Taliban Network Hacked With False News Of Leader's Death
Taliban Network Hacked With False News Of Leader's Death
Posted 07/20/2011 at 11:04am
| by Brad Chacos
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Another day, another hack spreading false news of death. But where LulzSec's defacing of the Sun's website was, for the most part, harmless, the news making the rounds today could hold actual life-or-death ramifications. When Taliban members logged into their Internet-connected devices in Afghanistan on Wednesday, they found messages and news reports claiming that the group's spiritual leader was dead. Which, um, he wasn't. While the story may bring a smile to the face of a deployed GI, the Taliban didn't get the lulz.
The group's websites, phones and email were all hacked to spread messages proclaiming the death of Mullah Omar, Reuters reports. The false rumor holds a delicious touch of irony that is no doubt lost on members of the extremist organization. Part of the reason the Taliban has such a paranoid fear of cellphones and electronic devices is because, years ago, they claim Mullah Omar was actually almost killed by would-be assassins after they traced his phone signal.
As is the case whenever you prod someone in a sensitive area, the Taliban responded with threats of extreme violence. In this case, they swore revenge on Afghanistan's telcos for aiding "American Intelligence" in committing "technical larceny," according to the Reuters report. In the past, the Taliban has threatened to destroy cellular towers and telco offices if they didn't shut down their networks at night.
Nobody – not Uncle Sam, and not even LulzSec – has stepped forward to claim credit for the virtual attack. NATO shrugged its shoulders and said they don't know what happened, either.
Image Credit: Facenfacts.com
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TRYER
July 22, 2011 at 12:50am
"Taliban responded with threats of extreme violence" So what. Don't they do that every week?
whathuhitwasntme
July 21, 2011 at 5:02pm
they should just send them a system message telling them that they have just lost all of the roll over minutes watch em get excited then
Pleekmo
July 20, 2011 at 12:44pm
My money is not on PsyOps. Why? Because now that the Taliban's comms have been hacked they will now attempt to develop even greater comms security and authentication. Cellular phones had been a great tool in the past for U.S. forces to use to track the Taliban and their agents. With the Taliban developing greater comms security those comms will be less useful for tracking by U.S. forces. No, my money is indeed on LulzSec or some other puerile hacking group.
I've changed my mind and now agree with those who have said that LulzSec is not a group with a legitimate ax to grind but is instead a group of juvenile hoodlums intent on Internet vandalism.
Their action could indeed have life or death consequences by making it more difficult for American forces to prosecute the war against the Taliban.
Caboose
July 20, 2011 at 12:28pm
While this kind of thing is funny, its putting our men and women in uniform in to even more danger than before.
While these skript kiddies think that they're doing some good, they're actually boardering on doing a lot of harm to those who are fighting.
TommM
July 20, 2011 at 11:14am
My money is on the U.S. military PsyOps division having a little fun with this. ;-)
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