Information cyber war on the forums

Information war heated up on May 7 with an announcement on jihadi forums that the influential Al-Ma’sada jihadist forum had been ‘penetrated’. A brief note (posted on the Syrian site Minbar Suriya al-Islami) warned participants reading other jihadist forums, not to attempt to enter the Al-Ma’sada forum. There then followed a note expressing anxiety on the fate of the management of the site, followed by an urgent, official sounding declaration that “forums have been penetrated by the intelligence services … all members should not enter any forum, even as a visitor, since by your mere entering the home page the dogs in intelligence will gain all personal information about you.” Participants are then particularly warned about entry to the Al-Ansar and Al-Ikhlas sites [www.nnuu.org]. A note on the Muntadayat Tanzim al-Qaeda forum [https://alqa3edah.netfreehost.com] on May 9 puts the blame on a Jordanian intelligence officer who has been registering with forums with the purpose of hacking into participants’ sites.