Hackers affiliated with the terrorist organization hacked the website of the New Jersey Transit Police Department and released the personal details of 55 police officers, Newsweek reported Monday.
The self-proclaimed Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) then referred to some of the details online in a series of tweets, which also mentioned previous successful attacks on the US Defense Department.
“The lone wolves are hungry for your blood,” one tweet stated.
According to Newsweek, the details include home addresses, phone numbers, names and ranks of the officials. The Twitter accounts used to encourage the attacks have been shuttered ever since.
The breach was acknowledged by New Jersey Transit in a statement. “The New Jersey Transit police are working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI on this matter.”
This is CCA’s most significant achievement yet as their previous hits included small-scale hacks on a small solar energy company in England, a Japanese dance instructor, and a laminate flooring firm based in Wales.
Experts monitoring the alleged hackers cite such unsophisticated attacks as evidence that the group has limited skills.
“We believe they gained access to vulnerable sites using elementary hacking methods and stumbled upon databases or spreadsheets with information they felt would appear threatening if released,” said Raijin Rising, a member of Ghost Security Group, an independent counterterrorism network.
However, in August of last year, a so-called “hacking division” of ISIL released names, home addresses and other sensitive details of hundreds of US military and embassy staff in an alleged “hit list.”
Daesh claimed its hackers have infiltrated computers belonging to the American military and accessed data such as photographs, phone numbers, addresses and even credit card details of some 1,500 US Army, Navy and State Department staff.
The ISIL terrorists have been widely using internet and various social media networks to spread propaganda and recruit Westerners.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters on February 29 that the Pentagon was expanding its cyber warfare against ISIS, Press TV reported.
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