ISIS identifies US military members online, urges supporters to violence
Islamic State has put out an online call for supporters to target 100 US military personnel, of which names, addresses and photos have been posted on the group's website.
As reported by the New York Times, the terrorist organization has called for its "brothers residing in America" to kill the military staff. Names, photos and addresses of the US military members can be viewed online, which is information that is likely to cause a security scrabble in order to inform and protect the named individuals.
Officials from the Defense Department and FBI said they were aware of the posting and are investigating, but it does not currently appear that the information was pulled from government databases. Instead, at the time of writing, US officials believe the data was taken from public records, address search websites and social media.
The officials said many named personnel appear to be linked to news articles relating to airstrikes on ISIS, as well as the Defense Department's own reports on the campaign against the terrorist group. However, some military staff targeted by ISIS through the posting are unrelated to the airstrikes.
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The so-called ISIS Hacking Division said the information was taken from "various different servers and databases." The group urged followers and supporters to take action -- including beheading and stabbing US military personnel -- writing:
"Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?"
A Defense Department spokesperson told The Blaze:
"We are looking into it. The safety of our service members is always a concern."
While it is not yet known whether any of the information posted by ISIS is the result of cyberattack, it would not be the first time the group has compromised accounts owned by the US government or military. In January this year, the group took responsibility for taking over US Central Command's @CENTCOM Twitter and YouTube accounts.
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