Malaysian authorities have arrested a Kosovo hacker who breached U.S. security to aid the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or the Islamic State group).
Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi reportedly provided material information to the Islamic State group, stole personally identifiable information of U.S. federal employees and service members and committed hacking and identity theft violations.
Malaysian authorities have arrested Ferizi on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant and the United States is seeking to extradite the man to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia so he can stand trial and face the accusations against him, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed in a press release.
According to the DOJ, Ferizi is suspected of leading a Kosovar Internet hacking collective called Kosova Hacker's Security. Ferizi reportedly used the alias "Th3Dir3ctorY" during his hacking activities.
After hacking into the computer system of a U.S.-based company and stealing the personally identifiable information (PII) of thousands of people, Ferizi allegedly provided the PII data of more than 1,000 U.S. federal employees and service members to the Islamic State group, enabling the terrorist organization to use that information against the employees in question.
Ferizi reportedly provided the stolen PII to Islamic State group member Junaid Hussain, also known as Abu Hussain al-Britani, from June to August 2015. Hussain allegedly posted a tweet on Aug. 11, 2015 in the name of the Islamic State Hacking Division (ISHD), boasting about how the ISHD hacked the U.S. military and government.
"We are in your emails and computer systems, watching and recording your every move, we have your names and addresses, we are in your emails and social media accounts, we are extracting confidential data and passing on your personal information to the soldiers of the khilafah, who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands," read the document, as cited by the DOJ.
The rest of the document disclosed sensitive information of roughly 1,351 U.S. military and other government employees, detailing their names, locations, phone numbers, email addresses and email passwords. The data dump aimed to allow the Islamic State group supporters in the United States and other parts of the world to access the PII of the listed government personnel, making the employees vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
If convicted, the terrorist hacker faces up to 35 years in prison. The DOJ points out that all charges and allegations in this indictment are simply accusations, but the defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty. The FBI is currently conducting an investigation into the matter.
