By Chelsea Schilling and Michael Maloof
Hackers purporting to be affiliated with the Islamic State seized control of social media accounts of the U.S. military's Central Command on Monday, posting messages such as "CyberCaliphate" and "i love you isis."
One message posted on Twitter warned, "AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS."
Another said, "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad."
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The Pentagon has not confirmed that ISIS is, in fact, behind the hacking, which lasted about 30 minutes. Centcom is responsible for leading the U.S. military battle against ISIS. It regularly uploads videos of U.S. airstrikes on its social media accounts.
International "hacktivist" group Anonymous claimed in a tweet that the ISIS sympathizer hacking originated in Maryland. Tweeting under the handle TheAnonMessage, the group wrote, "We've traced the hacker who infiltrated @CENTCOM to somewhere in the State of Maryland. @FBI, you're welcome."
The hackers uploaded propaganda videos titled, "Flames of War ISIS Video" and "O Soldiers of Truth Go Forth," and military documents with contact information for senior military personnel, including the name of a service member's child and the school the child attends. They also posted a list of generals with the title, "Army General Officer Public Roster (by rank) 2 January 2014."
Other Twitter posts stated, "Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios" and "Pentagon Networks Hacked. Korean Scenarios."
The Twitter account background and profile photo were altered to depict an ISIS militant with a keffiyeh, or head scarf, drawn across his face. The Centcom YouTube page featured a "CyberCaliphate" banner and the two ISIS propaganda videos. Centcom's Facebook page appeared unaltered Monday.
The command's accounts were taken down, though the Twitter account was back up by Monday evening. Centcom issued a statement confirming the social media accounts had been compromised.
"CENTCOM's operation military networks were not compromised and there was no operational impact to U.S. Central Command," the statement said. "CENTCOM will restore service to its Twitter and YouTube accounts as quickly as possible. We are viewing this purely as a case of cybervandalism."
According to officials, no classified information was posted, and the messages did not originate from Centcom's server or social media accounts. The Department of Defense and law enforcement authorities have been informed about the leaks of personal information.
The FBI released the following statement: "The FBI is investigating the recent intrusion involving CENTCOM social media accounts and continues to work with the Department of Defense in order to determine the nature and scope of this incident."
The Washington Post reported nearly all of the documents posted by the hackers had been available online, but the whole incident has embarrassed the Pentagon. However, according to Defense One, some of the documents were from password-protected sites.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Armed Services panel, said, "It's a propaganda ploy here and a propaganda advancement for these guys."
Graham called the incident "embarrassing."
"I don't think this compromises our national security call, but it should be a wake up call to all of us," he said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said, "It’s not surprising, they’ve got this capability," adding, "It heightens the importance of us doing some legislation on cyber, and we'll be having various meetings, and we will be working on cyber security."
ISIS sympathizers have used social media such as Twitter to post graphic images of beheadings and issue violent threats.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration is "examining and investigating the extent of the incident."
"This is something we are obviously looking into and something we take seriously," he said, adding that there is a "pretty significant difference" between "a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account."
As WND reported, a similar ominous message was posted by someone purporting to be affiliated with ISIS who apparently hacked the app of New Mexico's largest newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal, and threatened Albuquerque residents on Dec. 26.
"You'll see no mercy, infidels," it said. "We are already here, we are in your PCs, in each house, in each office. With Allah's permission we begin with Albuquerque."
The posting was accompanied by the headline, "Christmas will never be merry any longer" and the same dark photo of a figure wearing a black-and-white checkered head scarf. Text in the middle of the photo read "CyberCaliphate" and "I love you isis" [sic].
The post also stated, "While the us [sic] and its satellites are bombing the Islamic State, we broke into your home networks and personal devices and know everything about you."
The hacker told Albuquerque residents, "You will look around more often, will call up your children more often, think of your security more often, but that won't help you."
The website shut down for several hours while the posting was removed.
The Journal posted a note on its website confirming the attack. It also stated that the FBI had been notified, and "there was no data breach."
Information Systems Director Monty Midyette said the alterations appeared to be limited to just one story.
News outlets have been reporting for months that ISIS has planned a "cyber caliphate" against U.S. technology using encrypted software.
In September, the FBI warned of possible cyber attacks in retaliation for U.S. air strikes against ISIS.
NBC News reported the FBI released a bulletin to law enforcement and U.S. businesses that cited "recent nonspecific and probably aspirational threats made on social media platform to carry out cyber as well as physical attacks in response to the U.S. military presence in the Middle East."
The FBI warned that such attacks could include "messages expressing support for ISIS and/or … imagery such as the black ISIS flag or graphic imagery, e.g. pictures or videos of ISIS executions."
Some Islamic militants have boasted online that they will soon be capable of attacking America's infrastructure or financial system, according to Fox News.
"The jihadists are investing a lot in encryption technologies, and they have developed their own software to protect their communications, and when Western agencies work out how to crack them, they adapt quickly,” Steve Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, told Fox News in September. "They are forward-thinking and are experimenting with hacking. In the future, the jihadist cyber army’s activities will become a daily reality."
Also in September, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers said he has been observing the cyber capabilities of the media-savvy terrorist group.
Rogers told a cybersecurity conference in Washington, D.C., "We need to assume that there will be a cyber dimension increasingly in almost any scenario that we’re dealing with. Counterterrorism is no different. Clearly, [ISIS] has been very aggressive in the use of media, in the use of technology, in the use of the Internet."
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