Hackers Claim Foiling ’ISIL’ Terror Attacks in Tunisia, NY

Local Editor

Ghost Security, a network of hacktivists formed earlier this year, claims that it thwarted two major terrorist attacks in the past month, as well impeding "ISIL's" online recruitment drive.

The group said it is looking for more volunteers to crowdsource its anti-terrorist efforts.

Mikro, one of the hackers, who represented the group in its dealings with the media stated how Ghost Security intercepted social media communications between Takfiri plotters.

"In Tunisia, they were, as always, talking on Twitter [about] what they're about to do. And when you catch those conversations ... [you start] to get the pieces of the puzzle together. They started to talk about an old Jewish town in Tunisia right after the first beach attack," said Mikro, referring to the shooting of 38 people in a Sousse hotel complex in June this year.

"We looked further into that and then we noticed that we were actually onto something. We looked a little closer, waited a couple of hours and alerted the authorities. A couple of days later they told us what has been done on our information and confirmed that we did prevent a terrorist attack at that point."

Mikro said he was forced to be more circumspect about a subsequent plan to carry out an attack on a New York target, saying the group needed to maintain secrecy, but did say that there were "reasons to take the threat seriously" and claimed that reporting the plot to the authorities apparently "scared off" the radicals.

The hacktivist group had used a private contractor as an intermediary with its dealings with the US government.

The hacker reports that the group, which has links to the broader Anonymous movement, had attained unique insight into the online workings of "ISIL" and its growing web of affiliates.

"In the beginning we failed a lot, but now it has become easier, as we now know who they are, we know their methods, we know everything about "Islamic State" online."
While foiling terrorist plots represents the cutting edge of Ghost Security's work, the group's bread-and-butter is shutting down accounts "ISIL" uses to broadcast its atrocities and recruit new followers.

As a result of their tip-offs some 59,000 Twitter accounts, 1,300 YouTube propaganda videos, and 130 standalone sites had been disabled.

The hackers' representative said that rather than endlessly hunting down mirror accounts, the group's aim is to block "ISIL" content before it goes viral.

While it had said that the number of "ISIL" accounts on Twitter had gone down by up to a quarter, eventually, the group hopes to create a virtual blanket filter that will stop the radical Takfiris from reaching mainstream platforms altogether.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team