Malaysian Hacker Linked to Islamic State

Malaysian police have arrested a man suspected of hacking U.S. military information and providing it to members of the Islamic State.

Ardit Ferizi allegedly stole the personal information of more than 1,300 U.S. military and government personnel.

Ferizi is a citizen of Kosovo, the mostly Muslim republic in the central Balkans. The United States also had a large military base there.

The U.S. State Department released a statement identifying Ferizi as a leader of an Internet hacking group called Kosova Hacker's Security.

According to the State Department, Ferizi was in contact with Junaid Hussain, a senior operative with the Islamic State in Syria.

Hussain, also known as Abu Hussain al-Britani, tweeted that he had a 30-page document disclosing U.S. military information. The post may have been intended to provide ISIS supporters in the United States with information to plan terror attacks against those individuals.

"This case is a first of its kind and, with these charges, we seek to hold Ferizi accountable for his theft of this information and his role in ISIL's targeting of U.S. government employees," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin.

"This arrest demonstrates our resolve to confront and disrupt ISIL's efforts to target Americans in whatever form and wherever they occur," he added.

If convicted of identity theft and computer hacking, Ferizi could face up to 35 years in prison.