ISIS ISIS hackers post N.J. police officers’ details online, calling on followers to attack them

Published 8 March 2016

ISIS hackers have posted the personal details of U.S. officials online, encouraging the group’s supporters to carry out “lone wolf” attacks against them. The Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA), formerly known as the Islamic Cyber Army, posted the personal details of fifty-five New Jersey police officers last week after hacking into the Web site of the New Jersey Transit police.

The flag of ISIS // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

ISIS hackers have posted the personal details of U.S. officials online, encouraging the group’s supporters to carry out “lone wolf” attacks against them.

Newsweek reports that the Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA), formerly known as the Islamic Cyber Army, posted the personal details of fifty-five New Jersey police officers last week after hacking into the Web site of the New Jersey Transit police.

“The lone wolves r hungry for yr blood,” one tweet from the group stated. The list of personal details, seen by Newsweek, includes home addresses, phone numbers, names, and ranks. The Twitter accounts used to encourage the attacks have since been shut down.

New Jersey Transit said in a statement: “The NJ Transit Information System was not compromised, however some information was breached from an outside vendor. The New Jersey Transit police are working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI on this matter.”

Newsweeknotes that the CCA has in the past carried out hacks on seemingly arbitrary online targets.

The group also recently threatened to take down Google but instead defaced the Web site of Add Google Online, a small Indian firm that offers SEO services.

Experts say the kind if attacks CCA carries out shows that the group has limited technical skills.

“We believe they gained access to vulnerable sites using elementary hacking methods and stumbled upon databases or spreadsheets with information they felt would appear threatening if released,” Raijin Rising, a pseudonymous member of the independent counterterrorism network Ghost Security Group, told Newsweek.

“Their activities shine a light on just how vulnerable websites are out there,” the member said. “It’s amazing how bad it is. I would estimate between 50 percent and 75 percent of websites are weak and vulnerable to simple attacks like these.”