Moroccan government websites target of major cyber-attack

A recent surge in cyber-attacks has impacted numerous Moroccan government websites, resulting in significant service disruptions. The attacks have been reported to have temporarily blocked the website of the Ministry responsible for relations with Parliament. In contrast, the websites of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Directorate of Taxes remain inactive. According to cyber-security experts, the attacks can be classified as DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service), specifically the ‘Kill Chain’ category, where hackers utilise a multitude of devices to inundate a website’s servers with traffic, resulting in significant service disruptions or even complete accessibility challenges. Accusations have been made by cyber-security experts against Algeria of enlisting ‘digital militias’ within the Maghreb region to carry out a well-planned and highly organised operation against Morocco. Should the attacked computer systems experience extended downtime, there is a risk that the long-term visibility of Moroccan government websites on prominent search engines, such as Google, may be jeopardised, according to expert warnings.