2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly - Digital Edition (2600 Enterprises)
- Clipping Loc. 375-409  | Added on Friday, June 10, 2011, 02:31 PM

Who is Anonymous or How to Troll the Media for Fun and Profit by Anonymous | 805 words

If you had no clue about the tubes running the Internets and scanned recent headlines on Google News, you'd think total cyber war was upon us, and civilization's death was imminent. Hundreds of articles are currently up with dozens of different opinions and “sources” claiming what is or who exactly is Anonymous. Why so much press over minor DDoS attacks and general miscreants? Because every corporate media outlet loves Anonymous. Fear of cyber jihad helps sell click ads, and fits perfectly with the FBI narrative of crushing all our freedoms to prevent the e-apocalypse. They (FBI, SS, Interpol, CSIS, MIA) happily give sound bytes to the media, so you'll remember how dangerous uncontrolled communications are when it comes time to vote on whatever new law they are trying to push through Congress. Don't live in the United States? Don't worry - these laws are soon coming to a country near you. So who is Anonymous? Is it really a super secret band of uber hackers who hide on a hidden IRC channel waiting to unleash anarchy? Just a bunch of kids? A “serious movement?” Is that silhouette with the distorted voice in the interview you just saw on CNN really the voice of Anon? Basically, Anonymous is e-Qaeda if you watch CNN or even the BBC. In real life, Anonymous is a banner used by whoever wants to get a laugh by baiting the media, $cientology, or raiding epileptic forums with flashing images. The goal is to create anarchy and reinforce the reality that the Internet should (and can't) be government or corporate controlled through unprecedented massive semi-organized trolling. The unthinkable nightmare of virtual legions of no-named people doing whatever they want behind a cloak of anonymity to spread chaos. It is a knife in the heart of corporatism, which is a fanatical desire for a stable managerial, hierarchical society. Anonymous has absolutely no hierarchy, no “leaders,” and no clear direction. It can't be measured quantitatively or even projected with a long term statistical forecast. The rigid corporate structures of our governments, military, and law enforcement can't handle unpredictable citizenry. To them, this is the worst thing that could ever happen to their ideological vision of world order. This is why the full force of the law is dispatched after every anonymous prank, and its unlucky participants who end up caught are usually handed enormous prison sentences for merely denying a site a few hours uptime. This is how an epic Anonymous raid typically happens. Blackhat hackers who make their living basically being blackhat, leak some exploit code that's no longer financially feasible or donate their botnets which are near the end of their lives. They go on IRC, /i/nvasion, 4chan, and other huge messes of non-conforming Facebook or Twitter communities and spread the word that an epic raid is about to go down. Random people slightly advanced in throwing together scripts then put these exploits or DDoS tools into an easy-to-use point and click program anybody can run, then flood everywhere with an ad calling for volunteers to help them in global e-jihad. A raid is born, a site is down, then the media trolling begins. Everybody is encouraged to contact the media and declare the latest raid for whatever ridiculous political or troll reasons. I once saw Fox News broadcast a guy claiming it was an organized group of people with AIDS against condoms. Not just ten minutes later, CNN had a “confirmed Anonymous source” claiming it was a carefully staged social protest against Steve Jobs. You'd be surprised what the media will print/run after a raid goes down. This only contributes to the lulz, and ensures future raids since so much mainstream attention is received. That, basically, is Anon: Carders and crackers/hackers who leak exploits or various tools to middlemen who put it together for anybody to use. Their combined efforts can source around 60,000 people on 4chan alone to join in the attack guaranteeing final victory (epic troool, in other words). Sometimes anonymous attacks happen totally at random. If you find an exploit, or have a creative prank, simply spam enough forums and image boards with your idea and, if it's lulzy enough and spreads chaos, you will be sure to have at least a few thousands volunteers to help with the raid. Just be sure you aren't one of those kids who downloaded the LOIC program and ended up with a three year sentence because they were able to track you, intimidate you into talking (get a lawyer, say nothing), and wrestle a guilty plea out of you. Once they get that plea, they use you as an example. Don't be an example if you're going to do this. At least learn some sort of network subterfuge layering or wifi. Shouts to TABnet, the adopted bastards network and Max Ray Vision currently languishing in a federal prison camp.
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