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Following the tragic series of attacks that took place in Paris on November 13th, notorious Internet hacktivist group Anonymous stepped up to the plate and claimed that they were going to wage “war” on ISIS, the terrorist organization responsible for the atrocities. However, since making this online announcement, thus far the group’s efforts have almost entirely extended to getting pro-ISIS Twitter accounts suspended, some of which had otherwise served to provide the likes of the US government with crucial information in regards to the terrorists’ planned operations.
Anonymous have defended their actions against those who claim that shutting down these accounts could be doing more harm than good, and have thus far reportedly suppressed over 10,000 social media accounts. However, ISIS have openly questioned the actions of the online group, releasing a statement via the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which reads: “The Anonymous hackers threatened in new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic State (idiots). What [are] they gonna hack… all they can do is hacking twitter accounts, emails, etc…”
Every ISIS account we shut down – and there are many – is a line of influence destroyed. That is more important than you may think. #OpISIS
— Anonymous (@AnonPress) November 17, 2015
But Anonymous have carried on with their operation, which they have branded “#OpParis,” as they continue to focus their collective energy on obtaining information via Twitter, though have also published a “noob’s guide” on how to help them out, effectively crowdsourcing distribution denial of service (DDoS) attacks against ISIS websites, along with providing information on how to set up a Twitter bot in order to uncover ISIS accounts.
A so-called “cyberwar” such as this will inevitably take time on Anonymous’ behalf, though history could be repeating itself as there are claims that the group have wrongfully “outed” innocent members of the public as being linked with the terrorist organization, with this also having been a major criticism of Anonymous’ operation in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. The “official” OpParis Twitter account has also seemingly acknowledged that this could well be the case, responding to a blog post criticizing their actions penned by a hacker known as The Jester, writing: “So we read your article and… you’re right. We aren’t 100% certain on whether accounts are IS, but not saying they all aren’t.”
The Jester responded: “Little late now isn’t it? Media praising u for naming these ppl as ISIS & ur like, well actually only ‘some’ *might* be.”
@opparisofficial Little late now isn’t it? Media praising u for naming these ppl as ISIS & ur like, well actually only ‘some’ *might* be.
— JΞSTΞR ✪ ΔCTUAL³³º¹ (@th3j35t3r) November 18, 2015
In Jester’s post, he branded the group an “ineffective, directionless, geo-politically clueless, skill-less shoal of morally bankrupt minnows bleating for attention,” adding: “And media keep giving it to them.”
“Make no mistake. These fucking comedians do not care about any of the ’causes’ they claim allegiance to,” Jester wrote, continuing: “There’s nothing noble or ‘Robin Hood’ going on here. There’s no ‘op’ – the VIDEO IS the ‘op’. They’ve realized they can hype the media up with just a video, without actually *doing* anything else.”
