Ohio government websites hacked with pro-ISIS messages

Ohio Governor John Kasich speaks during a Republican presidential campaign event in 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WASHINGTON POST) - The website of Ohio Governor John Kasich apparently was hacked on Sunday (June 25) with a posting professing love for the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) extremist group.

Other state government websites also may have been compromised, including those for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and for Ohio first lady Karen Kasich, Cleveland.com reported.

The Ohio governor's website wasn't loading on Sunday afternoon, and a cached version showed the message "hacked by Team System Dz." It said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries" and added, "I love the Islamic state."

Kasich spokeswoman Emmalee Kalmbach said in a statement that "as soon as we were notified of the situation, we immediately began to correct it, and will continue to monitor until fully resolved."

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in 2018, posted on Facebook that the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction website had been hacked and said, "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland."

The same pro-ISIS message, accompanied by music, were also shown on Sunday on the website of Brookhaven, a town on New York's Long Island about 80 kilometres from Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

The hacks come as Muslims around the world mark the end of the Ramadan, a month of fasting, and celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

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