Sinaloa Government Websites Hacked and Defaced With Threats Against Governor

 ”Enojon” for Borderland Beat 

The website’s for the Tax Administration Service of Sinaloa (SATES) and the Bachelor’s College of the State of Sinaloa (COBAES) faced an attack on September 15th where hackers defaced the sites with threats against Ruben Rocha Moya, the Governor of Sinaloa, claiming more deaths will occur if he returns to the State. 

The messages would urge Governor Moya not to return to Sinaloa following a family trip to Los Angeles, California on September 14 or the ongoing killings as a result of the internal conflict within the rival ‘Los Chapitos’ and the ‘La Mayiza’ factions of the Sinaloa Cartel that erupted on September 9th would continue.

A translation is as follows:

“Governor Rocha Moya, 

Here is not the land of…it’s best you leave…and don’t come back. 

If you come back there’ll be more deaths in Sinaloa. 

Sincerely, 

Nuevo Virus” 

Following the incidents, the Government of Sinaloa would disclose during a press release that the infiltration of both sites were detected and security protocols were activated as a result, stating:

“A couple minutes ago a hack was detected against the official pages of COBAES and SATES, of which was immediately detected and activated the security systems, in a way that in the space of approximately 10 minutes it was possible to take control of the situation.”

Shortly after the initial reports we attempted to connect to the affected sites but were met with errors or failures to load, and when checking on September 17th the SATES website would display a “site not found” message stating the website either does not exist or is currently experiencing a problem and to contact the government entity through the provided email, as of September 18th both websites are fully functional.

We reached out to Infosec and Conflict specialist Mark J. Bruno of The Moloch Blog to determine if any hacking group or figures has been known to operate under the alias ‘Nuevo Virus,’ but we were unable to identify any such figures and no official entity has disclosed the identity of those behind the hack. Although, the name ‘Nuevo Virus’ has been previously attributed to the ‘Los Antrax’ cell known to operate under the ‘Mayo Zambada’ faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. 

While not new, the use of hackers by Mexico-based criminal organizations is still quite rare with the most notable examples being the contracting of a hacker by the members of the López Núñez family to infiltrate the security system of the Number 1 Almoloya Federal Social Rehabilitation Center or ‘Altiplano’ in Villa de Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico where Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera ‘El Chapo,’ the former principal leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was being held. 

The same hacker would again be sought after in June, 2016 to aid in perpetrating a disinformation campaign against the four children of Guzmán, who also held principal roles in the criminal organization, in what was described as an internal dispute over control of the organization. 

Sources: Hyperlinked In Text

Source: https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/09/sinaloa-government-websites-hacked-and.html