ELIANA BENADOR: CYBERCALLIPHATE WITH CYBERJIHAD STRIKE FRANCE’S TV5 GLOBAL NETWORK

Terrorist-hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State have had the audacity to, simultaneously, black out 11 channels of the French global television network TV5.

However, their job did not finish there:  They also took over its website and social media accounts last Thursday, in what so far appears to be the most ambitious media attack by the extremists.

The terrorist-hackers posted images of a masked man on some pages as well as warnings on TV5’s Facebook account.

The message on the TV5 Monde website read in part “I am IS” with a banner by a group that called itself  the “Cybercaliphate.”

“Soldiers of France, stay away from the Islamic State! You have the chance to save your families, take advantage of it. The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State,” said one message.

Another message also condemned France’s president, François Hollande, for making an “unforgivable mistake” by getting involved in a “useless war.”

CyberCaliphate also referred to the recent deadly attacks at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and the Hyper Casher market (which killed 17 people in total) as “presents” to the French people.

France’s prime minister, Manuel Walls, has called CyberCaliphate’s actions against TV5 Monde “an unacceptable insult to freedom of information and expression.”   Really.

As anti-terror groups from the Ministry of Interior frantically worked with cyber technicians to restore functionality at the global network, they also had to make sure to safeguard all traces from the terrorist intervention for further investigation and analysis.  Not an easy task, but after almost a full day, the network was able to go back to business as normal, or quasi-normal.

Already for some time, the Islamic State terrorists have singled out France for what they consider its role in the international coalition trying to defeat them.

Several videos posted online, showed French-speaking IS terrorists urging their countrymen to travel to Syria and Iraq to join forces, alternatively they also asked to carry out attacks in France proper.

With this week’s hack attack the terrorist group has demonstrated the intention and ability to target France and the West in other areas and with their usual rabid intensity.

On the other hand, hackers operating under the name Cybercaliphate have carried out a string of attention-seeking attacks against media outlets — including several in the U.S., like CNN, Newsweek and others.

Their authenticity still has to be proven but experts affirm that IS has indeed expressed their wish to go on international hacking enterprises.

Indeed, the last developments only point to a n improved sophistication to reach their goals.  Hacking an entire global network simply means the terrorists have upped their game.

As my readers can see, Islamic State terrorists are far from being “discouraged.”

The fact that they have unofficial accomplices around the globe, making sure attacks against the Islamic State on different fronts are not 100% successful, gives them all the reasons in the world to feel emboldened and ever more daring.

This is war.

We are losing it because the peoples from most countries are failing to understand that the time has come wake up and face our responsibilities, to defend God, family and country.

As we speak, most peoples in the civilised world continue taking their nap.

©ElianaBenador

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