ISIS Threats; Small Army of Hackers Working in Shadows to Disrupt Terror Groups.
HARLOW: Welcome back to our continuing live coverage from Paris. You could call it an unauthorized war on ISIS, really. A small army of hackers working in the shadows to disrupt terror groups in how they operate so successfully online. In a rare and fascinating interview, our very own Laurie Segall spoke with one of the leaders of the hacking group.</s>LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anonymous, the hack-tivist group shrouded in secrecy has declared war on ISIS following the attacks in Paris.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a message to ISIS. You have reached your limit.</s>SEGALL: They claim to have disabled thousands of pro-ISIS twitter accounts. But there's another technically sophisticated group fighting an online war with ISIS. They call themselves Ghost Security Group. It is lesser known but has a track radar. Its leaders and ex- anonymous member, a man who calls himself Digita shadow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My online name is Digita Shadow. The Islamic State is hunting for us. So we receive multiple threats daily. That's exactly the reason why we can't use our real online names. To date we have taken down 149 Islamic State propaganda sites, 110,000 social media accounts and over 6,000 propaganda videos.</s>SEGALL: CNN cannot independently verify this information. Digita Shadow says he is one of 14 members of the secretive group who says it's been infiltrating private ISIS communications since the "Charlie Hebdo" attack earlier this year.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are murdering people, persecuting from their religious believes, expelling them from their lands. Just appalling. Something has to be done. They have to be slowed down and stopped.</s>SEGALL: Ghost security's members say they are a global mix of ex-military, ex-counterintelligence and IT specialists. So what makes them different from anonymous? They share their Intel with the U.S. government. They funnel potential threats and information on ISIS operatives through one man, intelligence adviser Michael Smith, who then passes it on to U.S. law enforcement officials.</s>MICHAEL SMITH, INTELLIGENCE ADVISOR: They use me to present information to federal authorities here in the United States. That information is sometimes shared with officials abroad.</s>SEGALL: Smith says the group is actually thwarted several ISIS attacks. He cites an example in Tunisia.</s>SMITH: The group was able to identify communications concerning a plot targeting British tourists and Jews at a popular marketplace in Germa, Tunisia. And there were more than a dozen arrests made as a result of the information that was collected by Ghost Security. I mean, more people were apprehended than at this it point are known to be involved with the plot in Paris. A loss of life conceivably could have been greater than what just occurred in Paris.</s>SEGALL: But even though Ghost Security says they use hacking skills for good, it may still be operating outside the bounds of the law.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really does fall into a big grey area. Yes, is hacking illegal, absolutely. Is fighting ISIS to try and stop threats and stop their propaganda, would that be considered illegal, it falls into a giant grey area.</s>SEGALL: You are telling me you are working kind of 24/7 on this. Are you compensated?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not compensated whatsoever. We are independent organization. We survive off donations alone.</s>SEGALL: Despite struggling to make ends meet, Digita Shadow says they won't stop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we were to stop now, lives would be at risk. It's not a choice. It's more of a way of life for us now.</s>HARLOW: Laurie Segall, thank you for that fascinating report. Coming up next, I have spoken to a lot of people in Paris this week. A number of them survivors of this horrific attack. You're going to hear firsthand from one man who hid in a bathroom for two-and-a-half hours, trembling, while he heard the terrorists killing people around him. His story, next.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: I'm inside the museum of natural history. We are set to honor ten everyday people who are doing truly extraordinary things. I'm giving you your very own backstage pass. Let's get going. Since 2007 CNN heroes has been an annual event from assembling the stage to placing the cameras and rolling out the red carpet, this army of pros knows what it takes to make this evening memorable. How do you keep it fresh?</s>KELLY FLYNN, CNN SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Keep it fresh. Ten new heroes every year.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Isn't that clever?</s>FLYNN: Great story.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Host, Anderson Cooper, and A-Lister's galore turned out to salute our honorees for their work helping others. Rising music</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A purpose for creating a song in the beginning is it's something encouraging and inspiring and healing for people. So I think it works well with the theme of tonight.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: A 21,000-pound blue whale rarely has to share the spotlight, but on this night, our top 10 CNN heroes will take center stage.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The minute you walk into the place, you're just overwhelmed. It's intense.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This event is going to be spectacular.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And maybe motivate all of us to make an impact.