The US military has urged its staff to exercise caution online after hackers linked to ISIS posted a hit list of personnel names and addresses on the web and called on its supporters in the States to “deal with” those listed.
A group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division posted a list of names, addresses and photos of around 100 military staff which it said it had obtained by hacking the Pentagon, according to the BBC.
The US government has said the threat is being investigated, while a security source told the BBC that those on the list are being contacted.
The list was apparently posted on a pro-ISIS site, with the group urging followers in the US to use the information to carry out lone-wolf attacks on the individuals named.
Such an attack took place in Ottawa in October last year when a 32-year-old man acting alone went on a shooting spree in the Canadian parliament building.
US Marine Corps spokesman Lt Col John Caldwell said that “vigilance and force protection” is a priority for all personnel.
He also urged staff to "check their online/social footprint, ensuring privacy settings are adjusted to limit the amount of available personal information.”
If the reports are accurate, this won’t have been the first time pro-ISIS hackers have caused discomfort to the US military.
In January, hacktivists briefly took control of the official YouTube and Twitter accounts of the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
Back then they defaced the account with pro-Islamic State slogans and posted what they claimed to be a list of home addresses for army generals, and US battle strategies for China and Korea.
However, those documents were dismissed as false.
In December 2014, ISIS was accused of being behind a cyber-attack on Syrian human rights group Raqqah is being Slaughtered Silently (RSS), designed to uncover the location of its activists.
RSS had apparently angered the group by documenting human rights abuses by ISIS elements occupying the city of Ar-Raqqah.