A co-ordinated digital attack orchestrated by Muslim hackers has knocked out one of the biggest mouthpieces of the ISIS terrorist network.

The Amaq news agency is an online outlet linked heavily to ISIS, regularly publishing claims of responsibility for the group and leading its charge to recruit members through the internet.

But, following a surge of attacks from hackers uniting under the #paralyzingAmaq hashtag, the website appears to have been brought down.

Any visitors to the URL are greeted with a 404 error and many members of the hacker collective have been posting about their victory on Twitter.

A warning sent out that Amaq has been hacked (
Image:
Twitter)

It appears that the operation has been in the planning for a number of days.

The Iraqi hacking group called "Daeshgram" managed to sew devastating confusion among ISIS followers on Telegram and Twitter. A source told Mirror Online that it will "change ISIS presence on the internet forever".

The hackers have developed more than 40 decoy websites, many barely discernible from the original website. Some of the websites produce fake news about the caliphate, causing arguments between ISIS members, others have shown porn - angering the ultra-conservative jihadists.

One of the decoy websites set up by the hackers to confuse and ridicule ISIS. It looks almost identical to the original

Their latest attack overcame security measures put in place by ISIS to try and protect the Amaq news outlet.

“In response to recent events, we have imposed more stringent security measures on our systems,” the terrorist group wrote in a compromised Arabic email last week.

“We can now handle email attacks or any type of hack,” they said in the email that was sent out to Amaq subscribers.

Evidently, that is not the case. At the moment, ISIS has been reduced to using securely encrypted communications services like Telegram to spread its message.

ISIS are warning its followers off using Amaq right now through private messages.

ISIS members discussing the hack over Telegram

In the picture above, one asks " I need the Amaq website link, I need to make some designs"

His contact responds: "My brother be careful, there are people who are manipulating and monitoring Amaq and the website, do not search for it now."

The conversation follows: "Thank you my brother for warning me. Then what am I supposed to do now? How can I get some Amaq news?"

"Go to the reliable channels on telegram, there are enough of Amaq news published already "

A parade of ISIS fighters in Raqqa in June 2014 (
Image:
REUTERS)

On the ground in Syria, the ISIS regime is crumbling in the face of a renewed onslaught from government troops. Now, organisations are turning their attention to the group's sophisticated online presence.

Daeshgram appears to have taken up the process that was started by other hacktivist groups, such as Anonymous, in response to ISIS continued brutality against the rest of the world.