World's biggest tech companies and government agencies hit by DDoS attacks by two men

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Federal authorities have charged two brothers with launching cyberattacks at some of the world's biggest technology companies, including streaming services and social platforms.

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The US Department of Justice has alleged two brothers are behind the hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan, which launched thousands of powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks at some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Additionally, the group targeted government agencies such as the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), Pentagon, and FBI. The charges by the DOJ outline the two Sudanese brothers are also responsible for a series of cyberattacks against Microsoft, OpenAI, Riot Games, PayPal, Steam, Hulu, Netflix, Reddit, GitHub, and Cloudflare.

Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer, 22, and Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer, 27, were charged with one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers. Ahmed Salah was separately charged with three counts of damaging protected computers and an attempt to "knowingly and recklessly cause death" after launching several cyberattacks at hospitals in retaliation for hospitals being bombed in Gaza. If convicted of all charges, Ahmed Salah will face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

"Microsoft, the fate of your services is under our hands, we decide when to shut it down and when to leave it open," someone using the Anonymous Sudan Telegram channel

The duo not only had personal agendas against the United States and other countries but also made their services available for hire. Anonymous Sudan predominately used a Telegram channel to boast about their cyberattack exploits, which were headed by a tool that performed more than 35,000 attacks. Of those 35,000 attacks, 70 were computers located in Los Angeles, and according to authorities, the group was active between January 2023 and March 2024.

Ultimately, the duo made the botnet available for purchase via a subscription-based model. $100 for one day, $600 for seven day, and $1,7000 for a month. The service stated it was a "botnet with a power of up to 2 TB, priced at $300 per day."

"Anonymous Sudan sought to maximize havoc and destruction against governments and businesses around the world by perpetrating tens of thousands of cyberattacks," said US Attorney Martin Estrada. "This group's attacks were callous and brazen-the defendants went so far as to attack hospitals providing emergency and urgent care to patients."

• Read more: Anonymous hacker charged with seeking to kill after cyberattacks hit hospitals globally