Student held in M'sia for hacking for ISIS, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Student held in M'sia for hacking for ISIS

This article is more than 12 months old

Known hacker from Kosovo dug up personal information of 1,300 US security officials

Malaysian authorities have arrested a man for hacking into the personal information of more than 1,000 US security officials and handing the database to militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) so it could target the individuals.

The 20-year-old from Kosovo who entered Malaysia in August 2014 to study computer science and forensics at a private institute in Kuala Lumpur.

He was taken into custody on Sept 15 and will be extradited to the US, Malaysian police said on Thursday night.

"Early investigations found (that) the suspect communicated with one of the right-hand men (of an ISIS leader) to hack a few servers containing information and details of US security personnel," police said.

"The details were then transferred to the operation unit of the ISIS group for further action."

CHARGED

The US Justice Department said that Ardit Ferizi, a citizen of Kosovo and a known hacker, was charged with hacking into the personal information of 1,351 US military personnel and federal employees and supporting ISIS, which is also known as ISIL.

Ferizi, believed to be the leader of a Kosovar internet hacking group called Kosova Hacker's Security, hacked the computer system of a US company and stole the personal identification information (PII) of thousands of individuals, the department said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

Between June and August this year, he allegedly provided the PII to an ISIS member, who in turn posted a tweet titled "NEW: US Military AND Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!"

It contained a hyperlink to a 30-page document.

The document said in part: "we are in your e-mails and computer systems, watching and recording your every move, we have your names and addresses."

It said that information would be passed on to ISIS fighters "who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands!"

The US Justice Department statement said: "This posting was intended to provide ISIL supporters in the United States and elsewhere with the PII belonging to the listed government employees for the purpose of encouraging terrorist attacks against those individuals."

Malaysia has arrested more than 100 citizens this year on suspicion of links to ISIS. - Reuters

malaysiahackingISISarrestedUncategorised