Turkish Hackers DDoSing Icelandic Websites

The Turkish hacker group Anka Neferler Tim has launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against several Icelandic websites, reportedly seeking vengeance for alleged affronts to the country’s football team.

As reported, the Turkish national men’s football team, who are competing against Iceland tonight for the UEFA qualifiers, were unhappy with their reception upon landing in Iceland yesterday. The team allege that they were singled out for lengthy delays at passport control and baggage searches, but it has since come to light that the delay was actually due to their plane arriving from an airport outside the EEA.

Nonetheless, resolution still appears to be a ways off, as RÚV reports that hackers have targeted the website for Isavia, the company which operates Keflavík International Airport, shutting it down for several hours today. The Twitter account for the group confirms that the motivation for the attacks was vengeance for the Turkish football team.

Their attacks have not confined themselves to Isavia, either. Inexplicably, South Iceland general interest and news site Sunnlenska.is also reported having been DDoS’d by the hackers. The motivation for that attack is less clear, but indicates that the hackers are broadening their scope.

This is not the first time hackers have targeted Icelandic sites, nor is it the first time hackers from Turkey specifically have done so. One of the most dramatic data breaches in Icelandic history, the infamous 2013 Vodafone attack, was also the work of Turkish hackers. That breach released thousands of text messages from around 77,000 Vodafone clients, including some prominent politicians.