Syrian Electronic Army

The Syrian Electronic Army (Arabic الجيش السوري الإلكتروني, english Syrian Electronic Army) is the name of an operating since 2011 hacker group, which supports the government of President Bashar al -Assad in the Syrian civil war. The aim of the attacks are next to Syrian opposition groups, the media and news agencies such as the New York Times, Reuters and Associated Press, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, universities like Harvard and companies like Microsoft.

The exact relationship of the group to the power structure of the Syrian state is unclear, a direct connection is denied by the group itself. The use of top -level domain. Sy is possible only with government permission and using the restrictive state networks. In a speech at Damascus University Assad praised the group in June 2011 as a "real army in virtual reality."