A Georgia woman has been arrested and accused of helping the Islamic State carry out cyber attacks against Americans, the Department of Justice reported.
Kim Anh Vo, 20, was taken into custody Tuesday in Richmond County, and subsequently charged with “one count of conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization,” the DOJ release said.
In 2016, Vo allegedly joined an organization called the United Cyber Caliphate, or UCC, an ISIS-loyalist group dedicated to carrying out cyber attacks against Americans.
The UCC and other affiliated groups have been at the forefront of distributing ISIS propaganda in America, some of which included catalogs of detailed contact information of American service members, along with instructions to kill those featured on the lists, the release said.
In April 2016, the group posted the names and addresses of more than 3,600 people in the New York City area, accompanied by the message, "List of most important citizens of #New York and #Brooklyn and some other cities . . . We Want them #Dead,” the DOJ reported.
One year later, the hacker organization released a graphic video along with another instructional kill list that contained identifying information for more than 8,000 people across the U.S.
“We have a message to the people of the U.S., and most importantly, your president Trump," the video reportedly stated. "Know that we continue to wage war against you, know that your counter attacks only makes stronger. ... We will release a list with over 8000 names, addresses, and email addresses, of those who fight against the US. Or live amongst the kuffar. Kill them wherever you find them!”
The video then reportedly cut to a graphic sequence showing a man’s beheading.
For more than a year after joining the UCC, Vo, who reportedly went by a number of online aliases — “F@ng,” “SyxxZMC,” “Zozo,” “Miss.Bones," “Sage Pi,” “Kitty Lee” — tried to recruit others to help launch such cyber attacks, the DOJ reported.
If convicted, Vo could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The FBI New York Field Office, New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Atlanta Field Office were instrumental in taking Vo into custody, the release said.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
