[internetdigitalentrepreneur]

Colleagues, while the SEA does not have the statute of their counterparts in Russia, Iran or North Korea, it represents a formidable cyber warfare threat to opponents of Bashar al-Assad including the US, Israel and Western European nations. In fact three of its members have made their way onto the US FBI’s Cyber Most Wanted List. The group gained initial attention in 2011 and since then has conducted attacks with ideological motives. Their tactics include DDoS attacks, DNS hijacking, launching fraudulent fabricating Facebook and YouTube sites, spear-phishing and Web site defacement. The rampant civil war in Syrian combined with the presence of US and NATO forces has served to fuel the fire for SEA. They are behind the defacement of the US Army’s public web site, a hack of the LinkedIn portal and the RSA (Security) Conference site. Bottom line: Although SEA does not have the prowess of its tier 1 peers in North Korean, Iran and Russia, it must be taken seriously and we support all appropriate proactive counter-measures to undermine this cyber enemy. Comment and subscribe today! Lawrence, Cyber Security Defender

Topic

[spartan95]

Cyber Security Defender – it seems that the US District Court in Eastern Virginia agrees with your assessment that the SEA represent a real threat to national security.

U.S. prosecutors filed an indictment yesterday for two alleged Syrian Electronic Army hacktivists who are accused of compromising news media websites and social media accounts in order to spread propaganda supporting the regime of Sryian president Bashar al-Assad.

https://www.scmagazine.com/two-alleged-syrian-election-army-members-indicted-for-spear-phishing-and-defacement-campaign/article/766932/

[spartan95]

A quick follow on question, do you see indictment of this kind as useful? It is unlikely these actors will ever see a US court or a day in a US jail.

If this is the case, what is your thought as to how best to counter/fight/denigrate/degrade the SEA (and other state sponsored actors like them)?

[Author]

Replies