Junaid Hussain
{{Short description|ISIL propagandist and hacker (1994–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
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| name = Junaid Hussain
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| birth_date = {{abbr|c.|circa}} 1994
| birth_place = Birmingham, UK
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| death_date = 25 August 2015 (aged 21)
| death_cause = Drone strike
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| other_names = Abu Hussain al-Britani
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| citizenship = United Kingdom
Pakistani
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| occupation = Hacker
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| spouse = Sally-Anne Jones (?-2015)
| children = 1
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Junaid Hussain ({{abbr|c.|circa}} 1994 – 25 August 2015) was a British black hat hacker and propagandist under the nom de guerre of Abu Hussain al-Britani who supported the Islamic State (IS).{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/british-hacker-suspected-cyber-attack-4974855|title=British hacker suspected of cyber attack on US Central Command Twitter account|author=Russell Myers|date=13 January 2015|work=mirror}} Hussain, who was raised in Birmingham in a family originally from Pakistan, was jailed in 2012 for hacking Tony Blair's accounts and posting his personal information online.{{cite web|url=https://www.recordedfuture.com/cyber-caliphate-analysis/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403045921/https://www.recordedfuture.com/cyber-caliphate-analysis/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=3 April 2015|title=Cyber Caliphate: ISIS Plays Offense on the Web|author=RFSID|work=Recorded Future}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dailytech.com/Anonymous+vs+the+ISIS+Cyber+Caliphate++War+in+the+Middle+East+Goes+Digital/article37154.htm|title=DailyTech - Anonymous vs. the ISIS Cyber Caliphate -- War in the Middle East Goes Digital|work=dailytech.com|access-date=14 May 2015|archive-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707235732/http://www.dailytech.com/Anonymous+vs+the+ISIS+Cyber+Caliphate++War+in+the+Middle+East+Goes+Digital/article37154.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/junaid-hussain-cybercaliphate-leader-isis-member-was-behind-centcom-hack-report-says-1782870|title=Junaid Hussain: CyberCaliphate Leader And ISIS Member Was Behind CENTCOM Hack, Report Says|author=Thomas Halleck|date=14 January 2015|work=International Business Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/12/isis-cyber-caliphate-hacking-technology-arms-race|title=Could Isis's 'cyber caliphate' unleash a deadly attack on key targets?|author=Emma Graham-Harrison|work=The Guardian|date=12 April 2015 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/digital-jihad-isis-al-qaeda-seek-a-cyber-caliphate-to-launch-attacks-on-us/|title=Digital jihad: ISIS, Al Qaeda seek a cyber caliphate to launch attacks on US|author=Jamie Dettmer|work=Fox News|date=24 March 2015 }}{{cite web|url=http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/28300/cyber-crime/isis-cyber-caliphate.html|title=ISIS is ramping up efforts to mount a massive cyber attack|work=Security Affairs|date=14 September 2014 }}{{cite web|url=http://internet.gawker.com/investigators-think-this-uk-isis-defector-is-behind-the-1679699893 |title=Investigators Think This UK ISIS Defector Is Behind the CENTCOM Hack |author=Sam Biddle |publisher=Gawker Media |work=Weird Internet |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204223517/http://internet.gawker.com/investigators-think-this-uk-isis-defector-is-behind-the-1679699893 |archivedate=4 February 2016 }} Hussain left the UK around 2013 for Syria.
Hussain was killed in 2015 via airstrike.
