remember the old “Spy Vs. Spy” comic in Mad Magazine. Well here’s something that reads like its right out of that genre.
According to published news reports, British spies successfully hacked into an al-Qaida website to replace instructions on how to build a bomb with – ready for this? Recipes for making cupcakes.
Nope, we are not kidding. The cyber offensive reportedly took place last year when the English language magazine aimed at Muslims in the West called Inspire was launched by supporters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
British intelligence officers based at the Government Communications Headquarters which is the state eavesdropping service, attacked the 67-page magazine, leaving most of it garbled. Instead of being able to read how to "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," readers were greeted with computer code which actually contained recipes from The Best Cupcakes in America, published by U.S. talk show hostess Ellen DeGeneres.
The Washington Post reported that the British action followed a dispute between the CIA and the newly formed U.S. Cyber Command. The cyber unit had wanted to block the al Qaeda magazine but the CIA, which had countered such an attack, would expose sources and intelligence methods, won the debate and declined to allow an attack on Inspire. So the U-K did it for them and reports say that it took almost two weeks for magazine to post a corrected version after it had been sabotaged.
An unnamed British security source said the Washington Post report was accurate but could not confirm details of the reported cupcake operation.
Topic: SPY VS. SPY – 20th CENTURY STYLE (Read 1231 times)
