Two Sudanese Brothers Arrested for Running Anonymous Sudan DDoS-for-Hire Service
Two Sudanese brothers, Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer (22) and Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer (27), have been arrested and charged for running Anonymous Sudan, a notorious cybercrime business known for DDoS attacks. The U.S. government seized control of the group's infrastructure following their arrest in March 2024.
Anonymous Sudan, led by the Omer brothers, caused a multi-day outage for Microsoft's cloud services in June 2023 and targeted major platforms like PayPal, Twitter/X, and OpenAI. The group also launched DDoS attacks against Israel's 'red alert' mobile apps during the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7, 2023. Notably, they offered a 'Limited Internet Shutdown Package' for $500 an hour to shut down internet service providers in specified countries.
The FBI described Anonymous Sudan as a DDoS-for-hire service, with attacks sold for as little as $150 a day or $700 a week. The group extorted some victims for money in exchange for stopping DDoS attacks. In February 2024, they attacked Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, temporarily redirecting emergency services and patients. Anonymous Sudan has been launching DDoS attacks against hospitals, news websites, and cloud providers since at least January 2023.
Ahmed and Alaa Omer were arrested at their home in Khartoum, Sudan. The U.S. government has taken control of Anonymous Sudan's DDoS infrastructure and servers, aiming to prevent further cybercrime activities. The arrest of the Omer brothers marks a significant step in dismantling this notorious cybercrime operation.
