Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Hackers have disabled or taken over Syrian government websites over the past week, while supporters of Bashar Assad have struck back.

The well-known hacker group Anonymous took over the Syrian Defence Ministry's website and put up a notice supporting the resistance to Assad and urging the Army to side with the Syrian people against the Assad regime. The website included the message:

“To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side – tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become.”

According to Boston.com – a Boston Globe website – at least 12 Syrian government websites were hacked or became unavailable during the second half of September. The Ministry of Defence site was unavailable for some days after the Anonymous message had been removed.

But opponents of the Assad regime seem not to be the only ones with hacking skills. Facebook and other public sites have received numerous posts supporting the Assad regime, and the Harvard University site was hacked, and briefly replace with a pro-Assad message from the "Syrian Electronic Army".

Opposistion groups suspect the pro-Assad hackers and activists are people linked to the Syrian intelligence services. Certainly, if this blog's theory that the supporters of oppressive military dictatorships are victims of Stockholm Syndrome has merit, this would seem likely. Stockholm Syndrome depends on the kidnapper keeping the hostages isolated. Digital media mean that is harder to do, and people engaged in digital media – and with hacking skills – are less likely to be isolated and less likely to suffer any Stockholm induced loyalty to the dictatorship.