ANEM ALARM: Machines and local media targeted by cyber attacks.
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) warns of a new bot attack on the Instagram account of the Mašina portal, which follows a pattern similar to the attacks that some independent professional media and civil society organizations were subjected to earlier this year. ANEM is now also recording bot attacks on social media accounts of local media during this period of intense pre-election campaigning. A mass influx of fake followers can lead to restrictions or even shutdowns of media accounts. ANEM has previously reported such attacks to the Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime, but to date, it is unknown who is behind them or if anyone has been held accountable.
For two consecutive days, the Instagram account of the portal Mašina has been experiencing severe bot attacks. The editorial team of Mašina told ANEM that they suspect the bot attacks are organized with the aim of suspending the account, similar to previous attacks on other independent media in Serbia, especially considering that Mašina publishes a significant portion of its reporting on social media.
In just a few hours, the Instagram profile of "Mašina" gained around ten thousand alleged followers. Due to the possibility of the profile being shut down or restricted, the editorial team has urged the audience to follow them on their backup profile @masina.video. The profile of photographer Gavrilo Andrić, as well as some local media, has also been subjected to similar bot attacks.
In recent days, Kovinske has also been exposed to cyber attacks. The editorial team reports that attackers are inserting files, changing access credentials, posting links to betting sites, and creating or reporting non-existent pages. These attacks occur during a period of intensified monitoring of student promotions and candidates, leading the editorial team to suspect a connection between their reporting and these attacks, as was the case with the portal VranjeNews.
ANEM reminds that similar attacks were already recorded earlier this year, when several Instagram accounts of media outlets, journalists, activists, and civil society organizations were suspended following a sudden influx of inauthentic followers or mass reports. Among the suspended accounts were profiles of the portal Nova.rs, the magazine Radar, the organization Crta, and photo reporter Gavrilo Andrić, among others. Following a response from civil society and communication with the company Meta, the majority of the accounts were restored.
The SHARE foundation previously warned that a new form of digital censorship in Serbia was initiated at the end of last year through targeted massing of followers and that such attacks are likely used to trigger automatic suspensions due to alleged "inauthentic behavior" (though the actual reasons for this tactic have yet to be documented).
ANEM warns that the repetition of the same pattern of attacks indicates that these are not isolated incidents, but rather evidently coordinated digital attacks resembling DoS or DDoS attacks, which may fall under Article 299 of the Criminal Code "Computer Sabotage".
We expect that such attacks will continue and expand, which is why we demand an urgent response from the relevant authorities to determine who is behind them and to prevent the shutdown of communication channels of professional media, which are already subjected to targeting, defamation, threats, and other pressures.
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)
The project "System for the Prevention of Violence and Protection of Journalists" is implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insajder TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union and the Balkan Fund for Democracy.
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