Introduction to Cyber-Warfare - Proiect SEMPER FIDELIS

90 6. CYBER ATTACKS BY NONSTATE HACKING GROUPS: THE CASE OF ANONYMOUS AND ITS AFFILIATESa video encouraging the protests to remain legal and were surprised that Anons appeared toheed the advice. 223 Four years later, in February 2012, still some protesters wearing GuyFawkes masks beleaguer Scientology churches. 224 The two-pronged approach showed effect:The resounding response to the Project Chanology not only made the organizers aware of thepossibilities of the online organization of a social movement, but it also appears to have refinedAnonymous’ character. While the majority of the Anonymous collective prior was interestedin the lulz potential of an undertaking, 225 with the protest against an enigmaticorganization known for its attempts to censor public information about itself, many Anonsappear to be spurred by the perceived righteousness of this quest. 226Arab SpringAnonymous targeted government Web sites of countries in North Africa and the ArabianPeninsula as well as Asia Minor that found themselves engulfed in civil uprisings in 2011—the Western world would call it hopefully “Arab Spring.” Anons used their computers andknowledge to support the protesters on the ground, whose governments in many cases hadresolved to deny them access to social media or the Internet altogether. For each country,Anonymous launched a new “operation.” Starting with “Operation Tunisia” and “OperationEgypt” affiliates of the collective and sympathizers took down the governments’ computerswith DDoS attacks (Figure 6.9). 227The PLF’s Commander X boasted in a chat-interview that his organization kicked offTunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” by stealing compromising information on the governmentand leaking it to WikiLeaks. 229,230 Other media outlets stress the dire living conditions inTunisia, among others the high unemployment and inflation as well as the lack of politicalfreedom as causes taken to Tunisian streets after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizion December 17, 2010. 231,232 The press acknowledged Anonymous’ support of the protesterson the ground by taking down at least eight government Web sites with DDoS attacksFIGURE 6.9 2011, Anonymous consequentlytook up the fight with the Syriangovernment after it clamped down violentlyon public protesters. Source: PLF, OperationSyria. 228