The hacking group, Mysterious Team Bangladesh, has declared its intention to target Sweden. They have recently announced the launch of a campaign called Operation OpSweden, inviting other hacker collectives and threat actors to participate. This development has significantly increased the level of cyber threat faced by Sweden.
The campaign appears to be a response to the false reports surrounding Sweden’s alleged “sex competition.” Various media organizations had erroneously claimed that Sweden had recognized “sex as a sport” and was planning to host the inaugural “European Sex Championship“.
Although these reports have been debunked by Swedish news agencies, regrettably, they have made the country a target for the hacker collective.
Sweden ‘sex championship’ triggers OpSweden
A recent report from The Times Of India claimed that Sweden had become the first country to register sex as a sport. According to the report, Sweden would host the first-ever European Sex Championship in Gothenburg starting on June 8, 2023.
The event, the report claimed, was organized under the guidance of the Swedish Sex Federation and would feature participants engaging in various sexual activities across 16 disciplines. These activities include seduction, oral sex, penetration, endurance, body massages, foreplay, and exploration of erotic zones.
However, according to German media company, Deutsche Welle (DW), the claims for Sweden’ European Sex Championship are wrong.
“All this information is false,” Anna Setzman, spokesperson for the Swedish Sports Confederation, told the media company.
“Right now, false information is being spread in some international media about Sweden and Swedish sports,” she added. “These are vigorously denied.”
Unaware hackers fall victim to fake news, launch Operation OpSweden
The announcement of Sweden’s sex sport declaration appears to have triggered Mysterious Team Bangladesh to launch the operation OpSweden.
Known for their cyber exploits, the group has called upon Muslim hackers worldwide, human rights organizations, and activists to unite against Sweden and launch a campaign to stop “exploitation of sexuality”.
Under the hashtag #OpSweden operation, the group aims to target Sweden’s cyberspace to protest the sex sports championship.
Cyber Attacks by Mysterious Team Bangladesh
Mysterious Team Bangladesh has a history of launching cyber attacks. Not long ago, they claimed responsibility for targeting the UAE banking sector, specifically the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and the National Bank of Fujairah.
Threat intelligence service Falcon Feeds reported the downtime of the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s website on May 24.
Around the same time, Mysterious Team Bangladesh’s Twitter handle confirmed the National Bank of Fujairah’s website was also down.
Falcon Feeds had previously shared a warning on May 24 regarding an impending cyber attack on the UAE banking sector, which Mysterious Team Bangladesh subsequently claimed responsibility for.
The unfolding situation involving Mysterious Team Bangladesh’s operation OpSweden and their call to arms against Sweden’s sex sport declaration has raised new questions about the threat actor’s position in world affairs, and nations internal conflicts.
The Cyber Express has found a noticeable increase in geopolitical hacktivism in the India and its neighboring countries, which poses a significant risk to India due to its distinct societal, ideological, and economic standing in the subcontinent.
Several hacktivist groups including Mysterious Team Bangladesh have been in the cybersecurity news recently for carrying out cyber attacks on both government and private organizations across national borders. Threat intelligence analysis shows that the menace has spread to the West.
Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs (CRIL) conducted an analysis of the situation and stated that hacktivism now presents a substantial threat to India, primarily because of its unique societal, ideological, and economic position in the continent.
“Over the years, Hacktivism has become more cynical. Once a tool to voice social and political change, it has evolved into a nefarious apparatus of across-the-border crime to further their ideological agendas, disrupt government and business, and create social disharmony,” read the blog post.
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