Police Launch Global Attack On Islamic State
In March 2016 the Belgian capital Brussels was hit in a double suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State that left 32 people dead. Now, Belgian Police have carried out a cyberattack on a global scale against online propaganda outlets of the Islamic State extremist group.
The operation began as part of a Belgian judicial probe of Amaq, the media agency of the banned jihadist group, and involved international officers from Europol.
Federal prosecution spokesman Eric van der Sypt confirmed the operation but he could not give a detailed breakdown of sites and accounts targeted. S[eaking the AFP he said "We've knocked them down for the moment...But we're not naive. A first cyberattack in 2018 didn't stop them from bouncing back."
The Belgian federal public prosecutor conducted a similar operation on Amaq in 2018, but the news agency and the annexed sites and accounts were reactivated shortly afterwards. “We were a little surprised and that’s why we tried to do better this time.....The operation seems to have been successful,” he said.
Belgian agents were involved in a wave of cyberattacks against Amaq in 2018 but there was surprise at the speed at which the IS news source was back in action.
Euractiv: New Straits Times: Brussels Times:
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