Terrorist groups acquiring the cyber capability to bring major cities to a standstill, warns GCHQ chief

Terrorists and rogue states are gaining the capability to bring a major city to a standstill with the click of a button, the Director of GCHQ has warned.

Hostile groups are acquiring the capability to launch devastating attacks, warns Hannigan Credit: TELEGRAPH

Telegraph: In a rare public appearance, Robert Hannigan said the risk to cities like London would increase as more physical objects, such as cars and household appliances, are connected online – the so-called “internet of things”.

developing the kind of cyber programmes that could attack the UK, but that terrorist groups were also looking to take advantage of the technology.

“At some stage they will get the capability,” he said.

“There are certainly states and groups with the intent to do it, terrorist groups, for example, who have no threshold when it comes to the loss of life.

“We’re not quite there yet, but as the world becomes ever more connected that will become a greater risk.”

Speaking as the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons, Mr Hannigan also defended the surveillance of internet activity by the intelligence services, saying seven attacks against the UK had been foiled in the last 18 months due to bulk data analysis.

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Simple Explanation of Internet of Things

Islamic State issues anti-hacking guidelines after Anonymous threats

The extremist terrorist group Isil sent out a warning to members on how to protect from hackers like Anonymous

The warning was put out via Telegram, an encrypted instant messaging app, on the Khilafah news channel, which is thought to be an unofficial pro-ISIS news source.

This was discovered by researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, a London think tank which studies extremism and terrorism.

Nick Kaderbhai, a research fellow from the think tank told the Huffington Post UK, “Anyone can subscribe to it (technically) however the more IS channels you subscribe to the more open you are to investigation.”

The message was titled #Warning, and said “The #Anonymous hackers have threatened in new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation operation on the Islamic state (idiots).”

ISIS sent out a message on encrypted chat app Telegram with instructions to avoid being hacked  Photo: Huffington Post UK

Instructions included warnings to use VPN, a tool ot make the user’s location online, and to change IP address constantly. It also told members to avoid using direct messages on Twitter, because is is open to hackers.

“Do not make your email same as your username on Twitter this mistake cost many their accounts…so be careful,” it read.

The hacker collective, which consists of unrelated volunteers, coders and activists from around the world, launched its anti-Islamic State online campaign, called #OpISIS, after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last January.

Making good on its threats, Anonymous posted a list of roughly 800 Facebook, Twitter and email accounts believed to be related to ISIL on Monday.

To date, according to an in-depth investigation by Foreign Policy, they have taken down 149 Islamic State-related websites and exposed 101,000 Twitter accounts and 5900 propaganda videos.