Hacker who aided Islamic State reveals complexity and challenges of terrorism in cyber age

Ardit Ferizi wasn’t your typical Islamic State soldier. He didn’t travel to Syria or launch a “lone-wolf” style attack. He contributed in his own way – by hacking.

The teenage computer prodigy last year broke into a well-known US retailer’s computers, swiped information on tens of thousands of its customers and provided a list to Islamic State of more than 1,300 names of those believed to be government and military personnel.

Within weeks of the June 2015 hack, the group published the identities as part of a “kill list”, urging home-grown extremists to hunt and murder the military and government officials. The publication sent chills through those on the list and represented a propaganda coup that allowed Islamic State to boast of being able to reach directly into Americans’ computers, “watching your every move”.

In court papers and in interviews, US officials say the case highlights how fast the terror threat is evolving in the age of computers and social media, especially for a terror group urging its followers to carry out “lone-wolf” attacks when given the chance. It also revealed Islamic State’s global reach – Ferizi, a citizen of Kosovo, used a computer in Malaysia to hack the US retailer and then forwarded the data to Islamic State operatives in Syria, who called on followers to strike the workers where they lived.

“This is the blended threat,” said John Carlin, the Justice Department’s top national security prosecutor. “Terrorism is now occurring at the speed of cyber, and they are exploiting Western-made technology and social media platforms.”

Standing before a US district judge in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday, Ferizi wore a green jail jumpsuit and spoke in a quiet voice, saying he was “very sorry for what happened, making people scared”.