A weekend cyber attack against Colonial Williamsburg's website, History.org, has been attributed to ISIS, the Islamic State, but investigators say they're not so sure.
History.org and several other websites were vandalized over the weekend, with hackers leaving an image of the black ISIS flag and a message in English, "Hacked by ISIS."
The incident came only a week after Colonial Williamsburg president Mitchell Reiss extended an offer to Iraq to safeguard the nation's ancient artifacts currently being destroyed by ISIS, reported the Virginia Gazette.
Thus far, ISIS militants have destroyed the ancient Assyrian cities of Hatra, Nimrud and Khorsabad, smashing artifacts and bulldozing structures that have stood for over 2,500 years. In Mosul, militants took sledgehammers to statues at the Mosul Museum and burned thousands of rare manuscripts housed at the Mosul Library. In July, ISIS released a video showing the destruction of the tomb of the biblical prophet Jonah.
TRENDING: Jihad against Christians is due to … climate change?
The shocking truth about ISIS in the new eye-opening e-book that is available free to WND readers.
This week it was reported a Kuwaiti cleric was calling for the destruction of Egypt's pyramids and Sphinx.
"We have warned before and we warn again that those gangs and their sick ... ideology will continue to destroy and steal artifacts as long as there is no strong deterrent," Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Monday.
FBI investigators are questioning whether the hackers behind the attack were actually associated with ISIS, merely sympathetic to the group or simply cyber vandals tossing around the terrorists' brand. There was little or no connection among the websites hacked, and Colonial Williamsburg's offer to Iraq had not been publicly announced.
In addition to History.org, the websites for Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, a Goodwill center in St. Louis, a credit union in Butte, Mont., a cocktail bar in Somerville, Mass. and Montauk Manor, a posh hotel in the Hamptons of Long Island, New York, were hit by "ISIS," reported the Hill.
"Colonial Williamsburg's website seems to have been affected as randomly as other organizations around the country," a spokesman for the historical site said today.
"There was a vulnerability in a software plug-in belonging to a third party company that allowed a hacker to post their content to one of our sites. We corrected the issue by upgrading the plug-in to the latest version ... We have been assured that there is no need for concern."
That said, Reiss emphasizes his original offer to Iraq still stands, and Colonial Williamsburg will not be intimidated.
"At Colonial Williamsburg, we well know that a nation's past is a foundation for its future," Reiss said. "It was here that the idea of American independence was first established, where our founding democratic institutions were conceived and where our foundational values of human dignity and religious and economic liberty were first given voice. All that we are today – and hope to be tomorrow – started here.
"It is the same for Iraq, a country known as the cradle of civilization for its scientific, cultural and artistic achievements – including invention of the wheel and the first alphabet, which date back 10,000 years and which continue to fascinate and inspire humanity," Reiss continued. "That legacy, indeed our common human legacy, is contained in the vessels of civilization now being destroyed by ISIS.
"The Iraqi people once suffered at the hands of despots. They continue to suffer at the hands of terrorists. If we can join with them in an effort to protect these antiquities, we can protect Iraq and the world's collective DNA until these clouds of divisiveness and chaos pass.
"Our pledge is to work with Iraq's dedicated archaeological and antiquities professionals to identify specific artifacts that can benefit from Colonial Williamsburg's conservation and preservation expertise," Reiss said. "We will accept all the artifacts that our Division of Collections, Conservation and Museums can handle."