A Kosovan man named Ardit Ferizi has been arrested in Malaysia for suspected hacking of US military databases comprising of personal information of 1,351 officers and government employees.
Ferizi is also accused of handing over this sensitive information to the so-called Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) group.
According to the US Department of Justice, the 20-year old Ferizi was popular in hacking circles as “Th3Dir3ctory” and happens to be the leader of Kosova Hacker’s Security (KHS).
The KHS was also behind the hacking of the official website of US National Weather Service provider (US Weather.Gov) in 2012.
He was arrested by Malaysia police on charges of transferring the names, phone numbers, locations, passwords and email IDs of federal and military employees to Islamic State’s hacker Junaid Hussain.
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This exchange of info occurred between June and August this year. The accused will be facing charges under the Terrorist Act and will be extradited to the US.
Malaysian Police told Reuters that,
“Early investigation found the suspect communicated with [a] right-hand man…of IS terrorist group in Syria to hack a few servers containing information and details of US security personnel and team. The details were then transferred to the operation unit of the IS group for further action.”
John Carlin, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, described Ferizi as a “terrorist hacker.” Carlin believes that this is the first of its kind case, according to the document released by the Department of Justice.
The US Department of Justice announced that the accused could receive a maximum term of 35 years in prison if convicted.
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.
