14 DAY TRIAL // Malaysian law enforcement have arrested Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovo citizen, based on an arrest warrant issued by US authorities, who suspect him of being the main person behind the ISIS data leaks.
Earlier in August, the Islamic State Hacking Division (also known as the CyberCaliphate) published the personal details of over 1,351 US military and government personnel, along with encouragements for group members to seek out these persons and kill them.
The US took this threat head-on, and after a short investigation, US forces eventually killed the Hacking Division's leader, Junaid Hussain, in a drone strike at the end of August.
Despite being the leader of ISIS' cyber-army, at the time of his killing, many security experts were not convinced Hussain was the culprit behind the data breach, possessing very few technical skills to carry out such an elaborate attack.
Ferizi, not Junaid Hussain, was the real hacker
Now, according to more details contained in Ferizi's arrest warrant, US authorities reveal that they suspect him of carrying out the actual cyber-attack that led to the theft of data about US military and government personnel.
The US alleges that Ferizi hacked into the database of a US retail company, from where he stole the personally identifiable data of over 100,000 individuals.
He later sorted out the data, extracting military and government-related entries, and transmitted it to several prominent ISIS propagandists.
To do this, he used the @thedirectory Twitter handle, from which he maintained constant contact with numerous ISIS-liked accounts.
Ferizi was arrested while trying to travel back home to Kosovo, in the Kuala Lumpur airport, on September 15.
He moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August 2014 to study computer science. Ferizi has a history in cybercrime, having been accused of hacking a local news portal at the age of 15.