According to a December 7 article in the threat post website, Turkish hackers have targeted the Armenian National Institute website in Washington D.C., the Kurdish Workers Party, and the German Christian Democratic Party, among others.

Article author Tom Spring writes:

“A Turkish hacking crew is luring participants to join its DDoS platform to compete with peers to earn redeemable points that are exchangeable for hacking tools and click-fraud software. The goal, security researchers say, is to “gamify” DDoS attacks in order to attract a critical mass of hackers working toward a unified goal.

“Promoters of Surface Defense are actively recruiting Turkish hackers that may be sympathetic to Turkish nationalist beliefs, Forcepoint believes. Targets of the DDoS attacks range from the Kurdistan Workers Party, German Christian Democratic Party and the Armenian National Institute website in Washington D.C., said Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Forcepoint. “It’s unclear if those behind the Surface Defense platform are indeed politically motivated or they are simply using politics as a marketing tool to lure hackers into their network.”

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