Categories: RegulationSecurity

Anonymous Declares War On ISIS Following Paris Attacks

Anonymous has begun an online campaign against Islamic State following the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.

The activist group released a video on Saturday promising to “hunt down” Islamic State members and supporters who spread their message over the Internet as part of its Operation Paris, or ‘OpParis’.

Anonymous says it has been tracking the online activity of Islamic State group supporters for some time as part of a campaign to expose and shut down Twitter accounts used by the group to communicate and spread its message globally.

And according to the OpParis Twitter account, the group has already successfully taken over 2250 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts offline.

‘Biggest operation’

“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you,” the video, which was originally released in French, before being taken down and replaced with an English-language version.

In a change from Anonymous’ normal tactics of launching distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks against targeted websites, OpParis will look to hack into the sites to steal valuable information and leak it online.

Anonymous is notorious for taking on organisations or groups that look to spread hateful messages, often successfully highlighting activities to the wider world.

Earlier this month, the group published the details of a thousand alleged KKK sympathisers as part of its #HoodsOff campaign, which it described as “a form of resistance” against racial violence. This marked the latest part of its campaign against the KKK, as in November 2014 the group launched a major cyberattack which included posting several messages on the KKK’s official Twitter feed, and taking control of another account affiliated with the Klan.

And in January this year Anonymous also claimed responsibility for disabling a France-based website it associated with extremists in the wake of the murder of journalists and artists at the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Are you a security pro? Try our quiz!

Mike Moore

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

View Comments

  • couldnt the people at anonymous not just print the names and cities of those who they assosciate with isis then let us deal with them if the word got out that individuals in a city in the uk they would get hounded out atleast

Recent Posts

Craig Wright Sentenced For Contempt Of Court

Suspended prison sentence for Craig Wright for “flagrant breach” of court order, after his false…

2 days ago

El Salvador To Sell Or Discontinue Bitcoin Wallet, After IMF Deal

Cash-strapped south American country agrees to sell or discontinue its national Bitcoin wallet after signing…

2 days ago

UK’s ICO Labels Google ‘Irresponsible’ For Tracking Change

Google's change will allow advertisers to track customers' digital “fingerprints”, but UK data protection watchdog…

2 days ago

EU Publishes iOS Interoperability Plans

European Commission publishes preliminary instructions to Apple on how to open up iOS to rivals,…

3 days ago

Momeni Convicted In Bob Lee Murder

San Francisco jury finds Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder of Cash App founder Bob…

3 days ago