Re: U.S. at risk of cyberattacks
U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged Inspire,
a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine; the latest U.S.
attempt to disrupt al-Qaeda’s online propaganda
Washington Post
By Ellen Nakashima
June 11, 2013
U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the group’s followers, according to officials.
The operation succeeded, at least temporarily, in thwarting publication of the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine distributed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it appeared online, the text on the second page was garbled and the following 20 pages were blank. The sabotaged version was quickly removed from the online forum that hosted it, said independent analysts who track Islamist militant Web sites.
It is unclear how the hacking occurred, although U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency and the CIA, have invested heavily in cyber-capabilities in recent years. Security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the recent operation was only the latest U.S. attempt to disrupt al-Qaeda’s online propaganda.
“You can make it hard for them to distribute it, or you can mess with the content. And you can mess with the content in a way that is obvious or in ways that are not obvious,” said one intelligence official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive internal debates.
Officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the government’s 16 intelligence agencies, declined to comment, as did the White House and the Pentagon.
The hacked version of Inspire magazine appeared May 14, said Evan Kohlmann, an analyst who tracks jihadist Web sites. His firm, Flashpoint Global Partners, captured an image of the issue, which featured a cover showing a fighter in a heavy coat, shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a Kalashnikov rifle. The title was “How Did It Come to This?”
Within half an hour of its appearance, the magazine was removed, presumably in response to the hacking, Kohlmann said.
On May 30, a new version, Issue 11, appeared. That issue portrayed the Boston Marathon bombing as vindication of Inspire’s message that “a single lone jihad operation can force America to stand on one foot and live in a terrified state, full of fear.”
Inspire comprises first-person accounts of operations, exhortations to jihad and do-it-yourself advice for extremists. A second intelligence official said the publication is seen as a threat because it “has a specific readership — a following. People will look for it, as opposed to something randomly posted. Two, it is very user-friendly. Inspire uses pictures and step-by-step diagrams, and that’s a problem.”
Does disruption work?
The decision to disrupt the magazine last month was part of a debate within the Obama administration over the response to online publications that promote radicalization.
The debate spiked after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. One of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told the FBI that he and his late brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, learned from the magazine how to make the pressure-cooker bombs used in the attack. He also told them they had been inspired by sermons and other material from the Internet, said officials briefed on the disclosures.
SOURCE
<font size="5"><center>
New issue of magazine
offers jihadists terror tips</font size></center>
October 12, 2010|From the CNN Wire Staff
The second edition of an online al Qaeda magazine has surfaced with frank essays, creatively designed imagery and ominous terror tips such as using a pickup truck as a weapon and shooting up a crowded restaurant in Washington.
The magazine is called "Inspire" and intelligence officials believe that an American citizen named Samir Khan, now living in Yemen, is the driving force behind the publication.
The latest edition was emerged on the 10th anniversary of the suicide attack on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole -- struck as it refueled in Aden, Yemen. The first edition came out in July.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-12/...zine_1_yemen-terror-tips-al-qaeda?_s=PM:WORLD
<font size="3">
Inspire is an English language online magazine reported to be published by the organization Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The first issue appeared in July 2010. The magazine is aimed at British and American readers and provides instructions such as "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" and translated messages from Osama bin Laden. A second edition, of 74 pages, was published October 2010. Various articles in the second issue encourage terror attacks on U.S. soil, suggesting that followers open fire at a Washington, D.C. restaurant or use a pickup truck to “mow down” pedestrians.</font size>
U.S. disrupts al-Qaeda’s online magazine last month
U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged Inspire,
a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine; the latest U.S.
attempt to disrupt al-Qaeda’s online propaganda
Washington Post
By Ellen Nakashima
June 11, 2013
U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the group’s followers, according to officials.
The operation succeeded, at least temporarily, in thwarting publication of the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine distributed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it appeared online, the text on the second page was garbled and the following 20 pages were blank. The sabotaged version was quickly removed from the online forum that hosted it, said independent analysts who track Islamist militant Web sites.
It is unclear how the hacking occurred, although U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency and the CIA, have invested heavily in cyber-capabilities in recent years. Security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the recent operation was only the latest U.S. attempt to disrupt al-Qaeda’s online propaganda.
“You can make it hard for them to distribute it, or you can mess with the content. And you can mess with the content in a way that is obvious or in ways that are not obvious,” said one intelligence official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive internal debates.
Officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the government’s 16 intelligence agencies, declined to comment, as did the White House and the Pentagon.
The hacked version of Inspire magazine appeared May 14, said Evan Kohlmann, an analyst who tracks jihadist Web sites. His firm, Flashpoint Global Partners, captured an image of the issue, which featured a cover showing a fighter in a heavy coat, shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a Kalashnikov rifle. The title was “How Did It Come to This?”
Within half an hour of its appearance, the magazine was removed, presumably in response to the hacking, Kohlmann said.
On May 30, a new version, Issue 11, appeared. That issue portrayed the Boston Marathon bombing as vindication of Inspire’s message that “a single lone jihad operation can force America to stand on one foot and live in a terrified state, full of fear.”
Inspire comprises first-person accounts of operations, exhortations to jihad and do-it-yourself advice for extremists. A second intelligence official said the publication is seen as a threat because it “has a specific readership — a following. People will look for it, as opposed to something randomly posted. Two, it is very user-friendly. Inspire uses pictures and step-by-step diagrams, and that’s a problem.”
Does disruption work?
The decision to disrupt the magazine last month was part of a debate within the Obama administration over the response to online publications that promote radicalization.
The debate spiked after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. One of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told the FBI that he and his late brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, learned from the magazine how to make the pressure-cooker bombs used in the attack. He also told them they had been inspired by sermons and other material from the Internet, said officials briefed on the disclosures.
SOURCE