In response to last week's shutdown of the site Megaupload, Anonymous has reportedly let fly with a series of cyberattacks against federal authorities and media companies. The attacks may include the participation of unwitting accomplices who click on a link and are tricked into taking part in the onslaught without their knowledge or consent.
The hacker group Anonymous has reportedly launched a series of attacks that shut down major websites in retaliation against the U.S. Department of Justice's actions against the site Megaupload. The attacks have been ongoing since Thursday, and various Web users who clicked on certain links may have been tricked into becoming accomplices.
The group reportedly began issuing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks Thursday almost immediately after U.S. federal authorities announced they'd arrested several Megaupload executives on charges of racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement. The government seized millions of dollars worth of assets and servers.
Affected sites included the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the U.S. Copyright Office, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and others.Th
e group also reportedly deleted much of the content found on CBS's website, CBS.com, though at press time the site appeared to be back in working order.
New Tactics
While Anonymous has been known to launch widespread attacks on various types of websites, it appears some of the attacks starting Thursday employed a different tactic -- one capable of harnessing the power of more Web users, in some cases without their knowledge or consent.
Usually, Anonymous supporters can download an application known as the "Low Orbit Ion Cannon" (LOIC), which, when activated, directs the computer to rapidly connect to the targeted websites. If enough users simultaneously try to connect at such a rapid rate, the site can crash due to server overload.
This time, though, Anonymous distributed a link that ran a Web version of that program on Twitter and in Anonymous chatrooms. Someone looking for more information on the group could have clicked on the link and unwittingly participated in the attack. This could be particularly troubling for the unwilling hackers, because DDoS attacks are illegal, and one's IP address is easily traced when using LOIC.
Seeking Attention
"Anonymous is a chaotic, loosely formed gang of rather young men looking for attention. Their targets are more or less random in that they intend to take on any cause that comes along, where they can make their presence known internationally," Avivah Litan, security analyst at Gartner (NYSE: IT), told the E-Commerce Times.
Individuals in the group normally try to remain anonymous, hence the name, though the collective often claims responsibility for its work. That often comes in the form of a tweet, blog post or YouTube video that sometimes includes hackers wearing their signature Guy Fawkes masks. Variations on its slogan, such as 'We are legion' and 'We do not forgive. We do not forget,' are often included.
READ MORE AT TECHNEWSWORLD