Hacking and propagandizing
Hussain was known as TriCk from the disbanded hacking group TeaMp0isoN.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/07/world/cheerleader-freelancer-terror/|title=Cheerleaders and freelancers: new actors in terrorism - CNN.com|author=Tim Lister|date=7 May 2015|work=CNN}} He was a key figure in a group of Islamist computer hackers who call themselves the Cyber Caliphate. The Islamist hackers were involved in defacing French websites during the 2015 Île-de-France attacks and the Twitter feeds of the U.S. Central Command, Newsweek and the International Business Times. The group is believed to have been behind the use of a spearphishing attack that exposed identities of rebel media groups.{{clarify|date=January 2022}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-hacker-behind-u-s-military-hit-list-believed-killed-in-syria-drone-strike//|title=ISIS hacker behind U.S. military "hit list" believed killed in Syria|author=CBSNews|work=News Agency}}
In March 2015, Hussain released a list of U.S. military personnel requesting that IS followers execute people on the list. While Hussain claimed to have breached US Department of Defense servers, the FBI assessed that the list was cobbled together from news articles, social media posts, and public records.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/05/us/texas-shooting-gunmen|title=Who are the gunmen behind the Texas shooting?|author=Holly Yan|date=5 May 2015|work=CNN}}
Hussain was in online contact with one of the gunmen behind the Curtis Culwell Center attack of May 2015. Before the incident, an attacker posted online statements on Twitter, in which he requested others to follow Hussain's account. After the shooting occurred, Hussain wrote: "Allahu Akbar!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire."{{original research inline|date=June 2015}}
Attempts on life and death
An attempted lethal drone strike on Hussain, around ten days before his death, instead killed three civilians and injured five.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/29/sis-airstrike-syria-civilians-killed-us-military-junaid-hussain |title=Airstrike targeting British hacker working for Isis killed three civilians instead, US admits |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 January 2016 |access-date=29 January 2016 |first1=Spencer |last1=Ackerman |author-link=Spencer Ackerman |first2=Alice |last2=Ross |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited}}
The Sunday Times reported that US officials intended to assassinate Hussain, listing him as the third highest IS target on the Pentagon's "kill list", behind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Mohammed Emwazi, due to his role in inspiring international lone wolf terrorism.{{cite news |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1588418.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921084847/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1588418.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 September 2015 |title=British hacker is No 3 on Pentagon 'kill list' |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=2 August 2015 |access-date=1 September 2015 |first=Dipesh |last=Gadher |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited}}{{cite news |url=http://europe.newsweek.com/junaid-hussain-how-boy-birmingham-became-isiss-leading-hacker-332108 |title=Junaid Hussain: How a Boy From Birmingham Became ISIS's Leading Hacker |date=27 August 2015 |magazine=Newsweek |access-date=1 September 2015}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/isis-hacking-division-releases-details-of-1400-americans-and-urges-attacks |title=Isis 'hacking division' releases details of 1,400 Americans and urges attacks |first=Michael |last=Safi |newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 August 2015 |access-date=1 September 2015 |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited}}
US government sources reported Hussain, along with two of his bodyguards, was killed in a drone strike on a car in a Raqqa petrol station on 24 August 2015.{{Efn|name=name|Because of the international dateline, the date in Iraq time is different from the date in U.S. time. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150829020806/http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/615305/iraq-progresses-in-isil-fight-key-extremist-confirmed-dead The Pentagon's report] noted the drone strike occurred on 24 August while [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/world/middleeast/junaid-hussain-islamic-state-recruiter-killed.html The New York Times reported] the strike occurred on 25 August.}} Hussain, 21 at the time of his reported death, was married to Sally Jones, 45, a fellow Briton who had joined IS. She denied his death through IS-linked Twitter accounts.{{cite news |first=Charlotte |last=Meredith |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-islamic-states-top-hacker-was-killed-in-a-us-drone-strike/ |title=The Islamic State's Top Hacker Was Killed in a US Drone Strike |work=Vice |date=28 August 2015 |access-date=29 August 2015}}{{cite news |title=Sally Jones |url=http://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/sally-jones |work=Counter Extremism Project |access-date=27 June 2019}}
Hussain and his wife regularly used their young son as a human shield to prevent drone attacks. On the occasion when he was killed, he had ventured out without the child.{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/white-widow-sally-jones-killed-isis-uk-jihadi-us-drone-strike-syria-who-was-she-explainer-a7996521.html |title=Sally Jones: Who was the 'White Widow'? What we know about the Isis member reportedly killed in a US drone strike |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=22 July 2018 |first=Harry |last=Cockburn |date=12 October 2017}} It was reported that Hussain's location was discovered after he clicked on a compromised Internet link sent by an undercover agent on the Surespot messaging app. Jones later confirmed that Hussain had been killed.{{cite news |url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/isis-terrorist-junaid-hussain-killed-10069425 |title=Isis terrorist Junaid Hussain killed in drone attack after boffins 'crack group's code' |date=16 September 2015 |first=James |last=Cartledge |access-date=27 June 2019 |newspaper=Birmingham Live |publisher=Reach plc}}
Notes
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References
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External links
- Counter Extremism Project [http://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/junaid-hussain profile]
{{Hacking in the 2010s}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Junaid}}
Category:Assassinated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members
Category:Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members from the United Kingdom
Category:Deaths by American airstrikes during the Syrian civil war
Category:British cybercriminals
Category:British people of Pakistani descent