Rabat – The official website of Dhar El Mahraz Science University in Fez (FSDM) was subject to a cyberattack by an Algerian hacker on Friday.
The hacker who appears to be from Algeria left his signature with the Algerian flag on the website with a caption reading “No peace between the systems.”
The cyber attackers left their signature, indicating that the perpetrator is from Algeria.
The perpetrator on Twitter claimed to have collected three million lines of data, including emails and passwords.
This is not the first time a Moroccan website was targeted by a cyber attack from hackers of Algerian origin. The same hackers claimed to have attacked some of Morocco’s official websites.
In November 2021, the official website of the Moroccan General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) was also the target of a cyberattack by an Algerian hacker.
The attacker left the same signature as the perpetrator who hacked the Fez university website.
On the CGEM website, the hacker also left an Algerian flag with a caption reading: “No peace between systems.”
The hacker in question does not appear to be motivated exclusively by politics, having earlier attacked targets in Italy and Bolivia. It appears that the individual(s) in question look for outdated website-building software or plugins and use these known vulnerabilities to hack into the websites.
While the hacking attacks do not appear to be purely politically motivated, they come amid tension between Morocco and Algeria. Last year in August, Algeria decided to cut relations with Morocco, accusing Rabat of undermining its security.
Morocco denied the accusations against it and stated that its leadership regretted Algeria’s decision. The North African country, however, emphasized that the country will always remain a loyal and credible partner to Algerians.
King Mohammed VI renewed the same peace appeal during a recent speech on Throne Day on July 30. In the speech, King Mohammed VI said Morocco is ready to work with the Algerian presidency to restore relations.
He also called on Moroccans to preserve the spirit of “brotherhood, solidarity, and good neighborliness” with the Algerian people. The King made similar dialogue calls in several of his speeches, with little response from decision-makers in Algiers.
