Websites hacked with pro-ISIS rant; Long Island site shuts down as precaution

BROOKHAVEN, Long Island -- Government websites were hacked Sunday with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group, and an apparently fake site prompted one Long Island town to pull down its page as a precaution.

A message posted on the website of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The message, left by "Team System Dz," also ended, "I love the Islamic state."

The same message also infiltrated an apparently fake website designed to look like it belonged to the town of Brookhaven on Long Island. Town officials decided to take down the actual page to assist in the FBI investigation.

"When you're under a threat real, prank or otherwise you take down the web page to make sure they're not further into the system and can't get further into the system," Town of Brookhaven supervisor Daniel Panico said.

Panico said at this point, there is no evidence to suggest their server or any town financial or personal records were compromised. The site is now back online, a day after it was shut down voluntarily.

In the past, ISIS also claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin, and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland, and Sweden.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Casino Control Commission.

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among Ohio officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

He said the hacking in Ohio happened at about 11 a.m. EDT. He hoped the websites would be up and running sometime Monday.

The websites for Howard County, Maryland, also remained down on Sunday.

The hack is part of ongoing cyberterrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks - sometimes called "defacement" - as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

But others see cause for alarm. "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a tweet Sunday.

Authors of the website "Cryptosphere," which tracks hackers worldwide, have detailed dozens, if not hundreds, of similar hacks in recent years by the so-called Team System DZ, which they called a "pro-ISIS hacker crew" and claim are based in Algeria.

Impacted websites, they said, have included those for a synagogue in Florida, the student union at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, for UK Rugby and a number of websites on Wordpress.