Incident reports

May 9, Azerbaijani politician, Gultekin Hajibeyli’s Instagram account hacked and taken down. Instead, a fake profile impersonating Hajibeyli was set up, with her private mobile phone number shared publicly in the profile description. Hajibeyli, was targeted online previously. Such attacks are common in Azerbaijan, where opposition politicians and independent activists are targeted online. Account “break-ins”, […]

On the morning of April 22, an independent online news platform, abzas.net noticed strange activity on its website. Not only did the website lose, a month worth of published articles, but that some articles’ headlines were also changed.  In an interview with AIW, the website’s editor Ulvi Hasanli confirmed the attack. Hasanli said, this was […]

On April 21, several cities and administrative districts across the country reported experiencing internet disruptions. The disruptions were reported on DeltaTelecom one of the only two companies in Azerbaijan licensed to connect international internet traffic [the second one being AzerTelecom]. Delta Telecom is considered the backbone internet provider in Azerbaijan and handles most of the […]

As of April 5, residents across Azerbaijan can only leave their apartments having informed local law enforcement via SMS, a phone call or if in possession of a special certificate of employment. Azerbaijan remains among countries, which haven’t declared a “state of emergency”. Instead, they are referring to new restrictions as part of the “strict […]

May 22, member of D18 political movement and administrator of a Facebook page “Say no to corruption”, Jalil Zabitov was arrested and sentenced to five months on hooliganism charges.  April 22, member of opposition Popular Front party, Arif Babayev was sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention on charges of placing prohibited information online under Article […]

In Azerbaijan, a group of activists was targeted online following a non-violent march organized to mark International Women’s Day. The protest was violently dispersed by the police. Those detained were released after questioning. Last year, a similar attempt was quashed by the police. In October 2019, in an attempt to call on the authorities to […]

On March 2, several Facebook pages affiliated with an online news website anews.az were hacked. According to the editor of anews.az Naila Balayeva the hacking came shortly after anews.az published two different stories, on February 27 and then on March 5.  The editor was able to identify the identity of the hacker, who explicitly threatened […]

On January 14, Azerbaijan Internet Watch reported a mass phishing attack that lasted for about a week. At the time of the report, it was possible to identify that the attacks were coming from an IP registered to the Ministry of the Interior. Almost a month later, the Qurium media foundation continues its investigation into […]

On January 31, 2020, several Musavat party social media accounts were targeted. According to the reports, the attack began 12.00 UTC time while most of the key party affiliates including page admins were attending commemoration ceremony, celebrating the birthday of the founder of Azerbaijan Republic, Mammad Amin Rasulzade.  According to preliminary reports five Facebook pages, […]

On January 26, Azerbaijani politician, Gultekin Hajibeyli reported of two separate accounts impersonating her online. An Instagram profile claimed Hajibeyli was an escort woman, while a page on Facebook insinuated Hajibeyli was the mistress of other male politicians. Hajibeyli’s personal phone number was placed under the Instagram page which led to her receiving countless calls […]