Anti-ISIS group claim responsibility for UCL network downing

Anti-ISIS group @AR_talents have today claimed responsibility for the disruption of multiple UCL network services including Library Services, Moodle and UCLU.

The group, based in Virginia, claim to be responding to comments made by Activities and Events Officer Asad Khan, amidst the Macer Gifford controversy, in which the anti-ISIS fighter was prevented from speaking at UCL by UCLU.

Khan’s comments appear to have been taken as a call to arms as part of their #opisis.

In the last few minutes they also claim to have taken Saudi Arabia’s port authorities offline. The group is very active on Twitter, calling for bombs to be dropped on ISIS, as well as actively retweeting the infamous @Anonymous, as they hack notably larger targets, such as the Arab National Bank.

They also encourage their followers to become ISIS vigilantes themselves, providing links on how to keep servers down for maximum disruption.

UCLU’s Pi Media also suffered from a brief attack after contacting the group via Twitter during investigations. The site’s servers were down for roughly 20 minutes while the hacker insisted on the removal of all tweets in which @AR_talents featured.

Whilst the hack is incredibly stressful for students with deadlines after reading week, it also raises concerning issues surrounding the security of the UCL network, and the safety of student information.