Ghost Security, also known as GhostSec, is a self-described "vigilante" group that was formed to attack

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

websites that promote

Islamic extremism Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...

. It is considered an offshoot of the

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

hacking collective. According to experts of online

jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

activism, the group gained momentum after the ''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting in Paris in January 2015. The group claims to have taken down hundreds of ISIS-affiliated websites or social media accounts and thwarted potential terrorist attacks by cooperating with law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The group uses social media hashtags like #GhostSec - #GhostSecurity or #OpISIS to promote its activities. On 14 November 2015, Anonymous posted a video announcing its "biggest operation ever" against the terrorist group in response to the attacks in Paris, taking down 3,824 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts and

doxxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent. Historically, the term has been used to refer to both the aggregati ...

recruiters. A message posted by an ISIS-affiliated account on encrypted chat service

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

replied defiantly to Anonymous by providing instructions on how to respond to a potential

cyberattack A cyberattack (or cyber attack) occurs when there is an unauthorized action against computer infrastructure that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of its content. The rising dependence on increasingly complex and inte ...

. On 25 November, an ISIS

WordPress WordPress (WP, or WordPress.org) is a web content management system. It was originally created as a tool to publish blogs but has evolved to support publishing other web content, including more traditional websites, electronic mailing list, ma ...

dark web The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets ( overlay networks) that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communica ...

site was reportedly hacked by GhostSec, which replaced the site with an advert for

Prozac Fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac, among others, is an antidepressant medication of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disor ...

. GhostSec found information related to planned terrorist attacks in New York and Tunisia and passed this information on to law enforcement authorities. In the wake of the cooperation with law enforcement, GhostSec decided to "become legit" to more efficiently combat ISIS. The group renamed itself "Ghost Security Group" and by November 2015 ended its association with Anonymous. Those of the members who opposed this development re-formed under the old name of "GhostSec" and maintained Anonymous ties. Both groups continue to operate against ISIS. Lara Abdallat is one of the only members of Ghost Security Group whose identity is public. Ghostsec also has involvement in the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, with the groups involvement dating back to the first signs of aggression in 2022. Since their involvement Ghostsec has carried out numerous attacks on the Russian government, one notable one being on July 20th 2022. The Gysinoozerskaya Hydro-Power Plant suffered an attack resulting in a spew of fire shutting down the power plant. The group carried out the attack in support of Ukraine's struggle against Russia, with precise timing in order to avoid unnecessary casualties. As of August 2023 GhostSec has been active in the Middle East, particularly relating to the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. In August of 2023, they breached Fanap Behnama and exposed over 20gb of data from facial recognition to the software's own source code.

References

{{Anonymous and the Internet Hacker groups Internet vigilantism Hacking in the 2010s Anonymous (hacker group)

See also

References