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Middle Eastern Hackers Are Targeting the U.S.
(Wall Street Journal) Steven Stalinsky - On Friday, the Financial Times became the latest victim of the Syrian Electronic Army when the pro-Assad group hijacked the newspaper's technology blog and its Twitter account. For the past decade a considerable number of cyberattacks and threats against the U.S. and other Western countries have emanated from the Arab and Islamic world. A large number of cyberattacks from the Middle East have directly followed fatwas issued by influential sheiks specifically supporting them. On Feb. 6, 2013, a major Salafist website hosted in New Jersey and owned by Sheik Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi published a fatwa in response to a question about the permissibility of hacking and using fraudulent credit card information on U.S. retail websites. The fatwa stated that since the citizens of "infidel" countries are legitimate targets, taking their property "is permissible." The writer is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).