A Jordanian beauty queen joined the plethora of hacktivists active in the ongoing online battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militant group.
After watching pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh’s, a fellow Jordanian, gruesome death in a video released by ISIS, Lara Abdallat decided to do something about the group’s growing online presence.
“It was a wake-up call for many of us, and a call to action,” Abdallat, crowned the kingdom’s beauty queen in 2010, toldVocative news website.
The Internet plays a formidable role in the ISIS’s recruiting policy as the group continues to spread its propaganda despite the clamp down on militant-affiliated websites and accounts.
Abdallat joined GhostSec, a group of online activists affiliated with major hacktivist movement Anonymous, seven months ago, she told Vocativ.
“We are from many backgrounds, but our goal is a common one: The elimination of ISIS and the fall of the caliphate,” she said adding that the group has many women onboard.
“There are several female cyber-activists fighting ISIS, and I’m honored to be representing them.”
The deadly attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January also played a role in Abdallat’s decision to join GhostSec as she realized the threats posed by ISIS’s ability to reach and connect with people online.
“We felt that enough was not being done to combat the immense threat that is the Islamic State, and that we could put our skills together for the greater good of humanity,” Abdallat said
In the seven months the 2010 Miss Jordan has been with GhostSec, the group claimed it had taken down two major web forums that managed ISIS communication in the Middle East.
“We can confirm we’ve had a devastating effect on their organization through the massive disruption of the communications and technical infrastructure,” Abdallat said.
“We have shut down over 100 Islamic State websites, and suspended 55,000 Twitter accounts that were used for transmission of propaganda, threat intelligence and recruitment,” she added.
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