ISIS hacks UK solar firm site in revenge

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Feb 28 2016 | 6:22 PM IST
ISIS terrorists hacked the website of a UK-based solar firm as revenge for the killing of one of their British Muslim members, a media report said today.
Self-styled Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) members recently carried out the hack on the website of Solar UK, an East Sussex company in south-east England with only 11 staff, The Sunday Times reported.
The attack was reportedly to avenge the death of Junaid Hussain, an ISIS figure from Birmingham, and it saw customers being diverted to a web page featuring the terror group's logo accompanied by a string of threats.
"Fear us," the page warned. "We are the Islamic Cyber Army. We have responded to the call of war and have risen across the globe, from within their own backyards to strike back viciously - anywhere and any time."
ISIS hackers, led by Hussain before his death, have previously claimed responsibility for attacks on the Pentagon and have leaked the personal details of US military and government officials.
The choice of Solar UK as a "crucial target" for ISIS has left the company perplexed.
Duncan Lee, its founder and technical director, thought the cyber-attack was a schoolboy prank when it took place on January 31 and did not report it to police.
"When it initially happened, I just thought it was some 16-year-old kid showing off his prowess," he said.
He said the site was affected only for about two hours and was astonished, however, when 'The Sunday Times' told him last week that Solar UK had been included in a new propaganda video featuring the CCA's "top" attacks.
The 50-minute video pays tribute to "our brother" Hussain and threatens more cyberwarfare on the West. PTI AK
It is interspersed with graphic footage of hostages being beheaded in Syria by the Isis terrorists who carried out last November's Paris massacre. The attack is most likely to have originated from a computer in Kuwait.
Hussain, 21, was killed by an American drone strike in Syria in August last year.
It came after he was placed near the top of a Pentagon "kill list" of influential Isis operatives.
Hussain's wife, Sally Jones, a 46-year-old convert to Islam from Kent, remains a US target.
The British couple - both computer hackers - travelled to Syria in 2013 and are believed to have been involved in a subsequent cyberattack on US Central Command, part of the defence department.
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First Published: Feb 28 2016 | 6:22 PM IST

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