ISIS hackers–or hackers supporting the terror group–struck again this week, shutting down the website of the foreign aid and disaster relief California nonprofit Giving Children Hope, replacing the homepage with a black screen and the words “i love isis.”
“Hacked by Team System Dz” also appeared on the screen that GCHope employees discovered at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning.
Executive Director Sean Lawrence said called the event nervewracking, telling the Orange County Register article, saying, “But this is our mission. If people didn’t do the right thing because of stuff like this, the world would be a dark place.”
Scores of other groups have been through a similar experience. The self-identified Team System Dz had reportedly plagued over 1,000 groups worldwide as of early October 2014. WWSB MySuncoast reported on a small Florida restaurant hacked, and noted that the hackers target small, easily hackable websites, then post victims to their Facebook page (which has since been shut down). There is also a Twitter account with the group’s name and links to multiple Facebook pages that are no longer active.
Jewish rapper Rami Even-Esh, known as Kosha Dillz, has released information implicating the ISIS-supporting, anti-Israel in the hack of his website. The rapper said he was likely targeted for his open support of Israel, for being Jewish and for being a hip-hop artist.
Other victims include the New Brunswick Student Union and 10 ICS Creative Agency clients, according to an October CBC News report. Antisemitic messages were posted on the hacked webpage of south Florida’s Temple Kol Ami Emannu-el, along with the trademark “i love you isis” message and “(Expletive) you Israel,” according to Local 10 News.
In November, the Daily Mail reported an attack on the United Kingdom’s Keighley Cougars’ rugby team website, adding the comment, “The alliance of all the world against the State of Islam sill not succeed and will offer to martyrdom and jihad,” and bloody images.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana