Who is the Dow Jones-wrecking Syrian Electronic Army? A hacker explains

Last week, the Syrian Electronic Army, a group of hackers supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, hacked into the Twitter account of the Associated Press and sent out a tweet announcing that U.S. President Barack Obama had been injured in explosions at the White House.

The announcement caused one U.S. stock benchmark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, to lose $140 billion or one per cent of its value in a matter of 90 seconds.

Earlier this year, the Syrian Electronic Army took credit for attacking the Twitter accounts and web pages of several other Western news outlets, including The Guardian, the BBC and NPR.

But who are the Syrian Electronic Army?

Ahmad Heidar is a software engineer who fled Syria after the regime tried to recruit him into the SEA. He spoke to CBC's As It Happens about thegroup and thecyberwar taking place in Syria parallel to the fighting in the streets.