and Greece are currently at odds over oil and gas drilling rights in the East Mediterranean. As for Libya, the country has been split between two warring governments for five years now- one based in Tripoli, and the other in Benghazi. The entire reason for this Berlin meeting is to find a lasting solution to the political upheaval in the country.

#Greece threatens to turn to ICJ to resolve Mediterranean maritime dispute#Libya #Turkey https://t.co/UmlokAtxm3

— Daily News Egypt (@DailyNewsEgypt) December 30, 2019

Last November, the Libyan government in Tripoli signed a deal with Turkey to delineate a boundary between them in the Mediterranean. The agreement will provide them with economic zone access across the region, and despite being objected to Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt (all of which lie between Libya and Turkey), they’ve gone ahead with it. In response to Turkey sending troops to help the U.N.-approved Libyan government, Gen. Hifter sought Greek help to balance the scales. It’s worth noting that neither Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis nor Haftar made any comments about Greece providing support for the opposition Libyan government. However, Mitsotakis warned that the Greek government wouldn’t be accepting any political deal that doesn’t annul last November’s deal, according to Voice of America. Regardless, the Turks seem to have preemptively attacked Greece nonetheless. As Ahval News explained, a message posted on Facebook, purportedly from the hackers, read, “Greece had threatened Turkey on the Aegean and East Mediterranean. Now they issue a threat over the Libya Conference. No access for you until we say so. Greece, mind your step!”

The New Face of Global Conflict

Cyber attacks are beginning to seem like the new frontier for intercountry conflict in today’s age. In the wake of Washington-sponsored attacks on Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, some news media explained that Iran could retaliate with a cyberattack on United States interests. Since Iran couldn’t possibly match the U.S. in physical conflict and the Middle Eastern country has had some success with cyber attacks in the past (most notably its attack on several financial institutions), many believe that Iran will take its pound of flesh- just not in the physical.

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