All about the attacks, the group and their objectives

Nov 7, 2012 14:48 GMT  ·  By

We’ve had the opportunity to interview one of the members of the Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters hacker collective, better known for the attacks they have been launching in the past period against the websites of several financial institutions from the United States.

As we’ve previously mentioned, the hackers have denied being sponsored by any state and they claim that so far, they haven’t collaborated with Anonymous.

However, in the interview, we’ve discussed some other interesting topics as well, including their main goal and why they've warned their targets before launching attacks against their sites.

Softpedia: As you clearly know, US officials are insisting that Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters are actually a cover-up for cyberattacks sponsored by Iran. Is Iran of any other state really sponsoring you?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: U.S. prefers to merge the insult issue with this case to decrease the insulting burden and change it to a confrontation with its competitors. No country supports us.

Softpedia: Please share some things about the team’s members. How many are you? Are you veteran hackers?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: The number of Al-Qassam’s members is not fixed. It has changed since the beginning of the work. The outputs of our works show our skills.

Softpedia: Tell us what inspired the name of the group. Why Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: That’s because his personality and the method of his struggles are like us in these cases.

Softpedia: Have you joined forces just for this particular operation, or have you worked together on previous occasions as well?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: The group is firstly established from volunteer hackers which share the beliefs about insulting video and to protest against it.

Softpedia: What are your other objectives besides getting down the controversial Innocence of Muslims movie? For instance, if YouTube does take down the movie, what will you do next? Will you continue hacking for other causes or will the group split up after this objective is complete?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: There is no other objective and if the movie is removed, the attacks will be stopped. Protesting against insult to the prophet united and coordinated us.

Softpedia: Anonymous hackers from Fawkes Security claim that they were the ones to take down the websites of HSBC. You have also taken credit for the attack. Do you have any connection to Fawkes Security or are they taking credit for your work?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: Our group doesn't have any connection to Fawkes Security. Our attack's simultaneity with their operation has been completely by chance. Meanwhile, according to our and their works, the existing difference will be obvious to you.

Softpedia: If you are the ones who attacked HSBC, did you attack all their websites (including Canada, France and UK) or did you focus just on the one from the US?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: We chose it as an American bank. We focused on their U.S. website but it had also affected other sites in some degrees.

Softpedia: The week that you attacked Capital One, BT&T and HSBC, the website of Ally Financial also experienced some problems. Did you have any involvement in the attack?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: We did not attack Ally institute. Our attacked targets previously have been announced in the corresponding statements.

Softpedia: In September, a hacker known as The Jester claimed that you had some involvement with Anonymous and that you were using a DDOS service known as Multiboot.me in your attacks. Are his claims true? If you’re not using Multiboot.me, then what are you using?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: Our group has not had cooperation with Anonymous yet. We are not reliant on any specific utility for our operations, and we particularly didn’t use multiboot.me in our attacks.

Softpedia: It’s clear that you are highly determined to continue the operation until the movie is taken down. What happens if there aren’t any US banks left to attack? Will you focus on other types of organizations?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: Informing to all and giving the voice of Muslims' protest has been our goal and we'll decide according to the circumstances.

Softpedia: What can you tell us about your “attack philosophy”? So far, you’ve mentioned on numerous occasions that you don’t like Americans because all they care about is money and their worldly possessions. Are you hopping that your attacks will change this mentality in some situations?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: We have never said that we don’t like American people; rather, our statements have been about the ruling system of this country. This is not just our opinion but the opinion of the 99 percent of American people as well.

Softpedia: Why did you warn some of the banks before attacking them? Didn’t you worry that if you warned them, they might have been able to block the attacks against their websites?

Mrt. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters: The reason why we previously warned the people was for their welfare and to make daily schedule for them possible. Also we did believe in our power and ability and we were sure they will not be able to resist our attacks.