“Middle East Cyber Army” mastermind who hacked 3,500 websites to post messages praising Charlie Hebdo massacre arrested in Bulgaria
Bulgarian authorities have detained a 21-year-old Syrian hacker who allegedly belongs to the jihadi “Middle East Cyber Army” in Bulgaria, where he has lived with his family for most of his life. The hackers is thought to be involved in hacking 3,500 websites around the world to post messages praising the slaughter at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in Paris.
The Bulgarian authorities said that they were keeping the hackers name confidential so as to help the investigators gather evidence against him. They have however, given details of a raid on his house that was conducted June 13. In the raid, the Bulgarian police seized computers and data storage containing advanced hacking tools belonging to the hacker.
Post the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the world was divided into two groups, one in support of the the murderers and one group opposing the massacre with #JeSuisCharlie handle. The members of the former group mostly belonged to radical islamic organisations and compromised 20,000 websites in France. The hacked websites often carried a defaced page having a image of black terrorist flag reading,
“The Islamic State Stay Inshallah, Free Palestine, Death to France, Death to Charlie.” The first part of the message essentially means “May the Islamic State continue acting on Allah’s will.”
According to Deutsche Welle, the suspect is a “resident student” in Bulgaria. DW also mentions that the hacker may be linked to another group called Cyber Army of Khilafah which is linked to the notorious ISIS. The Cyber Army of Khilafah recently hacked London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the only major source of authentic information about the civilians caught in the crossfire between al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Assad regime in the restive Syrian provinces.
