The Reason Why This Islamic State Hacker Had To Be Targeted And Killed By A U.S. Drone Strike

The pro-Islamic State hacking group IS Hacking Division defaced a website and used it to leak the alleged personal information of U.S. military and government personnel. On Aug. 11, the group’s Twitter account posted a link to a mirror of a defaced website where the information was posted. The link was then retweeted multiple times by Junaid Hussein on his Twitter user name. PHOTO: SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP

Wall Street Journal: Hacker Killed by Drone Was Islamic State’s ‘Secret Weapon’

Targeting of Islamic State’s electronics expert shows how digital warfare has upset balance of power on modern battlefield.

U.S. and British officials decided earlier this year that a hacker needed to die.

Junaid Hussain, a British citizen in his early 20s, had risen fast to become a chief in Islamic State’s electronic army. One person familiar with the matter said he hacked dozens of U.S. military personnel and published personal and financial details online, including those of a general, for others to exploit.

He helped sharpen the terror group’s defense against Western surveillance and built hacking tools to penetrate computer systems, said people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Hussain was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Tuesday while he was in a car in Raqqa, Syria, U.S. officials said. That he was targeted directly shows the extent to which digital warfare has upset the balance of power on the modern battlefield.

WNU Editor: This is probably the first time that a hacker has been marked for assassination. This also shows how digital warfare has upset balance of power on the modern battlefield, and why the Pentagon is now prioritizing the targeting of these enemy cyber soldiers.