[International] Anonymus Activities, What is Anonymus? The role of Anonymous in the Ukrainian War?
Anonymous is a group of hackers who act anonymously online, or a group that claims to be such a group.
The Guy Fawkes mask, the symbol of Anonymous, symbolizes anarchism. Under anarchist values, they are arguing for resistance to dictatorial governments and high-ranking officials that suppress freedom of information and communication, freedom from censorship, social justice, and transparency of the law. However, since Anonymous itself is free to act, anyone can call themselves, and it is not a group that operates with a specific ideology or mission, it is meaningless to clearly define its characteristics.
In a way, it is more like a flash mob than a group we usually think of.
The name Anonymous originally meant 'anonymous' in English, and in the English and American Internet communities, it was often used as the ID of a guest account (non-logged-in user) or a basic nickname in the comment window. Typically, the FTP guest account ID is 'anonymous'. 4chan also used Anonymous as the default nickname, and until it was used as a group name, it was simply a word to refer to an anonymous account. However, while 4chan users hid their names while raiding or stealing their personal information, they just dripped “We are Anonymous” and it became as if this was a group name. In other words, Anonymous itself can be said to have started in the sense of being a non-fixed (dynamic IP) netizen in Korea.
At first, even 4chan, the main base, didn't think much of it, but everyone said, "I feel like an internet warrior because I wear a Forks mask! LOL!" As they gradually crossed the line, an image of a group of nerds with interest was created, and when something happened, they shoveled Raid, new hair, and so on, and that image went down. The culmination of this was the 'Operation', which was made to punish Sony during the PSN hacking incident. Only a small number of people participated in this 'Operation', and the protest activities were only at a staggering level. Netizens who watched it criticized the participants.
At the time, 'Anonymous' felt like a DC Inside hacking gallery when compared to a site in a similar location in Korea. It was in the same vein as someone doing a real cyber attack under this name and someone just making a surplus level of cyber bullying. It is similar to the comedy program 'Gallery Police Agency)', with the difference that it was specialized in hacking, unlike the crude programs such as Method 2002 in Korea.
Later, more and more people thought that this phenomenon itself was funny, and netizens with high-level hacking skills also participated, and the game grew. In particular, after the PSN incident, a real hacker group called 'Anonymous' was formed and gradually became independent from 4chan, so it is a bit unreasonable to treat it as the same as the former netizen investigation team who can only steal their personal information. The 'AnonNews' Twitter account, which serves as the mouth of Anonymous, has approximately 6.5 million followers as of 2021. Accordingly, 'Anonymous' from the 4chan era and 'Anonymous' independent are distinguished and treated as different entities. However, to say that it is a national hacking group at the level of the China Hong Kong Federation, it is still not a specific organization and there are many people who are active under the name of 'Anonymous', so the original meaning did not fade. There are not one or two groups that call themselves 'Anonymous'. In particular, after this name became famous on the media or the Internet, the number of hacking attempts with that name on purpose increased.
They claim anarchism and hack the government, FBI, CIA, and NASA to disclose confidential documents to the public, or attack public enemies such as North Korea, the KKK, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Anonymous only targets groups and organizations and does not attack individuals or citizens, so they consider themselves to be a just group comparable to Robin Hood. There are people who agree with this, but there are also different likes and dislikes. Of course, he has many achievements to expose politicians and government corruption, so he has more supporters of Anonymous. In fact, Anonymous is the most popular hacker group among the existing hacker groups. This is because, unlike other hacker groups such as the China Hong Kong Federation, they advocate freedom of information and world peace, not their own interests. Of course, hacking itself is a criminal act, but it is a bit unreasonable to regard Anonymous as a criminal organization due to the nature of the Anonymous structure, which will be described later.
First of all, if you look at the case of illegal attacks alone, it can be said that it is a black tendency, but the opinion that it is close to a white tendency is dominant because it contains elements that can sympathize with the public consciousness to some extent. Anonymous is not a 'black hacker' or a 'white hacker', but a 'hacktivist gray hacker' or a vigilante group. Anonymous himself is also advocating 'the vigilante group on the Internet'.
When the Paris terrorist attacks occurred in 2015, Anonymous directly declared war on ISIS, the main culprit of the Paris terror attacks, and declared war on them, saying, "The French are stronger than you, and will become even stronger after going through this tragedy." There are also a lot of white-oriented moves in general, such as commemorating Paris through Twitter.
Most of the time, I really enjoy slicing things that are just right for me. They robbed the Westboro Baptist Church, America's most sickly church (I didn't rob the Baptist, but gave a warning), or robbed neo-Nazis or extremists, especially in October 2011, 40 deep web child porn sites based on the Anonymous Network. After exposing the identities of 1,500 people who used the site, they launched Operation DarkNet, which was left to the FBI and Interpol.
