AT&T Hackers Connected to Saudi Arabian Terrorist Group

Last week, AT&T had to give customers the unfortunate news that their systems may have been hacked. Although less than 1 percent of customers were affected, reports are now coming out that the hack was traced to four hackers with connections to a Saudi Arabian terrorist group.

PC World reports that the FBI in cooperation with Filipino police were able to bust those involved in the $2 million hack of AT&T's system:

FBI agents, who have been investigating hacking of telecommunication companies in the U.S. and in the country since 1999, have uncovered a "paper trail" of various bank transactions allegedly linking the local hackers to the cell in Saudi Arabia, whose activities include financing terrorist activities, [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group] said in a statement.

[...]

The Philippines police said that Muhammad Zamir, a Jemaah Islamiyah member, paid the suspects to hack the trunk-line of different telecommunication companies including AT&T. Revenue derived from the hacking was diverted to the account of the terrorists, who paid the Filipino hackers on a commission basis through local banks, CIDG said.

Jemaah Islamiyah is an Islamic militant group that has been active in South East Asia and is said to be linked to some terrorist attacks in the region, including the Bali bombing in 2002.

According to the press release from the Philippine Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, of those arrested, three were men and was a one woman. Computer and telecommunication equipment were also confiscated. The press release states that the FBI requested help of the Philippine National Police in March 2011 when it found the group had targeted AT&T.