Islamic State allegedly hacked U.S. military accounts: Here are the most dangerous hacking groups in the world

The Twitter and YouTube accounts for the U.S. military command that oversees operations in the Middle East have been hacked by some people claiming to be sympathetic toward the **Islamic State militant group** being targeted in American bombing raids. U.S. officials acknowledged that the incident in which the accounts were “compromised” for about 30 minutes was embarrassing but played down the impact. The FBI said it is investigating the matter. Recently, a hacking group called  Lizard Squad took down  **PSN and Xbox Live**  and openly announced their new target - Tor. Tor is a network that works at keeping your online identity anonymous and the hacking group already had already added thousands of relays. Interestingly, it soon began selling its Ddos **attack for $6 per month** . Now, Lizard Squad sounds creepy anyway, but there are several others calling themselves cuddly names like ‘Kitten’ and ‘Panda’ and are equally dangerous. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most dangerous hacking groups in the world. Anonymous Anonymous needs no introduction. Founded in 2003, the hacking group pops its head anywhere Internet censorship prevails. Just a couple of years ago, we saw the infamous group emerge in India to fight against Internet censorship being imposed on netizens. From bringing down the **Congress and the Supreme Court websites** in retaliation to India’s new Internet laws and the blocking of websites like The Pirate Bay and Vimeo to hacking BJP and its websites, the group has been quite active in India. In the past, we’ve seen the US bring criminal charges against suspected members of the hacking group for allegedly attacking **government, credit card and lobbying websites** in a campaign in support of internet file-sharing. Last year it hacked **Strait Times** for a misleading article and just recently threatened a **major blackout** of Chinese and Hong Kong government websites. [caption id=“attachment_245417” align=“aligncenter” width=“479”]  Anonymous fights against Internet cencorship[/caption] Team cyber warriors From celebrities to government websites, ‘hacking’ or ‘cyber crime’ isn’t a thing of the west anymore. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen several such incidents in India too. Recently, a group calling itself ‘Team Cyber warriors’ emerged that went on to deface celebrity websites like the South superstar **Mohanlal** with a disturbing message and Pakistan’s flag. The same group went on to hack the **Press Club of India website** . It was a retaliation by Cyber Warriors against the hacking of the Pakistan People’s Party  by alleged Indian hacker group called Black Dragon. With the **tensions happening across the border,** hackers have started their own battle in the virtual world, too. Chaos Computer Club Now, hacking isn’t a thing of the modern world either. The hacking group Chaos Computer Club was formed in Germany in 1981. The group became popular on hacking into the German Bildschirmtext computer network and stealing 134,000 Deutsch Marks from a Hamburg bank. It wasn’t for money as they returned it the next day and showed how the security system was flawed. Some group members were also known to hack into corporate and government computers in the US during late 80s. They’ve also used hacking to retaliate against French nuclear testing. LulzSec Lulzsec, a group that enjoys exposing security flaws, has been active since 2011. It’s motto is ’laughing at your security’. The hacking group has targeted popular sites like Fox.com, X-factor database, Sony, the CIA and others. In 2012, some LulzSec members were arrested including their leader apparently codenamed Sabu. However, within three months, the group announced that it is active again. Lulzsec is responsible for causing billions of dollars worth of damages to sites. [caption id=“attachment_216769” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  (Image: Reuters)[/caption] Syrian Electronic Army or Deadeye Jackal The Syrian Electronic Army or called ‘Deadeye Jackal’ by the CrowdStrike is a political activist group supporting the Syrian President Bashar Assad. It had hacked into scores of websites starting late last year to early this year, especially in the US media. From the Associated Press and **Financial Times'**  Twitter accounts to **CNN's Facebook and Twitter pages** , none has been spared. The group also posted the contact information of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp’s retiring chief executive, on its Twitter account along with the message, “You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details. #SEA.” That message was an apparent reference to revelations last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, was part of the NSA’s program to monitor communications through some of the biggest U.S. Internet companies. Derp Derp is infamous for taking down several gaming sites in late 2013. It took down multiple gaming sites and servers through DDoS attacks. The group managed to take down Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2, Club Penguin, servers. They also took down Battle.net and EA.com.  Magic Kitten The hacking group Magic Kitten is from Iran. Believed to be existing from 2009, it targets political dissidents in Iran and is known for its attacks in November 2013. Some other hacking groups include Numbered Panda from China known to send phishing emails and cyber threat from Russia called Energetic Bear.