In summary, Anonymous can be seen as an organization with a tendency to hacktivism, but hacktivism is also mostly illegal, and sometimes it is just a justification to justify evil actions. Therefore, it would be correct to view them as a group of gray hackers, not white hackers or black hackers. It is up to each individual to judge the value of Anonymous, but let's be aware that it is an illegal organization.
How do I sign up for Anonymous?
Anonymous is not a method of 'joining', but the concept of 'all those who advocate Anonymous'. And these advocates of Anonymous, that is, members of Anonymous, are called 'Anon'. Therefore, there is no official Anonymous, and there is no official Anonymous leader. There are countless different kinds of Anonymous all over the world, such as Anonymous working alone as an individual, Anonymous working in a small team with some people, Anonymous working in a large team with many people. In the Anonymous logo, the face has a "?" The part with a symbol symbolizes the free structure of Anonymous that there is no leader. In other words, the concept of 「Anonymous」 itself can be said to be the name itself rather than the name of a specific group or organization. This means that it fits well with the original meaning of 'anonymous'.
However, in order to promote Anonymous, conditions such as 'having hacking ability and experience' and 'acting with the same idea as Anonymous' must be met. Therefore, a person who has no hacking ability on a subject that claims to be Anonymous, who has hacking ability but acts contrary to the idea of Anonymous (anarchism and freedom of information), or abuses hacking for personal self-interest can not be regarded as Anonymous, but rather is an impersonation of Anonymous. For example, on April 14, 2014, Korean middle school students who claimed Anonymous and attracted aggro to attack the Korean government could not be called Anonymous because they did not have the ability to hack in the first place and did not understand the ideas of Anonymous. .
This structure has the advantage that the leader's control of corruption cannot exist, and it provides a free environment for the advocates of Anonymous and has contributed to greatly increasing the influence of Anonymous. Above all, it is the reason why Anonymous can never disappear. However, on the contrary, the absence of an official Anonymous leader also caused disadvantages. Because there is no official Anonymous, there is virtually no difference between the anonymous advocate and the impersonator, and the idea of Anonymous and the target of attack. The problem arises that there are no clear rules or standards. Regarding the target of Anonymous's attack, there is a saying, 'If you have a flair, attack whatever you like', but the problem is that the clear standard for this flair is ambiguous. Of course, North Korea, the KKK, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are the exceptions for public enemies.
Because of this structure, the ambiguity of the criteria for where to begin to recognize anonymous attack cases is also being pointed out. What are known as 'Anonymous Attack Cases' are actually caused by different Anonymous teams, and unless the criteria for 'Anonymous advocate' and 'Anonymous impersonator' are clear, to what extent is Anonymous? It is an ambiguous part that can be determined. For this reason, on Anonymous Twitter, which has quite a lot of followers, it can be seen as anonymous to the extent that it is anonymous, and it is drawing a line by continuously reporting on the extent to which it is not. Of course, even that is not an official Anonymous, and even that is ambiguous because there are not one or two Anonymous groups that advocate this method.
There are many groups that claim to be the Free Syrian Army, but it is similar to the Free Syrian Army, which does not have a unified leadership.
Activity
- 2006-2007 Havo Black Male Reid Hal Turner Assault Chris Pokand Arrested
- 2008 Project Channelology Epilepsy Foundation Forum Invasion Indiscriminate terrorism on SOHH and AllHipHop sites
- 2009 "No Cussing" club operation "Didgeridi"
- 2010 Operation Teatstorm Oregon Tea Party Heist Operation Payback/Rixpin
- Attack on Finne Gale’s website in 2011 Attack on HBGary security company related to Arab Democratization Movement Attempt to intimidate Westboro Baptist Church 2011 Bank of America Hacking Operation #OpSony Spain Arrest of Anonymous Member 2011 Cyberindian Anti-Corruption Campaign Support Operation #Orlando Operation Intifada Operation #AntiSec Operation Facebook OWS Participate in protests (with a mask on...) Operation #DarkNet Attack Lt. John Pike Attack Strat Cannon Attack Mexican Gangster Los Setas
- 2012 Nigeria Occupation Operation #MegaUpload Polish Revolution
- 2013 Operation #OpNorthKorea Hacking between Koreans North Korean computer network DDoS attack Disclosure of member identities among Koreans 6.25 North Korean site attack and list of 13 high-level executives Disclosure of North Korea's backbone network and IP Other data is said to be being delivered to wikileaks.
