ISIS all-female hacking group looks to recruit more women By Lisa Daftari
An all-female division of an ISIS-affiliated hacking group released a video online claiming to have hacked multiple social media accounts.
The “Al Khansaa Kateeba” (battalion), which claims to be a division of the notorious United Cyber Caliphate (UCC) released the video over the weekend glorifying the recent launch of its all-girl division, threatening anyone exposing information on individuals within the group.
“Shortly after the announcement of the creation of a brigade that consists of female cadres within the ranks of the team, the muwwahidat answered the call and formed a force that disturbs the kuffar and made them sleep deprived,” the video, posted to an encrypted Telegram channel as well as on YouTube, stated.
The women’s division, seemingly formed over the past month, already claims ‘success’ in the form of hacking ‘over 100 Twitter accounts during March.’
The Foreign Desk has not been able to verify the validity of these claims, but upon examination, several of the Twitter accounts listed in the video appear to be discarded accounts that have not been used for several months, sometimes years.
In a stark message addressing anyone trying to expose them, the women warn, “We say to him who claimed that he has our secrets, come forward and face us.”
The video concludes with a stark message “And it’s only the beginning,” listing an encrypted email for potential recruits to get in touch.
The emergence of an ISIS all-female hacking division appears to be a continued response to the Islamic State’s call for so-called ‘media jihad’ issued shortly after the Westminster attack in March.
While the majority of women joining ISIS have been limited to playing support roles such as being wives to ISIS jihadis and raising their children in the caliphate, some have assumed roles within core ISIS ranks, joining the notorious Al-Khansaafemale police brigades and in some cases reportedly being deployed in combat roles.
The Al-Khansaa Brigade is largely made up of foreign jihadist women from North Africa, Europe and other Persian Gulf countries, and 60 of them are believed to be from the United Kingdom.
Earlier this month, the United Cyber Caliphate group issued a video that included a threat against U.S. President Donald Trump as well as a ‘kill list’ that included 8,786 names, many of them individuals located in the U.S. along with a frequently repeated ISIS instruction: “Kill them wherever you find them.”
In March, the group conceded its leader Osed Agha had been killed in an apparent drone strike on the Islamic State’s de-facto capital Raqqa.
Under Agha, the group touted achievements including the hacking of hundreds of social media accounts and several DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, targeting numerous websites and taking them offline.
Following Agha’s death, UCC posted a message eulogizing Agha as a ‘Martyr’ and someone who “would leap with a sword in his hands to cut-off the heads of the kufar. He would attack the apostate’s Web Sites reaping their data and ruining their plans.”
Recently, the UCC published a video urging Muslims hackers in the West to join its ranks and fight a war against the kufar (non-believers) and also posted a video aiming a direct threat against a leading online counter extremism organization.
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