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NEW DELHI: As France and the US-led coalition pound Islamic State strongholds in Syria and the world deliberates a strategy involving boots on the ground, hacker group Anonymous is taking the battle against the militant group into another realm.
Anonymous said on Wednesday that it had taken off more than 6,080 IS Twitter accounts -- a blow to a militant group that relies quite heavily on propaganda disseminated through social media.
Although Anonymous had waged cyberwarfare against IS (also known as Daesh) in the past, it stepped up its efforts following the brutal attacks on Paris that killed over 130 people on Friday. Under its @OpParisOfficial banner and using the hashtags #OpParis and #OpISIS, Anonymous stated: “We report that more than 5500 Twitter account (sic) of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectUS.” This figure was later revised to 6,080.
The group also uses the account to make political statements, such as support for refugees and condemning the bombings in Syria and Iraq in retaliation to the attacks.
Anonymous posted a video with more information on #OpParis.
The post accompanying the video reads:
“Hello citizens of the world.
We are anonymous.
The aftermath of Friday, November 13, 2015. France is shocked by the events caused by terrorism in the capital.
We first wish to express our sorrow and our solidarity with the victims, the injured, and their families.
To defend our values and our freedom, we're tracking down members of the terrorist group responsible these attacks, we will not give up, we will not forgive, and we'll do all that is necessary to end their actions.
During the attacks of Charlie Hebdo, we had already expressed our determination to neutralize anyone who would attack our freedom. We'll be doing the same now, because of the recents attacks.
We therefore ask you to gather and to defend these ideals.
Expect a total mobilization on our part.
This violence should not weaken us. It has to give us the strength to come together and fight tirrany and obscurantism together.
We are anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.”
“Our capability to take down ISIS is a direct result of our collective's sophisticated hackers, data miners, and spies that we have all around the world. We have people very, very close to ISIS on the ground, which makes gathering intel about ISIS and related activities very easy for us,” Alex Poucher, a spokesman for Anonymous, told the Russian Times (RT). He added that the collective has built tools that “might be better than any world government's tools to combat ISIS online.”
They picked a fight with Anonymous when they attacked Paris, and now they should expect us,” he said, adding that the collective “will not sit by and watch these terror attacks unfold around the world.”
The fact that Anonymous is being noted is evinced by the fact that Daesh responded to the hacker group on Monday, calling them “idiots” and offering guidance of Daesh supporters to protect against cyber-attacks.
Although Daesh are Anonymous’ latest enemies, they are by no means the only one. In April this year, Anonymous launched an “electronic holocaust” as part of its #OpIsrael campaign targeting Israel. Twitter accounts associated with the group stated that over 150,000 pieces of personal information related to Israeli citizens had been leaked.The group also uploaded an article about the achievement, and linked to that cache of documents. The attack received its share of criticism, given the use of the phrase “electronic holocaust” and the timing -- in the week before Holocaust Remembrance.
In July 2014, the group launched “Operation Save Gaza” that coincided with Israel’s Operation Protective Edge -- an attack on Gaza that killed over 2000 people. Anonymous claimed to take down “thousands” of Israeli sites including Israel’s Defence Ministry and the Tel Aviv Police websites, with the efforts escalating following the death of Anonymous member Tayeb Abu Shehada, who was killed during a protest in the West Bank by Israeli forces.
“We've been fighting Israel and their terrorist state for over four years, and we have not grown weary or tired. It has only made us stronger. Therefore, we are calling upon the Anonymous collective, and the elite hacker groups to join our crusade, and to wage cyber war against the state of Israel once more,” said a public statement posted by the group.
As news broke that hundreds of “Israeli government home pages have been replaced by graphics, slogans, and auto-playing audio files,” Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attacks, further releasing 170 log-in details that they claimed belong to Israeli officials.
A year earlier in 2012, the launched attacks that wiped out the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s data, leaked 5000 officials’ data, and hacked the Israeli Deputy Premier’s Facebook and Twitter accounts to post pro-Palestinian messages.
In April 2013, Anonymous claimed to have attacked 100,000 websites, stating that their attacks had caused $3 billion in damages to Israel.
The claim may be an exaggeration, as pointed out by Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, of Israel's National Cyber Bureau, who stated that the attacks had caused “little real damage.” Anonymous doesn't have the skills to damage the country's vital infrastructure. And if that was its intention, then it wouldn't have announced the attack ahead of time. It wants to create noise in the media about issues that are close to its heart," Yisrael said.
Another enemy of the hacktivist group is the Church of Scientology, with Anonymous first coming into the media limelight with an attack on Scientology in 2008. In 2010, they took on Indian internet software company Aiplex Software, which was contracted by studios to launch DDoS attacks on websites providing pirated content. The attack then moved on to targeting the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, successfully bringing down both websites.
“Anonymous is tired of corporate interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another. The RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this any longer,” said a statement associated with the operation that came to be known “Operation Payback Is a Bitch.”
Operation Payback continued targeting a host of entities, including the US Copyright Office and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.
As the Wikileaks controversy spread, with whistleblower Julian Assange under increasing scrutiny, the group launched “Operation Avenge Assange,” taking on PayPal and Swiss financial company PostFinance for denying service to Wikileaks.
The group has been politically active, launching “Operation Tunisia” in support of the Arab spring movements and playing an active role in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, attacking the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The group has also targeted outfits associated with a homophobic stand and websites hosting child pornography.
