A user claiming to be AnonGhost has been active online over the past week carrying out website defacements. While there have always been a number of copy cats, both before and after AnonGhost joined ISIS, this one may actually be the return of the real AnonGhost. After joining ISIS following the death of his friend and Cyber Caliphate founder Abu Hussein al Britani, AnonGhost carried out a number of attacks in support of ISIS before going quiet as ISIS lost power both online and throughout Northern Iraq and Syria. AnonGhost routinely participated in Anonymous operations, even though he claimed to not be part of Anonymous, especially the OpIsrael and OpFreePalestine campaigns. These most recent attacks have been defacing a number of Israeli websites in the name of OpFreePalestine. While some of the defacements have not been the same style of defacements AnonGhost was known for doing in the past, they are extremely similar–enough to possibly only be a representation of the normal evolution of style of an attacker. The user has also been using the name “Mauritania Attacker” which lends a little bit more credence to the validity of the user. Mauritania Attacker was a moniker used heavily by AnonGhost prior to the founding of AnonGhost, which was a name used not only by the hacker but also as an identity for the group of hackers he would routinely work with.
Analyst Notes
AnonGhost was always a highly successful group/hacker and if they have returned, it could mark the end of ISIS’ cyber-division and potentially lead to an increase in the success and damage of anti-Israel campaigns by Anonymous.
