Technology

The FBI Is Now at War with Syrian Hackers

Following the most high-profile Syrian Electronic Army media hack yet, the FBI has acknowledged the threat of the hacker group, according to a memo via Public Intelligence. 

By Rebecca Greenfield
Saved Stories
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Following the most high-profile Syrian Electronic Army media hack yet, the FBI has acknowledged the threat of the hacker group, according to a memo via Public Intelligence. "Please maintain heightened awareness of your network traffic and take appropriate steps to maintain your network security," reads the memo, which is dated August 30th, just two days after the New York Times hack. "If you detect anomalous or malicious traffic or network behavior please contact your local FBI Cyber Task Force." In addition, ZDNet claims that means the FBI put the SEA on the cyber-criminal wanted list. But that memo went out August 30, and as of right now, the cyber criminal wanted list webpage does not list the SEA.

Before The New York Times and parts of Twitter got taken down by the SEA, the group had successfully hacked the Twitter accounts and websites of multiple prestigious media organizations, including the BBC and the Associated Press. The SEA also claims it's preparing for "Operation Blackout" its next hacking endeavor that will lead to "ww3."

The increased FBI oversight has, so far, not deterred the SEA. The group retweeted a link to the memo, before tweeting:

Of course, all of this government action(ish) comes as other parts of our government decide to take less virtual action in Syria.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.