Alleged Hacker Threatens Albuquerque Residents: "i love you isis"
Employees at the Albuquerque Journal are still trying to figure out how ISIS propaganda threatening local residents got posted on the paper's website Thursday.
The paper's top online story, a piece on a 1971 police shooting, was reportedly replaced early Thursday morning with an article titled "CHRISTMAS WILL NEVER BE MERRY ANY LONGER."
It featured a photo-illustration of a man whose face was covered by a scarf along with the words "CyberCaliphate" and "i love isis," an apparent reference to the Islamic extremist group Islamic State, whose beheadings of Western journalists among other acts of terror spurred the U.S. to wage airstrikes in parts of Syria the group controls.
The post acknowledged a relationship between the U.S. led and sanctioned bombings of ISIS-held areas as one motive for the cyberattack.
The author of the now-deleted post also reportedly warned readers, "We know all personal data of Albuquerque locals: Where you live, what you eat, your diseases and even your health insurance cards," adding, "You will look around more often, will call up your children more often, think of your security more often, but that won't help you."
Monty Midyette, the Journal's director of information systems, told KRWG the alleged hack appeared to be limited to the ISIS article and the paper's servers had not been breached.
