US-CERT Warns of Threats from al-Qaeda Tech Site

By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews

December 4, 2006, 11:00 AM

A spokesperson for the US Dept. of Homeland Security told the Associated Press this morning that the US-CERT preparedness team is monitoring a so-called "Jihadist Web site," following postings calling for online attacks on US financial sites sometime this month.

The US-CERT Web site has not been updated with more information than what was reported by the AP: essentially that the agency is now seriously monitoring a site that has called for online retaliation against the US' continued holding of Muslims in a holding facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Based on this morning's citations, the monitored site appears to fit the profile of a recently launched Web site called Technical Mujahid, described by the Middle East Media Research Institute in a bulletin released last Friday as appealing to "the growing interest on the part of the mujahideen in information technology, electronic data security, and hi-tech matters."

While the DHS spokesperson said the site was calling upon jihadists to unleash a wave of viruses to destroy data stored on financial sites "until the infidel new year," it's possible that in the translation, some of the technical details were either misunderstood or omitted.

The MEMRI memo describes the site as something of a Popular Electronics for those willing to die for their cause, but along the way, to choose the right GPS for their remote training bases, and the right video editors for their recruitment videos.

The same spokesperson later told Reuters, "There is no information to corroborate this aspirational threat. As a routine matter and out of an abundance of caution, US-CERT issued the situational awareness report to industry stakeholders."

Using now typical DHS language, another spokesperson this morning offered clarification, advising the US financial community to go about its business and not to panic, but not to be too lackadaisical either.