Introduction to Cyber-Warfare - Proiect SEMPER FIDELIS

78 6. CYBER ATTACKS BY NONSTATE HACKING GROUPS: THE CASE OF ANONYMOUS AND ITS AFFILIATESFIGURE 6.4 Inspired by the comic book and film “V forVendetta,” anti-establishment rhetoric, often accompaniedby the ubiquitous Guy Fawkes mask, is a staple of the collective.Source: Twitpic Anonymous Circle. 78The Anonymous slogans vary, but all stress that Anonymous represents The People, everybody,but the establishment: “Anonymous—We Are Everywhere—We Are Legion—WeNever Forget—We Never Forgive—Expect Us” or alternatively “We are Anti-Security, WeAre the 99%,” t;80 (Figure 6.5) “We Do Not Forgive, We Do Not Forget, Expect Us!” More focused,Anonymous’ and PLFs historically seem to spring into action when their decision makersperceive the freedom of information and expression is curbed. Yet, as mentioned earlier, themotivations are almost as numerous as the number of members: albeit sharing (for the mostpart) a hazily defined ballpark ideology the Anonymous collective is driven by a number ofmotivations (in publications Anonymous representatives referred to a “hive-mind”). As describedearlier, each act could be viewed as a democratic process in which activists decide ona case-by-case basis whether they render bytes for the cause. Anonymous’ motivation appearsto be more of a patchwork with the rationalization for each hack (and quite possiblyeach member) differing. u In a few cases, the disparity among the collective’s motivation isrevealed when claims of responsibility are issued, withdrawn, and reissued from differentsubsets of the collective. v This also throws some light on the structure of the collective and itsinternal (lack of) communication. Hence, it is very feasible that no Anon could draw a map ofhis collective and all its subsets and subgroups. Understood as such the collective’s name “Anonymous”not only is descriptive of its structure, but also of its (main) motivation and goals, such asprotectionofonlineprivacyand digitalrights, unrestrictedusageoftheInternet asaforum for thepublication and exchange of however skewed ideas. These ideals brought the collective intoopposing Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA),which intend to bolster copyright law and intellectual property rights, respectively. AlthoughAnonymous’ campaigns were graded as “very noisy, low-grade crimes” in a CNN article, 81 itmay appear to many that now protests can be executed from the comfort of the members’ home.Like other social movements, Anonymous seeks publicity in order to appeal to a certain audience.The media frenzy started with a Fox News report most famous (now infamous) for itsdepicting a burning van in support of the claim that Anonymous conspired to blow up footballt This phrase is also used by the Occupy Movement (CNN, December 01, 2011).u Where available in open media reports, we noted the stated motivation for each represented hack within thetext body as well as in the list of events in Appendix II.v As was the case in the Stratforhack of December 2011 (Pastebin entry by “Guest,” December 25, 2011,“Emergency Christmas Anonymous Press Release,” URL: http://pastebin.com/8yrwyNkt and Pastebin entryby “Guest,” 12/26/2011, “Merry LulzXmas,” URL: http://pastebin.com/q5kXd7Fd).