U.S. SHAKEN BY QAEDA 007
By NILES LATHEM
September 6, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. counterterrorism authorities have been engaged for months in a shadow war with a computer hacker extraordinaire who is using cutting-edge technology to help al Qaeda and other jihad groups with their vast Internet operations, The Post has learned.
Experts inside and outside the government confirmed in recent interviews that an intensive effort has been under way for more than a year to track and shut down the mysterious cyber-ghost, who identifies himself as Irhabi 007 — or "Terrorist 007."
While officials said Irhabi 007 might not be a hardened al Qaeda terrorist, they believe he is a vital cog in the jihadi network, which relies on the Internet for communications, recruitment, fund-raising and propaganda.
"We don't know whether Irhabi 007 is a man or woman — an al Qaeda terrorist or a 16-year-old kid in a basement somewhere. But he is a fairly important figure who is getting increasingly popular and has a growing following," said terror expert Rita Katz, whose SITE Institute monitors al Qaeda communications on the Internet.
The FBI has been investigating Irhabi 007 since July 2004, when the Web site of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department was hacked.
The site was transformed into an al Qaeda message board, and links were posted that allowed visitors to view videotapes of Osama bin Laden and tributes to the 9/11 hijackers.
The person who hacked into the Arkansas government site and posted the links identified himself as Irhabi 007.
Terrorist expert Evan Kohlmann, who also monitors al Qaeda activities on the Web, told The Post that Irhabi 007 played a key role in the distribution and broadcast of the horrifying videotapes of the beheading of American and other foreign hostages in Iraq by terror master Abu Musab Zarqawi.
Irhabi 007 also is at the helm of the cat-and-mouse game with U.S. other and Western intelligence agencies to keep al Qaeda's Web operations up and running at a time when there is a massive effort to shut down terrorist infrastructure on the Internet, Kohlmann said.
[...]
What's most intriguing about the case is that Irhabi 007 claims he is U.S.-based, and may be an American.
By NILES LATHEM
September 6, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. counterterrorism authorities have been engaged for months in a shadow war with a computer hacker extraordinaire who is using cutting-edge technology to help al Qaeda and other jihad groups with their vast Internet operations, The Post has learned.
Experts inside and outside the government confirmed in recent interviews that an intensive effort has been under way for more than a year to track and shut down the mysterious cyber-ghost, who identifies himself as Irhabi 007 — or "Terrorist 007."
While officials said Irhabi 007 might not be a hardened al Qaeda terrorist, they believe he is a vital cog in the jihadi network, which relies on the Internet for communications, recruitment, fund-raising and propaganda.
"We don't know whether Irhabi 007 is a man or woman — an al Qaeda terrorist or a 16-year-old kid in a basement somewhere. But he is a fairly important figure who is getting increasingly popular and has a growing following," said terror expert Rita Katz, whose SITE Institute monitors al Qaeda communications on the Internet.
The FBI has been investigating Irhabi 007 since July 2004, when the Web site of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department was hacked.
The site was transformed into an al Qaeda message board, and links were posted that allowed visitors to view videotapes of Osama bin Laden and tributes to the 9/11 hijackers.
The person who hacked into the Arkansas government site and posted the links identified himself as Irhabi 007.
Terrorist expert Evan Kohlmann, who also monitors al Qaeda activities on the Web, told The Post that Irhabi 007 played a key role in the distribution and broadcast of the horrifying videotapes of the beheading of American and other foreign hostages in Iraq by terror master Abu Musab Zarqawi.
Irhabi 007 also is at the helm of the cat-and-mouse game with U.S. other and Western intelligence agencies to keep al Qaeda's Web operations up and running at a time when there is a massive effort to shut down terrorist infrastructure on the Internet, Kohlmann said.
[...]
What's most intriguing about the case is that Irhabi 007 claims he is U.S.-based, and may be an American.
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