Renowned Hacker Claims Responsibility for Cyber-Attack Against Venezuela and CNE

The renowned cybercriminal known as ASTRA has confessed to having participated in the hacking of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and in multiple cyber attacks against Venezuela, in order to destabilize the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

ASTRA, leader of the hacking group known as the Cyber Hunters, revealed in an interview last week, on Wednesday, August 14, that he carried out sophisticated cyber operations to sabotage Venezuela’s electoral system, revealing his clear desire to interfere in the outcome of the elections held on July 28.

He attempted to explain his process, claiming to be fighting against the so-called “Maduro dictatorship” and for “democracy,” neglecting to delineate how democracy involves violating the sovereignty of a nation, and further detailed the ways in which he penetrated the Venezuelan electoral system to sabotage the transmission of the electoral results, supporting the Venezuelan government’s reports of sabotage.

The cyber criminal admitted that his team manipulated a “ghost machine” of the CNE, saturating the connection ports and seriously affecting the voting transmission system, which delayed the publication of the electoral results that the country’s highest electoral body was expected to give. These actions are a clear inhibition of the democratic process and an attempt to legitimize unfounded accusations of electoral fraud.

ASTRA’s Alliances
The criminal, who also claims responsibility on cyberattacks on other key institutions in Venezuela, revealed his alliances with other groups, in the form of Cyber Hunters in other nations as well as other hacking groups such as Anonymous, in a coordinated effort to weaken the government of Nicolás Maduro. His activities not only seek to disrupt the country’s essential services, but also undermine the nation’s political, economic, and social stability and sovereignty.

Despite President Maduro’s repeated condemnations of the dangers posed by these attacks, ASTRA continues to justify its actions under the pretext of defending the “will of the people.” However, its true intentions are clear: to destabilize the legitimate government and foment chaos in Venezuela.

Maduro’s condemnation
On July 29, during his first speech as the newly re-elected president, the head of state denounced the fact that the CNE was the victim of a cyber-attack through an electoral blackout in the country.

“There was a massive attack like never before in our history on the CNE transmission system, an ongoing attack,” he said. “Hundreds of attacks have taken place on the CNE website.” He also noted that the system had been broken into to prevent “the transmission of data, to cause an electoral blackout.”

President Maduro called for a thorough investigation into all attacks on the Venezuelan electoral system, since these attacks can be and are being used to escalate violence and instability across the nation.

Over 120 Venezuelan State Websites Have Suffered Cyberattacks

126 institutional attacks
The minister of science and technology, Gabriela Jiménez, condemned the fact that since the day of the presidential elections, on July 28, at least 126 state websites had suffered cyberattacks, originating mainly from bot farms in the US, Mexico, France, and Switzerland, conducting almost 30 million attacks per minute against Venezuela.

Consequently, President Maduro announced the creation of the National Cybersecurity Council in Venezuela on Monday, August 12, following the violent events caused by the extreme right sector of the opposition after learning of the results of the election.

ASTRA’s public acknowledgement of his illegal operations only confirms the cyberwar against Venezuela led by foreign interests.

Conviasa
On August 11, the Venezuelan minister for transport, Ramón Velásquez, reported that the website of the airline Conviasa, as well as the payment systems of the metro and metrobus companies in several cities in the country, were victims of cyber attacks by the “hacktivist” group Anonymous.

Velásquez said the attack was intended to affect the operations of the airline. “We have a team that remains alert 24 hours a day to prevent any attempt to attack the property of the Venezuelan people,” he said.

The minister announced this Wednesday, August 21, that the Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services SA (Conviasa), the Venezuelan publicly-owned flagship airline, successfully recovered from the cyber attack inflicted on several institutions of the country.

(Ciudad CCS) by Ana Perdigón with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/AU