'Islamic Hacker Army'

I've always been among those who've thought  that the threat e-terrorism has been overblown.  A few years ago, when talk of cyberterrorism was all around, the Washington Monthly did a big skeptics' take, which I more or less agreed with:   

There is no such thing as cyberterrorism--no instance of anyone ever having been killed by a terrorist (or anyone else) using a computer. Nor is there compelling evidence that al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization has resorted to computers for any sort of serious destructive activity. What's more, outside of a Tom Clancy novel, computer security specialists believe it is virtually impossible to use the Internet to inflict death on a large scale, and many scoff at the notion that terrorists would bother trying.

"I don't lie awake at night worrying about cyberattacks ruining my life," says Dorothy Denning, a computer science professor at Georgetown University and one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts. "Not only does [cyberterrorism] not rank alongside chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, but it is not anywhere near as serious as other potential physical threats like car bombs or suicide bombers."

All true enough. But we might want to be careful about claiming  there's no evidence of jihadis trying trying to use the Internet to cause at least some level of mayhem.  This is  the latest from the, respected Jamestown Foundation:

A new section on the jihadist al-Farouq web forum [www.al-farouq.com/vb], created two weeks ago, contains postings that call for heightened electronic attacks against U.S. and allied government websites and provides information for mujahid hackers.

This forum represents a how-to manual for the disruption and/or destruction of enemy electronic resources, including e-mail, websites and computer hardware. Such attacks have been threatened by Osama bin Laden and Syrian-born Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad, dating back to mid-2002. It appears that forum members are taking up the call, sharing information and discussing strategies online. An initial survey of the forum includes detailed instructions and attached software, in addition to links to other websites containing similar utilities....

Additionally, a participant on the al-Farouq forum calling himself ‘achrafe' submitted a formal proposal to form an operations unit within the fledgling "Islamic Hacker Army" (Jaish al-Hacker al-Islami). In his report, he lists the advantages of working to organize the electronic jihad community, as in denial of service attacks, which are much more potent when carried out simultaneously. Furthermore, those with new technical knowledge could more easily share such information within a solid group. Such a structure, implemented online, would facilitate the transmission of information both up and down the chain of command.

Denial of service attacks... that's not very impressive. But it's worth knowing that whatever the the likely limitations, jihadis at least are still hacking away, or least thinking about it.

Comments

[Nicholas Weaver]

Of course, the problem is, those who work in the field (like me) can see that you COULD really fubar the US with an electronic attack.

Imagine a good hunk of the power grid and oil refining capacity going off line for anywhere from days to months... Now think what that would do to the US economy. It's not just possible, but doable.

You wouldn't KILL anyone, or at least not enough to make a splash that way. But it could really hurt nonetheless, and depending on the terrorist group (eg, ELF), NOT killing people is a feature, not a limitation, of a computer-centric attack.

[Rightweb referring luaptifer]

OTOH, it's worthwhile to recognize that Jamestown probably has the same credibility issues as the neoconned blind-faithers of the PNAC crowd.

same 'thinkers', same thinking!

[Alla]

I think that the real terrorist is your government ,plus your ignorance about the middle east.

a very simple law to do :
STOP killing & using other nations for your narrow interest = no body will give the fuck about you and about "your freedom".

[islamic HacKer]

Stop killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and palistein and lebanon and .... and .... in the name of FREEDOM,
And we will Stop Hacking your web sites !!!

The Islamic Army

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