Pro-Islamic State hackers threaten President Trump on Ohio governor’s website

FILE PHOTO: Ohio Governor John Kasich speaks to reporters after an event at the White House in Washington, U.S., on November 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Ohio Governor John Kasich speaks to reporters after an event at the White House in Washington, U.S., on November 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – Nearly a dozen Ohio state websites, including Governor John Kasich’s, were up and running again on Monday, a day after hackers posted messages of support for the Islamic State on their homescreens.

After the hack, the homescreen of governor.ohio.gov, Kasich’s official website, displayed a black background and an Arabic symbol, and the top of the screen said “Hacked by Team System Dz.”

The text on the screen read: “You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries,” and “I Love Islamic State.” The militant group Islamic State is largely made up of Sunni militants from Iraq and Syria but has drawn jihadi fighters from across the Muslim world and Europe.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety was working with federal agencies to investigate the hacking “to make sure nothing like this happens again,” said Tom Hoyt, a spokesman for Ohio’s Department of Administrative Services, on Monday.

Technicians are scanning websites and data banks but have found no services that have been disrupted by the hack, nor any evidence that information about employees or private citizens was accessed or disturbed, Hoyt said.

Along with Kasich’s website, the websites of First Lady Karen Kasich, the Department of Medicaid, and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction were among the 10 other Ohio state sites that were hacked.

The websites of Howard County, Maryland and the town of Brookhaven, New York were also targets of the hacking spree and displayed the same message. The Brookhaven website remained inaccessible on Monday.

The FBI’s Columbus, Ohio, office declined comment on whether it knew anything about the group “Team System Dz.”

Earlier this year, a group using the same name claimed responsibility for hacking websites in Wisconsin, as well as in Scotland, England and Italy.

(This story has been refiled to remove extra word in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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