A hacking group calling itself the
Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has been getting an unusual amount of press lately, most recently after hijacking the Web sites of
The New York Times and
The Washington Post, among others. But surprisingly little light has been shed on the individuals behind these headline-grabbing attacks. Beginning today, I’ll be taking a closer look at this organization, starting with one of the group’s core architects.
Earlier this year I reported that — in apparent observation of international trade sanctions against Syria –
Network Solutions LLC. and its parent firm
Web.com had seized hundreds of domains belonging to various Syrian entities. Among the domains caught in that action were several sites belonging to the SEA.
At the time, the SEA had a majority of its sites hosted at Internet addresses belonging to the
Syrian Computer Society, an organization considered to have been a precursor to the SEA and one that was previously headed by Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad. Following the Web.com domain seizures, the SEA was forced to find new homes for their domains. Soon enough, the group moved its domains
syrianelectronicarmy.com and
sea.sy to a host in Russia (no doubt adding further chill to already frigid US-Russia relations vis-a-vis Syria).
