eConflicts: Who is the ISIS group "Cyber Caliphate"?

Thursday, April 9, 2015

It is a group which claims affiliation to the Islamic State. It has already led a few remarkable actions:

It hacked the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the US Central Command in January of 2015. Media insisted, back then, on the American Defense system's vulnerabilities (« it shows the sorry state of cyber security in the US government »), but also on the hackers' level [1]. Messages aired by the hackers were, in substance, the same as those spread today in the TV5 attack: threats to individuals, against soldiers (« American Soldiers, We are Coming, Watch your back ») [2]. Still in January of 2015, these hackers posted pro-ISIS messages on the Twitter feeds of Fox, CBS and local media [3].
Attacks on media are therefore part of a group strategy. Ian Amit, vice-president of Zero-Fox, declared in January of 2015 that the group probably had a long list of media it intended to attack [4].
Hacking of the Newsweek Twitter account, in February of 2015 [5]
In September 2014, articles described development strategies for the Islamic State offensive cyber-capacities, the movement wishing to extend its reach within cyberspace. The name of a British national was even mentioned, as one of the leaders of the cyber-project [6]. For instance, hackers sign website defacing with the name ISIS [7]. In 2013, website defacing were signed « The Caliphate » [8].