I just can't take this story seriously. CBS News picks up on a story that claims that Rusty Shakleford (Jawa Report) and Aaron Weisburd (Internet Haganah) brought down all of the most trafficked jihadi forums on the net in order to prevent the distribution of an al-Qaida 9/11 commemoration. I've been tracking this story since Rusty denied it. Reading the CBS report and the original Hindustan Times article just makes the entire story appear even more preposterous:
Western intelligence suspects two hackers who have targeted Islamicist sites before were responsible: Aaron Weisburd from Internet Haganah and Rusty Shackleford from the web group My Pet Jawa.
Both have been active in ongoing Internet battle between Islamicist hackers and their opponents.
Rusty and Aaron achieved what numerous foreign governments have failed to do for years: they've hacked into jihadi forums and brought the sites down using....what? Their secret jedi IT tricks?
Government oversight of Internet traffic? That had nothing to do with it. Hostile government meddling? That had nothing to do with it. No. It was two guys in the US who work day jobs.
Yeah, sure.
In the meantime, the forum sites are down. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the deafening silence of jihadi-less chatter. I've even seen a dramatic decrease in upload activity at the jihad's favorite hosting site. And I suspect that if this continues for a while, we may see online jihadis seek other means of sharing information. In that, folks, I am ahead of the game, watching various nooks and crannies, waiting for the sewage to seep in.
