US drone strike kills British IS hacker, reports say

A British hacker believed to be a cyber expert for Islamic State (IS) was killed in Syria on Wednesday following a US drone strike, a source familiar with the matter said.

The strike took place on Tuesday near Raqqa, Syria, according to a CSO online report, and was believed to be a US military operation rather than a CIA drone attack.

US and European government sources told Reuters earlier this year that 21-year old Junaid Hussain, who adopted the alias Abu Hussain al-Britani, was believed to be the leader of CyberCaliphate, a cyber group which in January hacked a Twitter account belonging to the Pentagon.

Nevertheless, some cyber security experts pointed out the hacking group lacked the skills needed to launch serious attacks.

He was most likely a nuisance hacker

"He wasn't a serious threat. He was most likely a nuisance hacker," said Adam Meyers, vice president of cyber security firm CrowdStrike.

"It was his involvement in recruitment, communications and other ancillary support that would have made him a target."

Hussain, who was a former Birmingham resident, faced six-month imprisonment in 2012 for stealing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's address book from an account maintained by a Blair adviser.

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