Category Archives: Islamic State

Smashing Security podcast #325: Rick Astley and the little birdie scam

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Australia’s signal intelligence agency calls upon an Eighties popstar to fight terrorism, and a simple act of kindness leads to a woman being scammed for thousands.

All this and much more is discussed in the latest edition of the “Smashing Security”… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #325: Rick Astley and the little birdie scam→

After judge orders release of hacker tied to ISIS, US says ‘Not so fast’

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A convicted hacker whom a U.S. court granted compassionate release during the coronavirus pandemic may remain behind bars after all, following accusations that he committed crimes while in custody.  Since 2016, Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovan national, has been serving a 20-year prison sentence for providing details about 1,300 U.S. military and government personnel to the Islamic State terrorist group. A judge in December awarded Ferizi, who is overweight and has asthma, compassionate release, citing his vulnerability to COVID-19.  That was until the U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 12 unsealed a federal complaint against Ferizi alleging that he had committed multiple new federal crimes while he had been in prison. The charges involve Ferizi allegedly operating a scheme with a family member — who had access to Ferizi’s old email accounts — to monetize stolen personal information, credit card numbers and other data.  Ferizi was being held in the Federal […]

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Hacker who sent information on US personnel to Islamic State is freed by judge

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A foreign hacker sentenced to 20 years in U.S. prison for giving the Islamic State the personal information of about 1,300 U.S. military and government personnel has been given a compassionate release by a federal judge due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ardit Ferizi, who was arrested in 2015 at age 19 in Malaysia and later extradited to the U.S., must spend two weeks in quarantine before deportation by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, according to the order from Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia. Brinkema agreed with a request from Ferizi saying that his asthma and obesity put him at greater risk for contracting COVID-19. Ferizi will be deported to his home country of Kosovo, where he has a support network of family, the judge said. The judge expressed confidence that U.S. officials will be able to monitor his conduct online, given how quickly he was […]

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Islamic State propaganda efforts struggle after Telegram takedowns, report says

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The Islamic State terrorist group is reportedly struggling to regain a foothold on mainstream social networks amid tighter controls from technology firms and ongoing attention from the U.S. military. As major networks have stifled the group, it has tried to build a presence on a number of marginal social media platforms, only to be met “by increasing efforts by these companies to bring down content,” the European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, said Tuesday in a report examining the extremist group’s activities over 2019. Telegram, previously the primary source of terrorist propaganda online, according to Europol, said in November that it had removed more than 5,000 “terrorist accounts and bots” during a two day effort against the group, an uptick from the typical average of 200 to 300 removals. Since then, IS supporters have shifted to more fringe services, like the Russia-based TamTam and Hoop Messenger, which is hosted in Canada. Extremists also have […]

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European police remove 26,000 pieces of Islamic State content from social media

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European police agencies in recent days have removed a number of servers that the Islamic State terrorist group relied on to communicate internally, and amplify propaganda. In a statement Monday, Europol said it worked with internet companies like Google and Twitter to remove messaging from the group. Authorities said they eliminated 26,000 pieces of content from several sites, such as videos, social media accounts, communication channels and posts. Police have described the takedown as a major blow to the extremist’s radicalization efforts. Police in Spain’s Canary Islands also arrested one suspect accused of being “part of the core disseminators” of the group’s recruitment and radicalization efforts. “Prevention is a crucial part of the fight against terrorism because, when we disrupt the propaganda machine of terrorist organizations, we also disrupt radicalization, the recruitment of potential terrorists and also further spreading of the message that could lead to terrorist attacks,” said Ladislav […]

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