Egyptian Cyber Group Attacks ISIS

A group of Egyptian nationalists has joined those attacking the online operations of the “Islamic State”, also known as ISIS, last week replacing a message from ISIS’ leader with a recording of a popular song.

The transcript of the message was replaced with an image recalling the Egyptian national flag, and a message in Arabic reading “Egyptian Cyber Army”.

Pro-government hackers

ISIS has previously been attacked online by American and Iranian hackers, the Syrian Electronic Army and the hacktivist group Anonymous.

The Egyptian Cyber Army claims that its aim is to defend the Egyptian government against radical political parties, according to a report by news website Mashable.

“When we started the team we accepted that all the people can work in screwing the Brotherhood or ISIS or any radical Islamic party,” a spokeman for the group told the website.

The group also claims to have attacked American websites such as the Open Society Foundation and the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative, and also tries to expose online activists seen as threatening to the Egyptian government, according to the report.

Account compromise?

The group claims to include members with a police or military background, but the report’s sources said no evidence has come forth to back up this assertion. The spokesman said the Egyptian Cyber Army does not have any links with the Syrian Electronic Army and doesn’t collaborate with it.

The group didn’t reveal how the ISIS media materials were hacked.

The Internet Archive, where the recording was hosted, reportedly said no account made modifications to the files other than that which originally uploaded them, suggesting that the ISIS account itself may have been compromised.

In June, the Iraqi government ordered a shutdown of the Internet in five of the country’s provinces in an effort to block communications by ISIS.

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