Anonymous

Organizational Structure

On December 2010, Anonymous published a manifesto that describes itself as a leaderless informal organization formed by a spontaneous collective of people. The members conduct online vigilante justice for the common goal of protecting the online free flow of information from being controlled by individuals, corporations, or governments. The collective's standards are a living idea that can change on a whim. Some attacks include intercepting the Federal Bureau of Investigation's and Scotland Yard's conference calls; others include hacking into and defacing the websites of law enforcement agencies, the Vatican, or Middle Eastern governments. Anonymous's symbolic image is the mask of Guy Fawkes from the 2005 film V for Vendetta. Its slogan is as follows: We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We never forgive. We never forget. Expect us.

Anyone can start a hacking campaign in the name of Anonymous. Invitations are sent via Twitter, Internet Relay Chat, and other channels. Individuals supporting a cause know each other's screen name but not each other's identity, although at times they share personal information. Supporters are rallied on various channels, including @youranonnews twitter [Page 33]account, http://youranonnews.tumblr.com, YouTube, http://anonops.blogspot.com, and http://whyweprotest.net.

History

Anonymous started in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan where people could post on any topic anonymously. The common theme was questioning authority. In 2006, the group banded together for the first time to protest an Alabama amusement park that banned an AIDS-afflicted 2-year-old from swimming in the pool. Hacktivists swarmed the Habbo website to create avatars dressed in gray suits to make swastika formations to block the virtual hotel's pool entrance with a “closed due to AIDS” sign. Months later, hacktivists, now calling themselves Anonymous, targeted the white supremacist Hal Turner's radio show by flooding the website, causing thousands of dollars' worth of damage. The following year, in an uncharacteristic tactic, Anonymous provided the Toronto police evidence that helped apprehend an online child predator.

The biggest political move occurred in January 2008 when Anonymous initiated a global movement against the Church of Scientology in what is known as Project Chanology. This campaign started when the Church of Scientology removed a YouTube video featuring Tom Cruise promoting Scientology. Anonymous sent a “Message to Scientology” YouTube video announcing opposition to Scientology Internet censorship. The collective launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the Scientology website, sent numerous black-ink faxes, made prank calls, and rallied nonviolent protests outside the Church of Scientology.

Attack Methods

Anonymous attacks include website defacement, denial of service (DoS), DDoS, structured query language injection, tweet bombs, and d0xing.

Anonymous defaces a website by hacking into the target's web servers to change the web page's visual appearance. They place their slogan, a reason behind the attack, and a taunting message to the system administrator relating the web server's security weaknesses.

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