We are going to launch the biggest operation ever against you. Expect many cyberattacks. War has been declared. Get ready. We don t forgive and we don t forget.
— Anonymous, declaring cyberwar on the Islamic State after the Paris attacks Friday, which has killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. ISIS has claimed responsibility.
In videos posted online over the weekend, the hacktivist group said it would step up its efforts against ISIS — efforts it had publicly announced in January after attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed. One video, showing a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask speaking in French, posted on YouTube Saturday now has more than 2 million views. Similar videos in Italian and English reportedly were also posted online.
From posting beheading videos to calling for jihad, extremists have used online tools including social media to recruit, organize. (And the groups have also used cyberattacks.) Earlier this year, I wrote about a study that reported ISIS and its supporters have tens of thousands of accounts on Twitter. Anonymous has reportedly been working to get many of those accounts suspended.
As we ve covered here throughout the years, Anonymous has attacked governments, corporations, the media and individuals. The hacking collective has adopted the famous English revolutionary Fawkes as its symbol, and people involved in causes Anonymous supports wear Fawkes masks during protests.
Here s one of the videos Anonymous posted over the weekend.
Photo at top: A demonstrator wears a Guy Fawkes mask, a symbol adopted by Anonymous, in 2014. (Peter Steffen/AFP/Getty Images)
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