African Banks On Al Qaeda Radar

Investigations uncovered that for at least two years, passwords, logins to remote control, and personal accounts of high ranking bank staff are being exploited, seeking patiently for confidential banking communications and access, in order to destroy the capabilities and credibility of the institutions with the public as well as shareholders.

Al-Qaeda remains adamant in its calls for more sophisticated attacks. The political and economic situation in the region has increased the focus of the Al Qaida network on (WECA) West, East, and Central Africa. Al Qaida and other extremist networks target the financial services of Federal as well as Commercial banks in sub-Sahara Africa.

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Exploited vulnerabilities

1. Identified significant security breaches within (the internet presence of) most commercial banks in Africa are exploited by extremist groups.
2. For a period of at least two years, computers and mobiles of high-ranking professionals in bank management are infected with RAT malware by Al Qaeda cells operating from Dakar Senegal and Ibadan Nigeria, sanctioned from Cairo Egypt.

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Africa is a key continent

The continent of Africa has recently been a focus of several foreign affairs policies of global and regional superpowers like the USA, China, and India. Those administrations have pledged to invest more in the socio-economic development of Africa as well as in its capacity building, education & healthcare ecosystems.

Changes in strategy are also inspired by China’s economic investment focus on Africa as well as India’s ICT outsourcing projects toward African countries and regions. Africa’s enormous natural resources (Oil & Minerals), as well as its growing population, need to be recognized as a triggering factor for any (economic) Superpower.

However, it is an undeniable fact that the fear of growing Muslim extremism, as well as the USA’s and UN’s ongoing efforts of containment policy of Muslim Extremism, has been one of the most important pillars on which the Policy of the USA, UN and other NGO’s has been built on. Poverty, bad living conditions, and a lack of proper education are traditionally ecosystems in which religious extremism is a fast-growing element.

Although not often recognized, Africa is also a key continent for The Al Qaida terror network . In the past, we have observed several terror attacks in African countries as well as religious-related and inspired conflicts (Sudan/Darfur and Somalia). The CIA and other European Intelligence Agencies have mentioned Africa as a large center of “recruitment” for the Al Qaida terror network.

Obstacles become prime targets of the Al Qaeda network in Africa

Al Qaida’s thought leader, Ayman Al Zawahiri, an Egyptian national related to the Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly mentioned Egypt and all UN NGOs in Egypt and Africa as a legitimate target for terror operations. Essentially, Al Qaeda considers attacks on financial globalization and capitalism as a whole, which is a key pillar for justification of the global jihad in the 1990s and 2000s. The Egyptian Administration has been involved in decades of fierce battles with Muslim extremism.

The Jamaat Islamiya as well as the Muslim Brotherhood movement can be considered as not only Egyptian but globally leading Islamic terror networks. Their operations expand outside Egypt and they have “operations” in almost every Muslim nation on the globe.

Al Qaida’s “mission statement”, to establish an Islamic Caliphatereaching from Morocco to Afghanistan, crosses a large part of the African continent. Any obstacle that the Al Qaida network faces in its effort to achieve its mission statement, the Al Qaida terror network identifies as a threat. Several African regimes have been chosen as a target for the Al Qaida network. The political and economic situation in the region has increased the focus of the Al Qaida network on (WECA) West, East, and Central Africa.

Banks in Africa under attack by extremists who seek to disrupt

Several economic development and infrastructure projects in Africa have increased Al Qaida’s focus on the finance sector as an obstacle in achieving the network’s objectives in Africa. By improving the standard of living in Africa, the banks are diminishing the conditions of the network’s expanding capabilities in Africa.

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Monitoring the communications and travel patterns revealed the existence

Investigations uncovered that for at least two years, passwords, logins to remote control and personal accounts of high ranking bank staff are being exploited, seeking patiently for confidential banking communications and access, in order to destroy the capabilities and credibility of the institutions with the public as well as shareholders.

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Mid June 2017 the National Security Agency (NSA) has intercepted encrypted messages between members of the Al Qaida and other extremist networks mentioning Central as well as Commercial banks in sub-Sahara Africa as possible target.

During a money laundering and risk assessment operation in Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Egypt and parts of the Middle East, Ultrascan investigators have discovered, through human intelligence (Ultrascanhumint.com), that the banks in Africa are a prime target for the Al Qaida network and other extremist groups

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first published by Ultrascan Humint (Feb. 2015 - August 08, 2017)