ISIS hacker still claiming victims years after death Birmingham terrorist has left trail of horror two years after he was killed
BIRMINGHAM ISIS cyber-hacker Junaid Hussain has left behind a legacy of hate that spans the globe and continues to haunt the online world after his death.
The first full analysis of the terror propagandist’s activities shows that he incited mass murder in the farthest reaches of the world through more than 30 plots.
His evil web, still unravelling after his death in a drone strike, emphasises the need for social networks and content providers to crack down on extremist material, says a report.
A new study into four terror attacks recommended increased co-operation with the private sector, and in particular companies like Google, to monitor terrorist activity.
David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, also found that Westminster attacker Khalid Masood carried out online reconnaissance and research before carrying out the atrocity on March 22.
Hussain had been one of the architects behind a wave of plots and attacks under the ISIS banner, stretching back to 2014, and planned to steal millions of pounds through cyber attacks on British banks.
The recruiter, from Kings Heath, targeted financial institutions as he groomed would-be mass murderers in the UK, US, Australia and Far East.
At present, an ISIS member said to have had close links to Hussain is being held in a Turkish prison, with the latest UK court case bearing the Brummie’s fingerprints being heard only weeks ago.
An American organisation fighting extremism has warned that the 21-year-old has left behind an “army” of hackers who continue his work. His hacking activities go back before his time with ISIS when he was jailed for hacking Tony Blair’s accounts.
Hussain then joined the terror group in Syria, operating from its former de-facto capital Raqqa before his death on August 24, 2015. Hussain’s ‘wife’, Sally Jones, known as the White Widow, was killed in a similar air strike this summer.
David Ibsen, director of the Counter Extremism Project, a US-based group combating terrorism and radicalisation, said: “Former British computer hacker Junaid Hussain was one of the most skilled and persuasive of ISIS’s recruiters, and propagandists.
“The number of attacks Hussain can be directly associated with by law enforcement officials likely pales when compared to the actual number he encouraged and engi-
Hussain was certainly ISIS’s main instigator in terms of motivating people to carry out terror attacks Criminologist Dr Imran Awan