Turkish Hackers Threaten to Release Swedes' 'Sensitive Data' After Quran-Burning

Swedish-Turkish relations crumbled following a series of conspicuous affronts, including one where a likeness of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hanged in Stockholm, a cartoon contest held by a Swedish newspaper to taunt the Turkish leader and, most notably, several Quran-burnings near the country’s embassy.

A Turkish hacker team has claimed responsibility for the recent spate of attacks against several major Swedish websites, which had been downed temporarily using data overloads, and threatened further revenge if the Nordic country proceeds to burn copies of the Quran.

"If you desecrate the Quran one more time, then we will start spreading Swedes' sensitive personal data," Türk Hack Team told Swedish media, claiming to have gained access to "large amounts of data" complemented by data provided by "other hacker groups."

Earlier, it issued a yet another grave threat to Twitter.

"If you burn a Quran, we'll burn up your servers," the group wrote.

A spokesperson for Türk Hack Team described them as nationalists, but at the same time rejected any connection to Turkish President Erdogan, who on several occasions said that Sweden cannot expect any support from Ankara after the Quran-burning.

Last week, Turkish hacker forums were reported to be teeming with calls for cyber attacks against Swedish authorities and banks as an act of revenge against Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan of the fringe party Hard Line for torching the Quran outside of Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm. Sveriges Riksbank, the country’s central bank, said it was aware of the threat, but declined to admit being targeted.

Swedish pundits, including professor Pontus Johnson of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH), questioned the Turkish hackers’ technical competence, dismissing them as "ideologically driven amateurs."

Bilateral Swedish-Turkish relations deteriorated following a string of high-profile provocations, including one where an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hanged in Stockholm, a cartoon contest held by a Swedish newspaper to taunt the Turkish leader and, most notably, the Quran-burnings by Rasmus Paludan. The latter stirred outrage across the Muslim world and sparked calls for a trade boycott of Sweden.

Combined, these events even put a damper on Sweden’s NATO ambitions, as Turkey stressed that ratifying the protocol on NATO membership of Finland and Sweden "under current conditions" was impossible. In May 2022, Sweden filed a joint NATO bid together with its eastern neighbor, bringing an end to two centuries of non-alignment.