Al Qaeda Magazine Spreads Trojan Virus

In a recent incident, an online magazine signed by the terrorist group 'Al Qaeda' has surfaced on the web. This is the first time when an English language magazine seemingly authored by Al Qaeda leaders "Inspire" came into notice on July 1, 2010.

The main objective of the magazine is to recruit Muslims living in Britain, Canada, the US and other English speaking countries. The magazine contains Al Qaeda leaders bylines Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki (the US-born radical cleric living in Yemen).

According to the reports, the magazine contains three pages and embedded with a Trojan that has infected its remaining 64 pages.

The media reports have suspected the authenticity of its publication by the global terror network. The text language of the magazine like "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom," indicates towards the poor command on English or a self parody. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is not popular for either Awlaki, who resides in Yemen and rules out any possibility of his involvement. In fact, Awlaki is an articulate English speakers and writer. The sermons preached by him are very fiery that draw people.

In addition, the PDF, in which the magazine designed, does not download properly. This problem has rarely been seen in case of Al-Qaeda and AQAP who have never faced such kind of problem in the PDF version. If the US counterintelligence had produced the report or if the US operatives inserted malicious virus into the original file, then the security experts have suspected the possibility of Trojan identification by simple, consumer grade virus scanners. The US counterintelligence use very less detectable viruses.

Besides, Zawahiri and Bin Laden are very secretive and release statements seldom directly to the media. In fact, they write for the third party publication, particularly one published by the the Yemen-based AQAP, with which they have very limited or no direct connection. Nevertheless, the producer of the magazine simply had taken the old statements given by these prominent leaders.

As per the Atlantic (an online magazine based in Washington), it is unclear who actually published the magazine. However, the culprit most likely be mischievous pranksters in the US willing to spread malware or Trojan virus among jihadi forum visitors.

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» SPAMfighter News - 15-07-2010

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