Team System DZ Pro-ISIS Hacks: Government Sites Targeted with Messages for President Donald Trump
A hacker group professing to be pro-ISIS claimed responsibility for recently defacing a dozen state government websites. Team System DZ targeted these sites to leave a message addressed to President Donald Trump.
The latest target was Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich's website, which was hacked on Sunday, as per reports. Instead of the usual content, the front page displayed the following message: "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries. I Love Islamic state."
Similar government websites from Brookhaven in New York, Howard County in Maryland and Richland County in Wisconsin showed the same message over the weekend as well, and some hacks even had background music, as per Columbia Patch. The servers to these sites were immediately taken down and restored to normal content and operation on Monday morning, according to CNN.
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"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," Tom Hoyt from Ohio's Department of Administrative Services said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."
Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman, on the other hand, assured the public in Maryland that personal information wasn't compromised as no there was no data breach due to the hack. "Howard County government is working with law enforcement agencies and an investigation is underway," Kittleman said.
Team System DZ has been doing this for years and has also defaced websites in Sweden and Scotland. The hacks, however, have been largely about changing the websites' appearances but some government work could still be disrupted because of the nuisance.
On the group's Facebook page, netizens called out the hackers for their childishness. "There is nothing more cowardly than 'fighting back' by hiding out on the internet and crying about perceived injustices," one Facebook user said.
