Alleged Islamic State Fighter Says ISIS Didn't Hack CENTCOM

​

Earlier this week, hackers calling themselves the CyberCaliphate briefly took over two social media accounts belonging to the US military and used them to promote the terrorist group ISIS, also known as IS or the Islamic State. Panic ensued in the media, which feared that ISIS hackers had penetrated the US Central Command.

However, a Twitter user purporting to be an ISIS fighter tells Motherboard that the cyberattack was neither orchestrated nor endorsed by the terrorist group.

"They are not affiliated with IS at all," he said over the anonymous messenger kik, in response to a question about whether the CyberCaliphate were once fighters with ISIS, or just acting in allegiance.

The user is @AbuHussai​n1337_, who calls himself AbuHussainAlBritani—an avowed ISIS jihadist whose Twitter account has repeatedly been shut down.

AbuHussainAlBritani is believed to be the online moniker of Junaid Hussain, an infamous 20-year-old British hacker who was jailed for six months in 2012 for publishing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's address book online after hacking into an advisor's email account. He is believed to have moved to Syria some time in the past two years, according to media reports, where he became an active member of ISIS.

We were unable to confirm Hussain's identity independently, but a Twitter user believed to be married to Hussain tweeted "My husbands back on twitter again after being suspended… Follow him inshAllah @AbuHussain1337_." The account is also followed by several known ISIS members active on Twitter.

Moreover, several known ISIS fighters have used Twitter in the past as a communication platform and recruitment tool. Western intelligence agencies monitor these profiles and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS)—the Canadian spy shop—told Motherboard it is concerned by jihadists on Twitter.

AbuHussainAlBritani also tweeted—most importantly—that the CyberCaliphate is unaffiliated with ISIS, calling it an "independent hacking group that supports the state."

Motherboard contacted AbuHussainAlBritani via the kik messenger account linked to his Twitter profile. After the first statement, AbuHussainAlBritani has so far refrained from providing more information to Motherboard, but we will update this post if we communicate further with him.

The media has attempted to link Hussain to the CyberCaliphate, which has also claimed responsibility for defacing the Facebook page of North​ Korea's state-run airline with pro-ISIS messages today.

However, he is now vocally denying any link between ISIS or himself and the CyberCaliphate.

"They said im a suspect in the beheadings and now they saying im the main suspect in the CENTCOM hack lol desperate journalism? Stupid kuffar [sometimes 'kafir,' meaning infidel​ or non-Muslim]," he said, referring to the multiple media​ sources attempting to identify "Jihadi John" the suspected British beheader who appeared in several gruesome ISIS videos executing western journalists and aid workers.

When the @CENTCOM Twitter account was hacked, the perpetrators posted a photo that said "i love you isis," and tweeted things like "ISIS is already here." This immediately suggested that the hackers were not affiliated with the terrorist group, which ​does not refer to itself as ISIS.

There is now further evidence that the CyberCaliphate—which has taken responsibility for hacks on media organizations in the past, and now has targeted​ the state-run airline in North Korea—may not be associated with ISIS, lending credibility to speculation that the group is actually in it, as cybersecurity expert Peter W. Singer put it in an interview with Motherboard, "for the lulz."

Follow ​Ben Makuch and ​Jordan Pearson on Twitter.