US government websites hacked; anti-Trump, pro-ISIS messages posted
A massive number of websites belonging to the United States government were hacked during the weekend. There were also evidence of new hacks also published on late Monday and early Tuesday.
There were websites in Ohio and Maryland which were taken down after hacking group Team System DZ compromised the index page with pro-ISIS and anti-Donald Trump messages.
The websites of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Howard County, Maryland, were the first two which were compromised on Sunday. There were also further attacks which also targeted the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, the Ohio Governor, the Ohio First Lady, the Office of Workforce Transformation, Office of Health Transformation and Medicaid.
Also, the hacking group Team System DZ also targeted the Washington State Department of Health website, as well as a number of pages belonging to international organizations.
The defaced websites included black wallpaper and an Arabic symbol, with an Islamic call to prayer running in the background. A certain message posted expressed support for Islamic State and also included a warning to Donald Trump and Americans.
“You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries. I love Islamic State,” the message read.
Most of the hacked websites have already been restored. Authorities in Ohio have already contacted the FBI to start an investigation.
“All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites. We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened,” Tom Hoyt, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, was quoted as saying.
Team System DZ is a group of hackers which have been active since November 2015, and their targets included not only websites in the United States, but also across the globe which also included websites belonging to French and Spanish authorities.
