Quick takesJihadi cyberattacks; ISIS’s sex slaves; Iran’s missile test

Published 30 December 2015

Hackers affiliated with the Jihadist group have been developing the capabilities to attack U.S. government and civilian targets, and such targets in other countries; Theologians working with ISIS have issued detailed and specific ruling on women slaves – explaining when “owners” of these women can have sex with them and who else among ISIS members may be entitled for sex services from enslaved women; On 26 December, the Iranian navy fired several rockets near three Western warships in the Gulf of Hormuz.

Hackers improving their skill set at convocation // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

ISIS: Jihadi hackers plan cyberattacks on U.S.
In what security analysts regard as an expansion of ISIS’s capabilities to do damage to Western societies and economies, hackers affiliated with the Jihadist group have been developing the capabilities to attack U.S. government and civilian targets, and such targets in other countries. Cybersecurity experts say that truly crippling cyberattacks are not yet within the reach of the organization’s hackers, these hackers have already tried to infiltrate the control systems which govern the U.S. electricity grid. In Web forums where jihadists and their sympathizers converse, hackers openly discuss various methods of penetrating the control systems of airplanes in order to bring them down, and how to cause the release of lethal radiation by sending fake commands to nuclear power plants.

ISIS: Jihadists issue sex slave instructions
Theologians working with ISIS have issued detailed and specific ruling on women slaves – explaining when “owners” of these women can have sex with them and who else among ISIS members may be entitled for sex services from enslaved women. It appears that the capture earlier this year of a large number of women in Iraq, and turning them into slaves, had caused some confusion in ISIS ranks as to who is entitled to what as far as sex with these women was concerned, so the organization turned to religious experts for a ruling. The Islamic scholars who were tasked with elucidating the matter issued a ruling, or a fatwa, which, scholars say, sheds new light on how ISIS is trying to reinterpret centuries-old edicts for the purpose of justifying a broad campaign of rape of women by ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

Iran: Provocative missile test
On 26 December, the Iranian navy fired several rockets near three Western warships in the Gulf of Hormuz. One of the ships was the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier. A French frigate and the USS Bulkeley destroyer were also in the area. The rockets were not fired toward any of the ship, but the proximity of the rockets to the warships, and to several commercial vessels which were also in the area, raised concerns. One rocket came within about 1,500 yards of the USS Truman.