According a noticed published by Al-Muhajireen, an ISIS publication, a Canadian-born hacker who had joined ISIS was martyred this week. The hacker was only mentioned by the name he took after joining ISIS, Abu Osama Al-Kanadi, and not by his legal name. Another ISIS fighter, who was from Calgary, had previously used that name, however his details do not line up with any of the details about the Canadian-born hacker. According to the notice, the Toronto native was responsible for taking control of a number of high-profile Twitter accounts, including the compromise of the U.S. military’s Central Command Twitter account. It is surprising that a hacker with the accolades that ISIS is attributing to Abu Osama Al-Kanadi would have stayed under the radar as well as this.
Analyst Notes
It is possible that following the drone strike which killed Abu Hussain Al-Britani, the father of the ISIS cyber division, that ISIS sought to keep him hidden in an effort to protect him from becoming a target. According to the notice Al-Kanadi met his fate the same way that Al-Britani did, however it is unknown if Al-Kanadi was the target of the drone strike or just collateral damage.
