Map of Europe in 1360.

Cyberwar — Syria

Syria / Islamic State

2011-2014 — The Syrian Electronic Army appeared in 2011, propagandizing on behalf of Bashar al-Assad and attacking media outlets and opposition groups. Victims include Reuters, New York Times, Al Jazeera NPR GlobalPost, CNN, Facebook, the RSA Conference, and many others. Security researcher Ira Winkler described his run-in with them after giving a presentation at the 2014 RSA Conference detailing their tactics and some of their methods.

December 2013 — Researchers found that the Assad regime was gathering intelligence through spyware. The malicious software gathered information which the government used to plan raids, attacks, and arrests. The military can round up and question suspected rebels and interrogate them about activities they conducted on their computers without have physically seized those computers. See the EFF overview, the Wired overview, and the full report from EFF.

February 2015 — FireEye (which had merged with Mandiant) published its Behind the Syrian Conflict's Digital Frontlines report that between at least November 2013 and January 2014, hackers stole a large collection of sensitive documents and Skype conversations revealing the strategies, tactical battle plans, supply details, and large volumes of personal information from the Syrian opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Media activists and humanitarian aid workers were also targeted. The PDF report is here.