High-Profile ISIS Hacker Related to Garland, Texas Terrorist Attack
Following the days after the shooting at Garland, Texas, where Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi were shot dead by authorities after opening fire at an event featuring cartoons of Prophet Mumhammad and Birmingham jihdist fighting with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). New reports indicate that Elton Simpson was an friend of the CyberCaliphate hacking group co-founder, Junaid Hussain.
Of the recent attack at the event, ISIS claimed responsibility for its first attack on US soil occurring in Dallas, Texas Sunday. Messages throughout Twitter before and after the shooting question if the gunmen were in direct contact with Junaid Hussain hours prior, who is also known as Abu Hussain al-Britani.
21-Year-Old Hussain, is believed to be the co-founder of the hacking group CyberCaliphate, who gained headlines last year when the group hijacked the official US CENTCOM Twitter and YouTube accounts, which they abused to spread pro-ISIS messages.
Prior to the Garland, Texas shooting, which occurred at an event aimed to support a “free speech” competition, where Texans tried to draw Prophet Mohammed, one of the two gunmen, Simpson, posted messages on Twitter writing something about an upcoming “Texas attack” while urging his followers to follow Hussain’s social media accounts.
Monday, May 4th, authorities were seen standing outside Curtis Culwell Center, the area where the two men opened fire on police Sunday night. Police returned fire and killed both men on site.
Almost directly after the attack, where Simpson and Soofi were shot dead by police, Hussain began to post to Twitter writing “Allahu Akbar!!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire at the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) art exhibition in texas! #TexasAttack” and “They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State.” Hussain allegedly congratulated Simpson and Soofi following reports of the pro-ISIS attacks and news that the two individuals were dead.
Security analysts say Hussain is one of the most accomplished hackers fighting for ISIS at the moment, making him a prized asset among other hackers and terrorist organizations. CNN reports Hussain is a high-profile and highly-skilled hacker. As a teen, Hussain was apart of the hacking group known as TeaMp0isoN.
Hussain’s hacking group was suspected to be the perpetrator of any number of cyberattacks involving Sarah Palin, NASA, NATO, the United Nations, Blackberry, the English Defence League, American and Israeli banking institutions, Facebook among various others.
London Metropolitan Police finally caught up with Hussain in his teen years, where he identified himself as the TeaMp0isoN leader, and pleaded guilt to two charges in June 2012. Hussain was said to be sentenced three to six months in federal prison.
Hussain’s social media accounts were found suspended Saturday, shortly after the attacks occurred. Another account popped up shortly after, where the account owner, believed to be Hussain, said “you ain’t seen nothing yet #QaribanQariba,” which stands for Soon Soon.
