Cyberattack knocks out jihadist website’s server

WASHINGTON – A popular jihadist Internet forum has been knocked off the Internet, and counterterrorism experts say it appears it was hacked.

Cybersecurity analysts say the al-Shamukh forum appears to have been taken down by a fairly sophisticated cyberattack that hit not only the website, but the server – which is the main computer that enables people to access the site over the Internet.

Evan Kohlmann, a counterterrorism expert who tracks jihadist websites as a senior partner with Flashpoint Partners consultancy in New York, described the site as a key al-Qaida propaganda forum.

He said it bounces around between Internet hosts every few months but has seemingly been allowed to exist as an open secret, possibly allowing a Western government to use it as an intelligence resource.

“These sites can be like spy satellites; they’re great ways of gathering information about your adversaries,” he said in an interview late Wednesday. “Bringing them down is like shooting at your own spy satellites. But there are others who don’t agree with that.”