Two Sudanese brothers charged with running cyberattack-for-hire gang

Two Sudanese nationals have been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for their alleged involvement in running the hacking group “Anonymous Sudan,” responsible for orchestrating a wave of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure and government agencies worldwide.

The accused, Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer, 22, and Alaa Salah Yousif Omer, 27, face charges including conspiracy to damage protected computers, with one of them facing additional charges of executing the attacks.

The indictment, unsealed in a Los Angeles federal Court, reveals that since early 2023, the defendants are believed to have unleashed more than 35,000 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using a tool known as “Godzilla,” “Skynet,” or “InfraShutdown.” These attacks overwhelmed targeted systems, crippling networks and disrupting essential services.

The group held a “Sudanese nationalist ideology,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a press conference on October 16, charging customers $600 or less to launch major attacks.

Among the 70 identified targets in the Los Angeles area were major institutions like Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as well as global technology companies like Microsoft and gaming giant Riot Games. The defendants also allegedly targeted prominent U.S. federal agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Defense, and State, along with the FBI. The sheer volume of these cyberattacks caused widespread outages, inflicting more than $10 million in damages to U.S. entities alone.
Prosecutors claim the group’s sophisticated cyber tools exploited vulnerabilities in computer networks, resulting in operational disruptions and financial losses. While the specific motivations behind the attacks remain unclear, the scale and precision of the operation have raised concerns about the increasing threats posed by organized cybercriminal groups to both public and private sectors.

The charges highlight the global nature of modern cybercrime, with attackers based in one country able to disrupt services and cause chaos in another. The U.S. Justice Department, in collaboration with international law enforcement, continues to investigate the broader network behind these operations, underscoring the growing necessity of cross-border cooperation to tackle cyber threats. If convicted, both defendants could face severe penalties, reflecting the seriousness with which governments are addressing cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.