Three Things You Should Know About the Syrian Electronic Army

[Dima007]

Content source

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/three-things-you-should-know-about-the-syrian-electronic-army.html

For more information on SEA, here's the report and a video of a TV station's interview with an alleged member of the Syrian Electronic Army.

For the past three years, cyber-security research firm IntelCrawler has studied the Syrian Electronic Army using a combination of operatives, underground sources and public information. The result? A 94-page report that is among the most comprehensive studies of the prominent hacking group's activities.

I spoke recently with Dan Clements, IntelCrawler's president, to ask him what stood out among his company's findings about this shadowy organization. Here's what he said.

It's Not Just the Media, and Not Just About Syria

The group is likely best known for claiming responsibility for hacking The Associated Press's Twitter account and tweeting fake news about an attack on President Obama, which caused a steep but short-lived drop in the stock market. While SEA's mission is to disrupt media outlets, human-rights groups and governments that the group claims are disseminating "fake news" about the Syrian crisis and stirring opposition to President Bashar Al-Assad, the targets are far broader in scope.

IntelCrawler, which works with law enforcement agencies, outlined evidence in the report that it says shows links between the SEA and officials in Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Hezbollah, in addition to the group's theft of intelligence on weapons systems designed by U.S. defense contractors.

Running Wild

This group has a high level of sophistication that is "pretty amazing," Clements said. And given that the SEA is interested in more than just nuisance attacks on websites, that makes them dangerous.

"In June it will be three years since they've been doing their hacking deeds and they're still running wild," he said. "They're a full-blown cyber-espionage outfit. They're well-funded and well-organized."

Exploits Show Their Age

One of the attacks that IntelCrawler discovered - and said it helped stop - was a compromise of computer servers associated with the official websites of Britney Spears and Selena Gomez. Those attacks along with other information about SEA show how young these hackers are, Clements said.

"These are serious hackers," he said. "They have very specific targets. But they might go off the path and hack Britney. I can't really explain that."

 

[Moose]

Thank you for sharing this information and insight about the Syrian Electronic Army!

 

[Dima007]

Thank you

 

[Moose]

Keep us updated!

 

[Prorootect]

Here you have the link from the independent source, I posted already in another topic:
The Syrian Electronic Army: Bashar al-Assad's shadow warriors : on lebanonwire.com : http://www.lebanonwire.com/1304MLN/13043005GDN.asp
Online pro-revolution activists have been one of the defining features of the ongoing Arab Spring. In Syria, opposition activists have played a crucial role in the struggle against President Bashar al-Assad. Over the past two years they have uploaded numerous videos of anti-Assad demonstrations to YouTube, posted gruesome footage of victims killed by government forces, and helped shape political perceptions in the west, as EU leaders inch towards arming Syria's moderate opposition.
But unlike Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – whose former regimes were caught badly off guard – Assad's government has been fighting back. It has created an increasingly rambunctious group of counter-revolutionary hackers. These hackers have a twin function: to punish western news organisations seen as critical of Syria's regime, and to spread Damascus's alternative narrative.This says that the war in Syria isn't a popular uprising against a brutal, despotic family-military dynasty but rather an attempt by Islamist terrorists to turn Syria into a crazy al-Qaida fiefdom.
The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) sprang up in 2011 at the beginning of the anti-Assad revolution. According to defectors from inside its ranks, the group moved last year from Damascus to a secret base in Dubai. (Some pro-regime volunteers remain inside Syria, but they are at greater risk there of being unmasked and killed.) The Syrian government is widely believed to be behind the SEA's activities.
In a speech to Damascus universityin 2011, Assad likened these anonymous online warriors to his frontline troops: "The army consists of the brothers of every Syrian citizen … Young people have an important role to play at this stage, because they have proven themselves to be an active power. There is the electronic army, which has been a real army in virtual reality."
..
"There are a lot of [pro-regime] Syrian hackers inside Syria and outside Syria," Tareq al-Jaza'eere, an opposition cyber-activist, said. "The Syrian government gives them money to fight an electronic war against the rebels. They are doing hacks. They are doing social media. Their message is there is no revolution. They say there is a terrorist gang fighting the government."
Al-Jaza'eere, a member of the global web movement Avaaz, added: "The SEA sometimes works according to orders from Damascus. Sometimes they work on their own. They attack websites like the Guardian or the BBC because they don't want them to tell the truth." Asked which side was winning this noisy cyber-battle, he said: "We are. The SEA are making fools of themselves."
.. ..


- This keeps updated, right ..

 

[sunil22]

Thanks mate for the story keep updated before only heard about this Syrian army now know how sophisticated they are but well not for the users like us