Crucial information held by some of the most senior ministers of David Cameron (including Home Secretary Theresa May) has possibly landed in the hands of extremists- claims Intelligence agency GCHQ
It was identified in an investigative report from the GCHQ that the so-called Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) group have collaborated to steal sensitive information held by David Cameron’s cabinet ministers.
As per the report, the hackers conducted a sophisticated espionage operation and managed to hack into email accounts of important ministers.
It is also disclosed in the report that at least one of the ringleaders of this plot got killed by a drone strike (possibly Junaid Hussain).
The agenda of the hackers might be to discover the upcoming events that prominent government officials and the Royals were to attend.
This sort of a cyber-threat firstly surfaced as a warning to security officials at Whitehall in May. GCHQ investigation revealed that experts realized soon after that the extremists were planning to attack Britain.
As of now it is not clear what sort of data the hackers were able to access but it can be stated that no data breaches have occurred. Officials, nonetheless, have tightened security procedures and have orders changes in passwords.
The revelations made in the GCHQ report shows the way “war on terror” has progressed because due to ISIS’s cyber proficiencies hackers are being recruited to “actively target the West.”
Junaid Hussain The British Born ISIS Hacker:
On 27th August 2015, a British national and top hacker for ISIS Junaid Hussain aka TriCk was killed in a drone strike in Syria. Junaid was known as the mastermind behind every high-profile cyber attack carried out by Cyber Caliphate hacking group.
However, it is unclear if the targeted operation against top British ministers was conducted after or before his death.
ISIS Hovering Cyber-attacks, Warning ‘Electronic War’ on US, Europe:
In a video released in May 2015, hackers linked with the Islamic State group ISIS intimidated a chain of cyber-attacks in the United States and Europe.
The hackers also threatened to monitor electronic devices and communications of Americans and Europeans, they termed it as the start of a new electronic war in the video.
High-profile hacks by pro-ISIS hackers:
In April 2015, The pro-ISIS hacking group “CyberCaliphate” targeted and took control of BBC News transmission and TV5Monde’s Paris headquarters’ computer systems and posted a pro-ISIS message on the channel’s social media accounts.
France Believes Russia Hacked TV5Monde Posing as ISIS Militants | https://t.co/K91lvQ1tkw #Security #Hacking #InfoSec pic.twitter.com/57OxpLgnvY
— Hackread.com (@HackRead) June 11, 2015
The hackers also blacked out the company’s global TV channels for a few hours. However, French investigating team claimed it could be Russian hackers behind the hacking of both TV stations posing as ISIS hackers.
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Telegraph