3rd March 2016
ISIS hackers target the wrong Google (newsweek.com).
The wrong one? Surely there can be only one?
“Hackers affiliated with the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) who promised to take down Google appear to have mistakenly attacked the wrong target. The so-called Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA) announced plans on the secure messaging app Telegram to hack Google on Monday; however, Google services appear to have been unaffected. … Instead, the website of Add Google Online was defaced with ISIS imagery and a message stating, ‘hacked by CCA’. A French-language Islamic State song also played, promising: ‘We will kill you without pity… for Allah alone we wear suicide belts.’ The site, registered to Indian firm Always Say, offers search engine optimization (SEO) services to local businesses but is not connected with Google.”
What a shocker I’m sure that gave poor Mr Gupta when he woke up and logged on, perhaps making him now feel the same as I about SEO.
But, a quick check suggests Google is indeed still the de facto search engine in the Middle East so surely, can “so-called Cyber Caliphate Army” hackers really have made such a ridiculous mistake? And if not exactly who were they trying to fool or, indeed, who exactly is trying to fool who?
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