Kosovo Alleged ISIS Hacker Appears in US Court

Ardit Ferizi was detained in Malaysia last October for allegedly hacking into a computer database and passing information about US security staff to Islamic State radicals.

Ferizi was extradited from Malaysia and appeared on Wednesday in a US court in Virginia facing terrorism charges. If found guilty, Ferizi could face 35 years in prison.

He allegedly hacked into a US company's computer system, took the personal details of more than 1,300 US military and government staff and passed them on to an ISIS militant.

Ferizi is believed to be the leader of a hacking group called Kosova Hacker's Security, the US Justice Department said after the arrest last year.

The same statement alleged that Ferizi, also known by his hacking nickname Th3Dir3ctorY, unlawfully provided obtained information to ISIS member Junaid Hussain, alias Abu Hussain al-Britani, between June and August 2015.

On August 11, 2015 Hussain tweeted: "NEW: U.S. Military AND Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!" with a hyperlink to a 30-page document.

The document also contained the names, email addresses, passwords and phone numbers of US military and other government personnel.

Ferizi, originally from the town of Gjakova in Kosovo, was studying computer sciences in Malaysia.