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An internal page within the website of the Ministry of the Environment in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: MINAE) was hacked by an Egyptian group claiming allegiance to the Cyber Caliphate, an extremist branch of ISIS.

The Web page in question is a document that normally holds a compilation of events related to the history of Isla del Coco, a World Heritage Site that is part of the System of Conservation Areas (Spanish acronym: SINAC) of Costa Rica. Isla del Coco is the inspiration for Isla Nublar of the Jurassic Park fictional universe.

On Christmas Eve, visitors who clicked on http://www.minae.go.cr/index.php/actualidad/historias-y-curiosidades/61-isla-del-coco did not see anything related to Isla del Coco; instead, they were treated to a YouTube video about the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square massacre, a terrible chapter in the turbulent political history of Egypt. Below the video, a message read:

Anonymous Rabaa Team

Hacked By Dr.AFN[D]ENA

On 14 August 2013, Egyptian security forces backed by the Egyptian army attacked two camps of democracy supporters in Cairo: one at al-Nahda Square and a larger one at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque. The two sites had been used for peaceful sit-ins by the protesters against the Coup d’état that ousted President Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president in the Egyptian history, who was detained on 3 July 2013 by the Egyptian military. The camps were raided after a six week sit-ins and as a result of the massacres the camps were cleared out within hours. The massacres were described by Human Rights Watch as the most serious incident of mass unlawful killings in modern Egyptian history.

It is interesting to note that the hackers who claimed responsibility for the attack pledge allegiance to the Anonymous cyber collective as well as to the Cyber Caliphate. In the Western World, the Anonymous collective has been known to wage cyber war against the Cyber Caliphate and any organization that supports ISIS.

In the past, the handle Dr.AFN[D]ENA has been associated with attacks on Israeli websites that discuss the thorny political issue of Palestine as an occupied territory.

Earlier this year, respected info security publication The CryptoSphere investigated the Dr.AFN[D]ENA attacks and got in touch with an individual who claimed affiliation with that group. It so happens that thew same crew claimed responsibility for the attack on TV5Monde, a French public broadcasting network. In Costa Rica, the TV5Monde signal is carried by various cable and satellite TV providers.

It is not clear why the MINAE site on Isla del Coco was chosen by these attackers. Costa Rica has good diplomatic relations with both Palestine and Israel, and on the issue of the occupied territories, our country has sided with the Palestinian people insofar as being entitled to human rights and to live as a society free from oppression. All the same, Costa Rica repudiates ISIS and all its barbaric actions.

Interesting to note is that The CryptoSphere staff has determined that this hacking crew mostly defaces websites; they wish to communicate that Muslims are not terrorists, certainly a very valid message, particularly during Christmas. These hackers do not intend to raid databases or delete files, they mostly deface websites, something that we hope the IT staff of MINAE can handle.