ASTRA Admits to Hacking Venezuelan Electoral System

Materials from the Venezuelan National Electoral Council. Photo: X/ @HerreraRonnier

August 21, 2024 Hour: 2:33 pm

The cyberattack took advantage of the lack of software updates and the existence of ghost connections.

ASTRA, a famous hacker specializing in cybersecurity and cybercrime, admitted to participating in the cyberattack on the National Electoral Council (CNE) hours after the Venezuelan presidential elections held on July 28.

“We conducted a cybersecurity study for the CNE and realized that its software had not been updated since 2022. We started noticing ghost connections and open remote port connections,” the hacker said, revealing the existence of a cyber plan against the Venezuelan electoral system.

Regarding the accusations made by the Bolivarian authorities about the attack on the CNE system, ASTRA revealed that they blocked “the port from a ghost machine that was connected via cable. We realized that the software worked with telephone signals, which we were completely unaware of.”

“I increased the machine to over two terabytes since they were trying to ban the attack. But because the attack was coming from many places, we are talking about over three million connections. That’s what overwhelmed them,” the hacker added.

ASTRA also confessed to having participated in previous cyberattacks against Venezuela with the aim of destabilizing President Nicolas Maduro’s administration as part of the plans of the far-right opposition.