Incident reports
in Azerbaijan SMS notification system grants permission to leave homes [updated]
april 8, 2020As 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 […]
social media users questioned over coronavirus posts [Last update June 26]
march 25, 2020May 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 […]
coordinated digital attacks against Feminist movement members and LGBT rights activists
march 16, 2020In 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 […]
several Facebook pages compromised
march 6, 2020On 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 […]
the “man” behind the phishing attacks
february 20, 2020On 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 […]
opposition party social media accounts hacked
february 3, 2020On 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, […]
political figure impersonated on various online platforms
january 29, 2020On 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 […]
mass phishing attack against Azerbaijan civil society [updated]
january 14, 2020On January 6, veteran human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev received an email from another human rights lawyer Rasul Jafarov. Aliyev, spotted something was not right and forwarded the email he received to Javarov’s real email. This is not the first time, Jafarov is targeted. In 2017, the case was captured in detail by Amnesty International. […]
News website blocked in Azerbaijan (Qurium Forensics)
december 10, 2019According to a forensic report released by Qurium on December 10, Gununsesi.org – an opposition website in Azerbaijan – it was possible to conclude that the website was blocked by means of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
Activist’s YouTube channel down
december 5, 2019On December 5, Shakir Zade, Azerbaijani activist living abroad, reported his YouTube channel was taken down following requests made by Milli TV, Qanun TV and AnTV.