British Defense Hacks al Qaeda Website and Posts Cupcake Recipes
Posted on June 3, 2011 at 10:30am by Jonathon M. Seidl
Back in October, we brought you news of the English-speaking al Qaeda magazine “Inspire” that included an article how to “make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.” But little did we know that back then British intelligence pulled off a hack of the magazine that was pure comedy. Here’s the gist: Government defense officials hacked in to the website, and when potential terrorists downloaded “Inspire,” instead of getting bomb-making instructions from the above-mentioned article, they got cupcake recipes.
The Telegraph reports:
When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to “Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom” by “The AQ Chef” they were greeted with garbled computer code.
The code, which had been inserted into the original magazine by the British intelligence hackers, was actually a web page of recipes for “The Best Cupcakes in America” published by the Ellen DeGeneres chat show.
Written by Dulcy Israel and produced by Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson, Ohio, it said “the little cupcake is big again” adding: “Self-contained and satisfying, it summons memories of childhood even as it’s updated for today’s sweet-toothed hipsters.”
It included a recipe for the Mojito Cupcake – “made of white rum cake and draped in vanilla buttercream”- and the Rocky Road Cupcake – “warning: sugar rush ahead!”
According to the Telegraph, the Trojan code also removed articles by Osama bin Laden and his deputy, including a piece called “What to expect in Jihad.” It’s also understood that the CIA considered doing the same thing, but eventually decided against it.
And even though al Qaeda went on to republish the magazine two weeks later, and has since published four other editions of the magazine, it’s still a “sweet” story.
