US prosecutes man who hacked identities to help ISIS
Extremism and terrorism are complex things in the internet era, and US federal prosecutors are learning this first hand. The Justice Department recently charged Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi with leading a hacking team that swiped the personal data of US military staffers in order to help Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters kill as many as 1,000 Americans. That campaign hasn't panned out, as you might have guessed, but it makes the consequences of a typical data breach look timid by comparison.
Ferizi is facing extradition to the US, and could get up to 35 years behind bars if he's convicted. However, prison time may be just the start. This is the first case of its kind, and could lead to a prosecution strategy that focuses more on internet groups that support extremism, rather than the extremists themselves.
[Image credit: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images]
