Hacking Group Anonymous Disables Thousands Of Pro-ISIS Twitter Accounts And Taking Militant Websites Offline

Islamic State sympathizers using social media to spread
propaganda and recruit fighters are now drawing an increasing amount of return
fire from activists who have been knocking some sites offline and infiltrating
others.

Anonymous, who declared war on the jihadis after the attacks
in Paris, is the latest to draw attention to such campaigns.

Members claimed credit this week for having thousands of
pro-IS Twitter accounts disabled.

But others claim to have been doing more for longer. One
group that feeds information to the U.S. government says it has suppressed tens
of thousands of Twitter accounts since January, and its members have posed as
would-be recruits to gain information on so-called Dark Web operations
supporting the Islamic State.

‘We’re playing more of an intelligence role,’ said the
executive director of Ghost Security Group, who declined to be named, citing
security concerns. The group is a volunteer organization that has been sending
data to the FBI and other agencies via a Congressional terrorism adviser,
Michael S. Smith II.

Smith said the group’s infiltration efforts had given some
actionable information to the government, and that coordinated complaints to
Twitter had helped push Islamic State supporters elsewhere.