- 2014 April Fool's Day deadmau5 hack. April 7 Attack on the Israeli Internet (mainly on the Israeli government side)
- 2015 #OpIsrael2. Israeli Internet Bombing Season 2. ISIS Twitter was also robbed. #OpIsis Declare war on ISIS, the main culprit of the Paris terrorist attacks.
Some examples of activities
1. Project Chanology
A prelude to history confronting the real Scientology. It is also the time when 'Anonymous', the word that makes up 4chan users, and 'Anonymous' as a hacktivist group were separated.
The incident started on January 14, 2008, when Scientology posted an interview video with Tom Cruise on YouTube. Scientology demanded that the video be deleted on the grounds of copyright infringement, and 4chan users claimed that it was Internet censorship and started Project Channelology.
Project Channelology initially started with DDoS attacks, prank calls, and flick faxes on the Scientology website, but on January 21st, a netizen who expressed Anonymous posted on YouTube "Message to Scientology" After declaring war with a video called As a simple joke grew out of control, 4chan's operator, moot, banned channel-related threads from within 4chan, and some users who supported the project's channel moved their bases and formed what is now 'Anonymous'. do. On February 2nd, 150 people started offline demonstrations, on February 10th, 7,000 people around the world, and on March 15th, 7,000~8,000 people around the world held a collective protest. The Guy Fawkes mask worn by the protesters is still known as Anonymous's trademark.
2. Los Setas, the largest gang in Mexico
In 2011, Los Setas raided the bar where their rival cartel agents were located and kidnapped the people there. Among those abducted were members of Anonymous.
Knowing this, Anonymous asked Los Setas to return their members through YouTube, and if he did not release him, he declared war on Los Setas that he would disclose all information about officials and police colluding with the members of Los Setas.
However, when Setas ignored this, Anonymous sent information about the Zetas gang's main factories, smuggling routes, meetinghouses, and sponsoring politicians via fax to the boss of Los Setas [9] .
And the Anonymous member was released without any injuries. Upon releasing him, Setas posted a note saying he would kill 10 innocent civilians, including the member's family, for each time he released information sent by Anonymous or named one collaborator.
3.Declare war on the US government in 2020
He took down the Minneapolis Police Department website for one day on May 31, blaming President Donald Trump, stating that he supported protests across the United States over the death of George Floyd, and hacked Chicago police radios to hack the NWA's Fuck Tha Police. automatically played the song. He also released documents documenting the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump. He also said that the death of George Floyd is only the tip of the iceberg, and that he will further uncover the corruption of the police.
4. 2013 attack on North Korean-affiliated websites
Then, North Korea showed no sign of remorse and declared publicly that it would release documents on missiles, military secrets, and resident documents at noon on June 25.
And on the day of the attack on June 25, the attack countdown homepage was opened. The countdown ends at 11:35 a.m. Most of the North Korean sites that were attacked on this day ended in a temporary inaccessibility state or were restored within a day.
Meanwhile, the website of the Blue House of the Republic of Korea was also hacked on the same day. The person who led this hack revealed himself as a member of Anonymous, saying, 'Anonymous Korea longs for democracy and unification'. Anonymous Korean (Anon_Sj), who led the North Korean site hack, claimed on Twitter that they did not hack the Blue House. In fact, Anonymous is called a 'group', but rather than a proper 'organization' with a hierarchical organization, it is more like a coalition of unspecified people. If you say 'I am Anonymous!', you become Anonymous, so it is difficult to conclude that the person who initiated the hack is not a member of Anonymous. However, given that Anonymous's tendencies are anarchism, it would be more appropriate to call himself Anonymous rather than a member of Anonymous.
5. Ukrainian War Attacks the Russian Government
He said that he was engaged in a cyber war with the Russian government, and later took down the site of the Russian media outlet RT, and said that Russia was preparing a massive bombing of the Ukrainian capital.
Timeline
- It took down various websites in Russia, including the official Kremlin Palace, the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the Russian Parliament, and leaked databases. It is known that the DB extracted from the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia contains the emails, passwords, and phone numbers of government officials as login information.
- Cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks showed that Russian users of Twitter were being restricted as of 9:00 a.m. local time on February 26th. In response, Anonymous said Russia is censoring Twitter and restricting access to Facebook.
- After hacking a Belarusian military company that provided logistical support for the invasion of Ukraine, emails over 200GB were provided to journalists and researchers.
- He hacked into a Russian TV station and made Ukrainian music play on Russian TV.
- It was announced that large-scale military equipment of the Russian Army was moving toward Kharkiv at 1:27 a.m. on February 27, Korean time .
- They hacked the Russian state broadcaster and broadcast what was going on in Ukraine.
On February 27th, Russian military communications were hacked to listen to all operational and directive orders.