Morocco denies data leak of 70,000 intelligence agents
The DGSN and DGST categorically deny a cyber attack following the circulation on social networks of an alleged list containing data on 70,000 members of their secret services.
Rabat denies system intrusion following publication of alleged spy database
According to ABC, Morocco's interior security and counter-intelligence agencies broke their silence on Thursday with a joint statement, days after an alleged list containing personal data of some 70,000 members of their intelligence services began circulating on social networks.
The National Security Directorate (DGSN) and the General Directorate for Territory Surveillance (DGST) "categorically denied that their computer systems or security databases have suffered any intrusion", and stressed that their infrastructure operates under "the highest standards of computer security".
Origins attributed to breaches in insurance companies and health organisations
The DGSN-DGST authorities offered their own version of the origin of the disclosed files. In their statement they noted that "the personal data recently published does not come, in any way, from a computer intrusion into the security information systems", and specified that it consists of "old data downloaded from databases and computer systems managed by insurance companies and health and social security organisations".
With this clarification, Rabat places the leak in private entities and social security organisations separate from military or police forces.
Graphic material described as manipulated and false
Moroccan authorities also discredited the graphic material circulated in recent days. The statement denounces the "repeated publication of manipulated photographs, presented in a deceptive and malicious manner as images of officials belonging to different security services".
The official text stresses that "the false nature of these images and documents is evident from the use of uniforms and military ranks that do not exist in Morocco and are not used in the DGSN", and indicates that the false documentation includes "incorrect visual identities and manifest linguistic errors".
As a technical argument, the security authorities insisted that their main networks are not exposed to the open internet: "These systems are not connected to open internet networks".
Jabaroot, the hacker group linked to Algeria
The attack was attributed to the cybercriminal collective known as Jabaroot—an Arabic term meaning 'might'—which various analyses link to Algeria. The group published a voluminous database claiming it belonged to the interior and exterior intelligence of the Alaouite kingdom, with the intention of compromising high-ranking police officials and secret service agents.
The leak also included threats to disclose the names of those who, according to the group, "coordinated the Ceuta plan", which added a political dimension to the cyber crisis.
Source: ABC