Cyber Incident Victim: Americanmuslim
Date:
Sep 2016
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A hacker using the alias MuslimLeets (also known as Muj4hida) defaced the American Human Rights Council and sixty-two other websites, posting messages that called for jihad and criticized Western culture. The attack affected businesses run by doctors, lawyers, and real estate firms, and shut down the sites of two local Arab‑Muslim groups, the American Muslim Leadership Council and the Arab and Muslim American Political Action Committee. The host provider Novocam said the intrusion originated from the council’s server and spread to other sites on the same network, describing it as one of the most sophisticated attacks they had seen. Law enforcement and the host are investigating, and the compromised pages have been restored from backups.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On September 14, 2016, a hacker using the alias MuslimLeets, also known as Muj4hida, began a two‑day cyberattack that lasted until September 16, 2016. The attacker targeted the American Human Rights Council (AHRC) website and, according to reports, extended the intrusion to a total of sixty‑three websites hosted on the same server. Among the affected sites were businesses run by doctors, lawyers, real estate firms and other professional services, as well as two local Arab‑Muslim organizations: the American Muslim Leadership Council (AMLC) and the Arab and Muslim American Political Action Committee (AAPAC). The defacement replaced normal content with messages that called for jihad and were written in grammatically poor English. AHRC executive director Imad Hamad confirmed the breach, stating that the hacker had somehow gained access to the organization’s servers. The webhost Novocam, which managed the server, and law‑enforcement authorities launched an investigation into the incident. Novocam founder Mohammad Abdulaziz noted that the attack appeared to have originated from the AHRC system before spreading to dozens of other sites sharing the server.
The messages left on each compromised page read: “This message for Muslims peoples!” followed by a statement about brothers in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Burma, Chichan, Ifriquia and Asia dying, urging recipients to stop following Western culture and to remember their religion. The text continued, declaring that the message was for all world governments, rejecting what it termed “Wrong law,” asserting that the attacker’s law is the Quran, and proclaiming a return to Islamic principles, ending with the greeting “Asalamu Alaikum.” The language was described by observers as grammatically poor, reflecting the attacker’s limited command of English. Novocam reported that while it routinely defends against weekly hacking attempts, this incident was the most sophisticated attack it had encountered to date. The company said it had seven network administrators working to determine the source of the intrusion. According to a Softpedia report cited in the coverage, Muj4hida allegedly conducted the hacking spree over the two‑day period, targeting the sixty‑three websites.
After discovering the defacement, Novocam removed the offending messages from the affected sites. Abdulaziz stated that the company planned to destroy the old server and restore all websites from backups, estimating that the restoration would be completed within a few hours. AHRC’s leadership said the attack did not intimidate the organization and affirmed its commitment to continue promoting human rights despite the incident. Imad Hamad remarked that being targeted by extremist groups indicated that the council’s work was effective, and that the organization would not surrender to tactics intended to spread fear. The two Arab‑Muslim organizations, AMLC and AAPAC, experienced complete shutdown of their websites as a direct result of the hack. No further details about data loss, financial impact, or legal outcomes were provided in the source material.