Mandy Wan |
In the frenzied aftermath of the horrendous acts of terrorism that have occurred in Paris, the infamous hacker organisation, Anonymous, has officially announced war against IS (Islamic State).
On the 14th of November, Anonymous uploaded a short clip to the video-sharing website Youtube, which has so far gained over 6 million views. The video consists of a French-speaking person clad in the group’s signature mask, voicing a forecast of what IS should expect in the future.
“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you,” The person stated in the video, referring to the group’s presumed intentions to hack the social media accounts of IS followers.
“Expect many cyber-attacks. War has been declared. Get ready,”
The clip ends with the chilling line; “We do not forgive and we do not forget. Expect Us.”
Members of Anonymous profess that over 6,000 Twitter accounts and 149 websites have been taken down in the span of merely four days. It has also been revealed that approximately 5,000 propaganda videos have been reported.
In an attempt to gather more individuals to join the operation (often referred to as #OpISIS) Anonymous have recently distributed three guides that aid amateur hackers through the process of pin-pointing sites and social media accounts linked with ISIS. In addition, instructions on how to hack the said websites are also included.
“Your contribution means a lot and we encourage you to partake in all of the Op’s [Operation ISIS] activities if you can, the more the merrier,” A participant of the campaign claimed.
However, a Telegram channel that is rumoured to be allied with ISIS, have responded to their supporters, with information on how to prevent themselves from being hacked. These guidelines included the advice of changing IP addresses frequently, not opening any links that lead to unknown sources and restricting themselves from speaking to anyone that they don’t know.
Though the success of their cyber war may not be clear at present, the one message that Anonymous clearly conveys is not to underestimate their capabilities.
