Accused ISIS supporter hacked Facebook accounts, cyber expert weighs in on how you can stay safe

NOW: Accused ISIS supporter hacked Facebook accounts, cyber expert weighs in on how you can stay safe

CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Neighbors are shocked after a Cudahy mother is accused of trying to help ISIS.

We told you last night at ten, Facebook turned the woman into the FBI.

Authorities say she hacked social media accounts to communicate her support for the terrorist group.

Waheba Dais is in jail now but is said to have hacked accounts on multiple social media sites including Facebook. 

"It's really more classified as a takeover attack."

According to the criminal complaint, Waheba Dais could crack passwords. Once inside the account, she would delete the person's friends, change the profile picture, name, and start posting about ISIS.

"A lot of times take over and impersonate. In this case, she's completely changed the profile, started from scratch, but under someone else's name," said Geoff Gardiner, Owner/President of Rescue Dog Technology. 

Neighbors say the mom of two kept to herself, not the typical picture of a hacker.

All the hacked profiles the FBI investigated are from Venezuela. Geoff Gardiner runs the IT company Rescue Dog Technology and says Dais's victims were likely hacked on a public wifi.

"Likely someone working in a public place opened their phone to check Facebook on public wifi and someone using a sniffer to pick up data, account info, passwords, anything transacted over wifi," said Gardiner.

Facebook is actually the one that reported Waheba Dais.

"We work proactively to keep terrorist content off Facebook. Primarily through the use of automated systems like image matching and text-based machine learning," said Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management & Counter Terrorism on Facebook.

The social media site does monitor terrorist activity but your security is still at risk. The recommendation is to ditch public wifi altogether.

Gardiner also recommends changing your password roughly every 4 months. If your account info is put on the web and you change your password before it is bought, they can no longer access your account. 

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