‘Lizard Squad’ Resurfaces – Hacks And Defaces Malaysia Airlines Website


Hacker group “Lizard Squad” has hacked and defaced the official website of Malaysia Airlines.

Believed to have been decimated by law enforcement departments, notorious hackers group Lizard Squad seems to have resurfaced. As a proof of their apparent resurrection, existence and show of strength, Lizard Squad claims to have hacked and defaced the official website of Malaysia Airlines.

The website was commandeered on Monday by hackers who referenced the Islamic State jihadists and claimed to be from the “Lizard Squad,” a group known for previous denial-of-service attacks. The landing page of the website was replaced with image of a tuxedo-wearing lizard, and read

“Hacked by LIZARD SQUAD – OFFICIAL CYBER CALIPHATE”.

The photo of tuxedo-wearing, pipe-in-mouth and monocle-sporting lizard has been used extensively by the supposed members of the Lizard Squad during their many illegal digital hijackings.

Some Regions Had Alternate Hacked Landing Page With 'ISIS Will Prevail' Message
Some Regions Had Alternate Hacked Landing Page With ‘ISIS Will Prevail’ Message

Apart from the image, the headline read “404 – Plane Not Found,” an apparent reference to the airlines’ puzzling loss of flight MH370 last year with 239 people aboard. Reports from other regions indicated the hijacked and replaced page even contained the wording “ISIS will prevail.” This was apparently in response to the digital war proclaimed by another hacktivist group, who goes by the name “Anonymous,” against the Lizard Squad.

The Lizard Squad had been dormant only for a short amount of time. However, during their peak hour, Lizard Squad was attributed to crippling the Sony PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live network last month. Lizard Squad, who has only recently proclaimed their strong allegiance with the terrorist outfit, even took down Twitter.

Ironically, ISIS/ISIL or the Islamic State Caliphate has been extensively using social media for majority of their purposes. Be it recruitment or propagation of propaganda to even spreading the word about their exploits and war-crimes, ISIS has been using almost all social media platforms as a means to their end.

Apart from physically wreaking havoc in major parts of Syria and Iraq, the IS group is believed to harbor ambitions of launching a cyber-war against the West.

It is not immediately clear, why the Lizard Squad targeted Malaysia Airlines. But, it might have to do something with the crackdown Malaysian authorities have been enforcing against IS sympathizers. Malaysian authorities last week confirmed they had detained 120 people suspected of harboring ISIS sympathies or planning to travel to Syria in the near future, allegedly to support the terror organization’s cause.

With ‘Lizard Squad’ proving their existence, will ‘Anonymous’ step up its efforts against the virtual terrorism?

Update: The site has been restored to complete functionality.

[Image Credit | Joshua Paul, WSJ]

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