The US Marine Corps urged personnel to ‘check their online footprint’ after the so-called Islamic State released the alleged identities and addresses of 100 staff officials, calling on adherents to kill them.
"Vigilance and force protection considerations remain a
priority for commanders and their personnel," US Marine
Corps Lieutenant Colonel John Caldwell said in a statement.
"It is recommended Marines and family members check their
online/social footprint, ensuring privacy settings are adjusted
to limit the amount of available personal information."
According to the monitoring group SITE Intelligence, which has an uncanny ability for finding obscure jihadist postings online, the threat was issued by a group that calls itself the ISIS Hacking Division, which allegedly retrieved information from military personnel and sent it over the Internet.
READ MORE: ISIS hacking division publishes US servicemen ‘death list’
The group said it hacked the private information from government
servers.
The message alluded to a “huge amount of data we have from
various different servers and databases,” saying the group
released the information on 100 Marines, who allegedly fought
against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq, Syria
and Yemen, “so that our brothers residing in America can deal
with you.”
"Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses,
all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you
waiting for?"
However, as NYT reported, quoting an unnamed Defense Department
official, the information that was exposed most likely came from
public databases and not the US military servers. The personal
data on the “kill list” could have come from news
articles that at one point may have mentioned the servicemen by
name.
READ MORE: Feasible vigilance or hysteria? Everyday objects mistaken for ISIS paraphernalia
The United States is leading an international coalition targeting
IS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, where the Islamist militants
aspire to a caliphate across the region.
IS in the past has called for attacks in coalition countries,
including the United States, Canada, and Italy.