UPDATED 22:27 EDT / NOVEMBER 26 2017

INFRA

Hacking group injects porn and fake news into Islamic State websites

A clever group of hackers in Iraq is taking the good fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria by inserting fake news and pornography into web pages controlled by the group.

Going by the name of Daeshgram, which is a play on an Arabic acronym used in the region to describe IS (known by many as ISIS), the hackers are aiming to make its supporters doubt whether they can trust information from the group by infiltrating messaging and media sites and spreading fake information. In one instance, according to Newsweek, the hackers photoshopped an image of a near naked woman (pictured) into an announcement about the opening of a media center in IS-controlled Syria to make it appear that those in the photograph were viewing pornography.

Daeshgram’s favorite target is said to be Amaq, a “so-called news agency” for IS. The hackers managed to take down the site using a distributed denial-of-service attack before creating an exact replica of the page in its place that featured messages mocking IS’s ideology. In another instance, the group hacked the site and placed a video that looked so authentic it allegedly created panic among IS members, resulting in fighting within the group. Ultimately IS itself told members that they can’t trust links on Amaq, effectively kneecapping a site that had been the group’s main point of propaganda.

“It let Daesh [ISIS] know that we were capable of replicating their media to a very high standard, it was the first seed of doubt,” one member of the hacking group told The Daily Beast. “Our output had to be subtle, and believable. We wanted to create items that ISIS members would not question and would share widely — believability was key, as with all fake news.”

Daeshgram is not the only group to have targeted IS before. Anonymous declared a hacking war against the group in 2015 that resulted in the publication of private details, as well as DDoS campaigns that targeted IS websites.

Photo: Daeshgram/The Daily Beast

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