So far damage has been limited to the relatively harmless defacing of sites. Pro bin Laden tirades have been posted on various government Web sites, even one operated by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. But White House officials worry that Islamic hackers will sooner or later graduate from pranks and vandalism to cyberterrorism. Computer terrorists, experts say, could cause widespread disruption, or even loss of life, by interfering with essential services like telephone networks and power grids. Earlier this month the FBI and Defense Intelligence Agency issued a secret warning that the Muslim Hackers Club included experts who had conducted classes on how to mount terror attacks on computer networks. The FBI and the DIA believe the main objective of the club is to develop software tools which can then be used by other Islamic groups to attack Western targets. Some U.S. officials think a serious cyberattack by Islamic militants is inevitable. “It’s not a question of if,” said an intelligence source. “It’s a question of when.”
Anti-America and anti-Israel hacker attacks attributed to Islamic militants have already gone well beyond schoolboy pranks. Two years ago a hacker called DoctorNuker got inside databases maintained by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and published the identities of thousands of the group’s supporters. Shortly after 9-11, DoctorNuker posted a pro bin Laden screed on a U.S. company’s Web site. Last November federal prosecutors obtained a grand-jury indictment accusing a Pakistani named Misbah Khan of being DoctorNuker. But some experts question whether the Feds fingered the right person. Only last month someone calling himself DoctorNuker was credited in an Internet message for defacing the Web site helpingisrael.com. Neither DoctorNuker nor the Muslim Hackers Club could be reached for comment.
