How Two Brothers From Sudan Built One of the World's Most Destructive DDoS Operations

Most cybercrime stories feature the usual suspects - Russian hackers, North Korean state actors, or Chinese APT groups. But today's story is different.

Meet Anonymous Sudan.

Two Sudanese brothers - Ahmed (22) and Alaa (27) Omer - managed to build a DDoS empire that:

- Launched 35,000+ attacks in just one year

- Caused $10M+ in damages to U.S. victims alone

- Forced an LA hospital's ER to redirect patients

- Disrupted Microsoft, PayPal, and dozens of major companies

- Built a following of 80,000+ on Telegram

Their DDoS tool (nicknamed "Godzilla," "Skynet," or "InfraShutdown") was available for rent. Need to take down a website? That'll be $600 in Bitcoin, please! Want to shut down an entire country's internet? $500 per hour.

Instead of using traditional botnet methods with hijacked computers, they leveraged "Open Proxy Resolvers" - making their attacks harder to trace and stop. Think of it as building a stealth bomber while everyone else was still using regular planes.

Some highlights from their "greatest hits":

🏥 Shut down Cedars-Sinai Hospital's emergency department

🎮 Disrupted Riot Games' servers in Los Angeles

💻 Attacked the FBI, DOJ, and State Department

🌐 Temporarily knocked out Microsoft's cloud services

💳 Caused massive disruptions to PayPal

While experts were busy attributing their attacks to sophisticated state-sponsored Russian hackers, it was actually two brothers operating from Sudan. They successfully masqueraded as a major state-level threat actor while running what was essentially a cyber protection racket.

This case rewrites our understanding of cyber threats. It shows how individuals from anywhere in the world can build devastating cyber capabilities. No major state backing needed - just technical skills, determination, and a laptop.

The FBI finally caught up with them in March 2024, seizing their infrastructure and charging them with multiple cyber crimes. Ahmed faces potential life imprisonment, while Alaa could get up to 5 years.

The lesson? In today's "global village", major cyber threats can emerge from unexpected places. It's not just about watching the usual suspects anymore - the next major cyber attack could come from anywhere.

Welcome to the new age of cyber threats - where geography matters less than ever, and capability can be built anywhere.

Did they really conduct cyber attacks from Sudan?

From the criminal complaint/affidavit, it appears Ahmed and his sibling where "using a laptop computer from, among other places, their shared home in Sudan."

There's also a suggestion in the affidavit that they moved locations, as the FBI conducts interviews with both brothers in March 2024, though the location of these interviews is redacted.

The indictment lists both men simply as "Sudanese nationals" but doesn't specify residence.