The al-Shamukh forum was used by the terror group to issue official statements, including its acknowledgement that Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in May, and video messages from his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri.
But the website is now completely crippled after its address was revoked and then its contents were deleted from the server that hosted it in Malaysia. Its operators reported "technical difficulties" via other jihadi forums.
“First, the address stopped working, but the forum was still available via its direct IP address,” said Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Partners, a security consultancy that works with British and American counter-terrorism agencies.
“Then, about 12 hours later, the entire site got wiped clean at the level of the data hosting server. Those were two separate and distinct events that occurred in rather close proximity to each other.”
Last year al-Shamukh replaced an earlier forum, al-Faloja, which was also used to distribute propaganda and martyrdom videos. This week’s apparent attack leaves al-Qaeda without an official communications channel online. acking attack by a Western intelligence agency.Since about last August, every single thing you've seen from al-Qaeda, the videos of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Bin Laden death statement, has originated from this lone channel,” said Mr Kohlmann.
The shut down also comes soon after al-Shamukh published a roster of senior government, industry and media figures to be targeted for assassination by lone terrorists. Earlier this month the FBI warned 40 prominent individuals that they were named on the hit list.
The apparent sophistication of the attack on al-Shamukh prompted claims that hackers working for Western intelligence agencies were responsible.
“When you run an al-Qaeda website, you should expect to receive a regular delivery of half-witted hacking attacks by hecklers, and efforts by crusading activists on the web to shut the site down, but most of those efforts end up coming to little fruition,” said Mr Kohlmann.
“This is the most significant outage in at least a year, so quite obviously something was a little different this time.”
Earlier this month it emerged that MI6 and GCHQ hackers hijacked the an issue of al-Qaeda’s propaganda magazine, Inspire, and inserted baking recipes in an action dubbed “Operation Cupcake”.
British intelligence took action after the CIA blocked the plan in the US, arguing that disrupting the launch would cut off the flow of valuable intelligence. Similar debates surround jihadi forums such as al-Shamukh, which serve as a magnet for young extremists.
If intelligence agencies were not behind the shut down, it is possible that the many digital vigilantes who pursue al-Qaeda online were responsible. A security source who investigated the forum for several months said its software was relatively insecure and leaked administrator passwords.
Despite the crippling of al-Shamukh, copies of the jihadi material it hosted remain online. Mr Kohlmann said its loss was nevertheless a blow to al-Qaeda, which is already under pressure following bin Laden’s death.
“It either has to wait until the forum is resurrected, or else it must establish a new relationship with another jihadi forum, which it has been somewhat reluctant to do in recent years, likely out of security concerns
The shut down also comes soon after al-Shamukh published a roster of senior government, industry and media figures to be targeted for assassination by lone terrorists. Earlier this month the FBI warned 40 prominent individuals that they were named on the hit list.
The apparent sophistication of the attack on al-Shamukh prompted claims that hackers working for Western intelligence agencies were responsible.
“When you run an al-Qaeda website, you should expect to receive a regular delivery of half-witted hacking attacks by hecklers, and efforts by crusading activists on the web to shut the site down, but most of those efforts end up coming to little fruition,” said Mr Kohlmann.
“This is the most significant outage in at least a year, so quite obviously something was a little different this time.”
Earlier this month it emerged that MI6 and GCHQ hackers hijacked the an issue of al-Qaeda’s propaganda magazine, Inspire, and inserted baking recipes in an action dubbed “Operation Cupcake”.
British intelligence took action after the CIA blocked the plan in the US, arguing that disrupting the launch would cut off the flow of valuable intelligence. Similar debates surround jihadi forums such as al-Shamukh, which serve as a magnet for young extremists.
If intelligence agencies were not behind the shut down, it is possible that the many digital vigilantes who pursue al-Qaeda online were responsible. A security source who investigated the forum for several months said its software was relatively insecure and leaked administrator passwords.
Despite the crippling of al-Shamukh, copies of the jihadi material it hosted remain online. Mr Kohlmann said its loss was nevertheless a blow to al-Qaeda, which is already under pressure following bin Laden’s death.
“It either has to wait until the forum is resurrected, or else it must establish a new relationship with another jihadi forum, which it has been somewhat reluctant to do in recent years, likely out of security concerns
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