Abdellah Bouanou, the head of the Justice and Development Party’s (PJD) parliamentary group, has raised concerns regarding the recent hacking of the official website of the Ministry of Economic Integration, Small Enterprise, Employment, and Skills.
He highlighted the breach’s potential to compromise both personal and professional data belonging to numerous citizens, as well as to various public and private institutions.
Bouanou posed an urgent oral question to Younes Sekkouri, Minister of Economic Inclusion, stressing the gravity of the cyberattack and its implications for cybersecurity across ministerial sectors and public institutions. He specifically focused on the safeguarding of personal and professional data.
Bouanou demanded answers regarding the circumstances surrounding the cyberattack on the ministry’s website and the extent of the damage it caused. He also inquired about the measures that the government intends to implement to bolster cybersecurity within this critical sector.
The cyberattack, which occurred on April 8, was attributed to an Algerian hacking group called “Jabaroot” — an Arabic word that translates to “forcefulness” and dominating power.
The group claimed responsibility for the attack as retaliation for what they described as “Moroccan harassment of official Algerian social media pages,” referencing the suspension of the Algerian Press Service (APS) account on X.
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The hackers released sensitive data, reportedly belonging to thousands of Moroccan employers across nearly 500,000 businesses, as registered by the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).
They also shared a provocative map of North Africa, including a divided map of Morocco showcasing the country’s southern provinces as a separate territory under the sovereignty of the separatist Polisario Front..
This cyberattack is seen as part of broader hostilities between Morocco and Algeria, which have been long-standing largely due to Algeria’s support for the Polisario Front. This support has resulted in Algeria’s interference in Morocco’s internal matters, aiming to undermine the country’s territorial integrity.
While Algeria’s official stance claims support for the Polisario Front’s push for Western Sahara’s “independence,” a declassified 1977 CIA document, released in November 2012, indicated that Algeria’s ultimate goal in the Sahara dispute is to create an independent separatist republic in southern Morocco. This would undermine Morocco’s sovereignty and secure Algeria’s dominance in North Africa.
The document states: “Algeria’s objective in the dispute is the establishment of an independent Saharan republic, in which it expects to have a predominant influence. This would deny Morocco the territory’s significant economic resources and stymie Moroccan efforts to restrict future Algerian access to the Atlantic.”
As of this latest update, the official website of the Ministry of Economic Integration remains inaccessible. Meanwhile, Moroccan hackers are reportedly launching counter-operations targeting Algerian government websites and those of the separatist Polisario Front.
