The world has recently been plagued by the news that an international hacker group has been making headlines lately, and it’s not the usual suspects. The group, called ‘Anonymous’, has been reported to have attacked numerous companies in the past month including Sony, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal among others. So what exactly is ‘Anonymous’, who made it famous and why should you be concerned?
The hacker group known as Anonymous is one of the most well-known and infamous groups in the world. Although its members are anonymous, they are known for their attacks against governments, companies, and other organizations. Their main goal is to fight for freedom of speech and information freedom on the Internet.
The name “Anonymous” was coined by a group of people who were frustrated with the lack of transparency from governments around the world and wanted to expose corruption within these institutions. Many websites were hacked by this group, including those belonging to governments and corporations. In 2012, hackers broke into computers belonging to HBGary Federal (a company that provides technology consulting services) and stole more than 30 megabytes of data about several government agencies and companies involved in various cybersecurity issues. This was an attack on HBGary Federal’s servers that resulted in more than 100 million passwords being stolen as well as internal documents containing sensitive information on government contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (which was working with HBGary Federal), URS Corporation
The hacktivist group Anonymous has been around since 2003 and is known for using online activism and hacking to achieve its goals. The group operates as a loosely knit organization, but it’s possible to trace the origins of most of its members back to the international hacker group LulzSec.
The members of this group tend to be young people who seek out new ways to challenge authority and bring attention to social issues. In recent years, it’s become more common for members of Anonymous to support causes such as Wikileaks or free speech rights on social media sites. The group has come under fire from law enforcement agencies in several countries, including the United States and Great Britain. In 2012, a Dutch court convicted three people involved in hacking into websites belonging to MasterCard and Visa Europe. They were sentenced to two years in prison each; one of them was also fined $921,000 (€764,000).
The group has many different members and supporters, but there are also some people who say Anonymous is just a group of criminals. A person name as Hector Monsegur believed founder of anonymous group, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for working with the FBI to take down various websites. Monsegur was arrested in 2011, but the group still exists today.
