Cyber Incident Victim: Richland County Government
Date:
Nov 2015
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A pro-ISIS hacking group compromised three domains belonging to a US county government, defacing websites for its Veterans Services, Emergency Management, and Recycling offices. The attackers replaced content with messages supporting the Islamic State, including Arabic audio and a declaration of "#Op USA" alongside claims about restoring Muslim dignity and expanding jihad. While the hackers previously targeted other government and educational sites with similar propaganda, no evidence indicated access to sensitive data in this incident. All affected websites were restored to normal operation shortly after the breach. The group responsible had a history of website defacements promoting ISIS ideology.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On November 28, 2015, pro-ISIS hacking group Team System DZ compromised three domains belonging to Richland County, Wisconsin. The attackers defaced the websites for Richland County Veterans Services (veterans.co.richland.wi.us), Richland County Emergency Management (em.co.richland.wi.us), and Richland County Recycling (recycling.co.richland.wi.us), replacing their content with a message stating "Hacked By Team System Dz" accompanied by an Arabic-language audio track. The defacement occurred before 9 p.m. Eastern Time and included a written statement supporting the Islamic State terrorist organization, referencing "#Op USA | Ir | il | Ru | Fr" operations and proclaiming "Glory will return to Islam." Zone-h.org publicly archived mirror copies of all three compromised sites as evidence of the breach, with mirror IDs 25119668 through 25119670 documenting each instance. This marked the group's second known attack against Richland County infrastructure, following their March 2015 breach of the county sheriff's department website.
The incident temporarily disrupted public access to county services websites, though all affected domains were restored to normal operation by the time HackRead published its report later that day. Team System DZ, an Algeria-based collective, had previously conducted similar pro-ISIS website defacements against the University of Toronto and Isle of Wight, Virginia. No evidence indicated unauthorized access to sensitive data beyond the superficial website alterations. The attack occurred within the broader context of ongoing cyber conflicts between pro-ISIS groups and anti-ISIS hacking collectives like Anonymous, who had recently targeted ISIS-affiliated websites with counter-defacements. Richland County officials had not publicly disclosed technical details regarding the intrusion vector or containment measures by the article's publication date, though HackRead noted attempts to contact county administrators for additional information.