Old Video Shared as Cyber Attacks in the UAE and KSA
The Claim
Asia and Russia are cyber attacking Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
News posted on
Emerging story
Widespread posts, especially on Twitter, claim that severe cyberattacks target Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A video accompanies the claim, which has a person explaining in Arabic. The video says that the two countries are experiencing cyber-attacks and that the Emirates is second and Saudi Arabia third in the global ranking of countries receiving cyber attacks. They were adding that the attacks are coming from Asia and Russia. The posts warn people not to open questionable or suspicious links.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Misbar investigation found this claim to be misleading. Although the video is accurate, it has been online since 2015. The original video found on Youtube was uploaded on 26 August 2015 and explained that the attack was DDoS. A DDoS is a type of cyber attack that will send multiple requests to a website to exceed its capacity to handle multiple demands and prevent it from functioning correctly. The video's publisher explained that the attacks lasted for three days, affecting many private and governmental sectors alike.
Moreover, the video depicts a live cyber threat map from a company called Norse. However, their website, which broadcasts the maps, was taken down in 2016 after their CEO stepped down, further confirming that this is not a recent video. Given the context, the Misbar team ensures it is misleading and that Saudi Arabia and Emirates are not under any fierce, current cyber attacks. Nonetheless, one should always be careful of clicking suspicious, unsolicited links.
