Hacker group ‘Anonymous’ knocks France-based Jihadist website offline following Paris attacks

Following last week’s brazen, bloody attack on satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, which saw twelve people, including eight journalists and the magazine’s editors murdered for content the paper previously published, hacking group “Anonymous” posted a video saying it would target extreme social media accounts to protect freedom of speech. 

The group didn’t wait long to begin its offensive, posting on Twitter today a message that read, “Tango Down.” Included was a link to a site which had been tied to extremists, but instead of displaying content the site previously published, it now redirects to Internet search engine, DuckDuckGo.

The Anonymous video was first posted on January 8 by what is believed to be the Belgian part of the group. Since going live, the clip, which features a figure wearing the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask, has been viewed more than 6.5 million times. 

At the start of it, the group says: “We are declaring war against you, the terrorists.” They then go on to address the “enemies of freedom of expression” and warns extremists: “Expect a massive frontal reaction from us because the struggle for the defense of those freedoms is the foundation of our movement.”

The video then signs off by saying: “We will not forget. We will not forgive. Dread us.”

The nature / type of attack that Anonymous carried out is not yet known, but in the past the way the group has shut down other websites is by using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS); basically, they flood the website with traffic until it’s forced to go offline. 

For a specific instance in which a DDoS attack was identified as being responsible for taking down a site, one need not look any further than the recent downing of the PlayStation Network, which occurred over Christmas. It left thousands of gamers unable to get online for several hours. 

While Anonymous has not been tied to this particular attack, the group of activists and hackers has carried out DDoS campaigns against websites belong to governments, religious groups, and corporate organizations.

No timeline has been scheduled regarding the duration of the Anonymous campaign against the terrorists, nor if and when it’ll end.

Via BBC