TORONTO – Amidst reports that the U.S. is poised for an attack on Syria, an Internet-savvy pro-government hacker group stole the limelight Tuesday after hacking multiple Western media outlets.
“Media is going down …” warned the Syrian Electronic Army in a Twitter message before the New York Times’ website stopped working, boasting that it also had taken over Twitter and the Huffington Post U.K.
It’s not the first time that the pro-Assad group has caused a stir online.
The Syrian Electronic Army has, in recent months, taken credit for web attacks on media targets that it sees as sympathetic to Syria’s rebels, including prior attacks at the New York Times, along with the Washington Post, Agence France-Presse, 60 Minutes, CBS News, National Public Radio, Al-Jazeera English and the BBC.
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The group also took credit for hacking the Associated Press’ Twitter account, sending out a false tweet about an attack on the White House in April.
“The intensity and scope of the Syrian Electronic Army’s activities signal an interesting development in the Syrian pro-regime Internet arena,” wrote Helmi Noman, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab and Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, in a report profiling the Syrian Electronic Army.
“In addition to being one of the most repressive Internet censors in the region, the local media, some of which is government-run is apparently supporting the Army’s orchestrated aggressive efforts to attack, by means of website defacements and comment spamming, political opposition and Western websites.”
Pro-government group
The Syrian Electronic Army is a pro-government group that works to attack those it considers “hostile” for being sympathetic to Syria’s rebels.
The Army first appeared on Facebook in April 2011 after anti-regime protests erupted in Syria, according to Information Warfare Monitor (IWM).
The group uses social media platforms to coordinate spam attacks, often taking to Facebook to post pro-government messages.
According to Noman’s report for IWM, the group has been linked to the Syrian Computer Society, an organization that was headed by current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the 1990s prior to becoming president.
Tactics
The group has been known to target Syrian opposition websites and the websites of public figures who publicly support the opposition.
Syrian singer Asalah Nasri’s website was hacked and covered in pro-Assad messages after local media reported that she supported the revolution and rejected an invitation to sing in support of the president.
The hackers also target Western websites that they feel spread “anti-regime” messages.
But, according to Noman’s report, some of the websites that the Army has hacked in the past include things like tourism sites and online shops that do not share news stories about Syria.
The Army targets popular Facebook accounts and spams them with comments. To date, the group has targeted the accounts of the White House, U.S. Department of State, U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few.
It remains unclear whether the Syrian Electronic Army is connected with Syrian forces, however President Assad made mention of the group in a speech in 2011 stating, “There is the electronic army which has been a real army in virtual reality.”
A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that the statement pointed to signs of approval from the president.
“Governments are usually careful to distance themselves from nationalistic hacking groups, even if they tacitly permit it through lack of law enforcement,” read the report, published in 2011.
“By mentioning the Electronic Army, al-Assad is signaling his support of computer sabotage and vigilante censorship in the name of his country. At least, that is how his online supporters are likely to interpret his words.”
– With files from The Associated Press
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