It appears Islamic State has reached our shores in a very strange, unexpected way – through the websites of some small Australian business. The group calls themselves the United Cyber Caliphate, and is an amalgamation of three former groups named Caliphate Cyber Army, Sons Caliphate Army and the Kalashnikov Team.

For some reason yet to be determined, most of the 20 odd websites hacked were those of tyre and wheel retailers. IS has had its base on the internet since the beginning of its formation, but why they seemed to focus on these specific sites is perplexing. A Mexican food catering company and a natural herbalist website were also amongst those attacked, making the reasoning behind their targeting process all that more confusing.

The usual routine of the websites was replaced with a photo portraying a message which said “In the name of Allah, we are United Cyber Caliphate. Obey Islamic State. Your system is fail. Islamic State #rules,”.

ABC reports that there had been chatter about the attack for weeks in Telegram IS chat rooms, specifically mentioning Australia as a particular target.