Cyber Attack On BBC On New Year's Eve Done By Us, Says Anti-ISIS Group

A group that claims to be an anti-ISIS unit and looks to fight their highly progressive online “caliphate” in the long run has claimed responsibility for bringing down BBC internet networks in a move that sparked global fear on the eve of New Year. New World Hackers, as it calls itself, caused the iPlayer, BBC news website and their radio network to deny service for most of Thursday morning, raising serious concerns, even as BBC rejected them initially calling the entire episode a “technical issue”.


The group claims that it did not intend to do harm through the typical DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack and was only testing its calibre. In a tweet to BBC Technology Correspondent, Rory-Cellan Jones, it disclosed its identity and intentions; and also went on to highlight the need for more such groups to emerge in order to combat the threats posed by the Islamic State’s online campaigns.

As a by-product, this has also caused the BBC and all other leading online networks across the globe to critically introspect and analyse their resistance to cyber-attacks. It is something we would not like to admit, but the group is a part of an emerging hacker culture that the world must embrace.

The rush of power that hackers feel when they break through networks is not always misleading. In 2011, Barnaby Jack made ATM’s throw money at him. He “demonstrated the threat to spark a solution” and the practice was later named “jackpotting”. In the hacker community, the term coined for bringing out flaws by infiltrating networks is "full disclosure".

Indeed, the number of hackers who mirror the weaker elements of the society is now on the rise. Kyle Lovett, in 2013, noticed that the wireless routers of a certain company were not secured; anyone could remotely connect to them and download documents form the hard drives attached to those routers. The company, however, was quick to dismiss his discovery.

Similar was the fate of Khalil, a Palestinian hacker from West Bank who pointed out genuine privacy flaws of Facebook, but was deprived of the “bounty” that he would have received through Facebook’s Bug Bounty Programme. Thankfully, Indiegogo had been watching out for him and rewarded him heavily.

The international circuit has seen such remarkable groups before. Anonymous, the face of hacktivism in the world today has penetrated the most complex of networks; including those of popes and politicians, and has been successful in discovering corruption, abuse, injustice and so much more. Following an internet ban in Egypt in 2011, Telecomix won the hearts of the world when it opened 300 analog dial-up lines, proving Egyptians with a slow but sweet internet connection.


The BBC networks were back in order by 31st midday, but the matter is far from over. It has brought to light the far-reaching consequences the cyber community might have face if it is to see hackers as criminals. Sure, BBC has realised it, and so should we.

Source: 'Anti-IS group' claims BBC website attack - BBC News