Belgium launches cyber-attack on IS media outlets
Belgian federal prosecutors have carried out a successful cyber-attack on Amaq, which serves as the press agency and propaganda channel of the terrorist group IS. The Belgians received the support of the European police organisation Europol during the two-day attack.
Belgian prosecutors staged a similar attack in 2018 but at this time Amaq’s websites and accounts were operating again shortly afterwards. Prosecutors’ spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt: “We were surprised by that. That’s why we tried to do a better job this time. It seems to have worked. A lot of accounts and websites have been taken offline. They will undoubtedly try to return to business in coming days, but that will take a lot of time and money.”
Belgium’s attack was launched last week. Federal judicial police in East Flanders are leading the investigation into the IS servers.