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A Dummies Guide to Hackers Anonymous
Perhaps only known to certain pockets of Malaysian society, the recent hacking of almost 100 government websites by hacker group Anonymous has turned them into a household name.
But much of Anonymous remains a big mystery.
Below Malaysiakini compiles answers to frequently asked questions about the hackers, based on media reports on the individuals lauded by some as "unidentified cyber heroes".
Who is Anonymous, and how can I join?
As a loose group of covert operators, there is really no way to 'join' Anonymous. The group, in fact, is not even a group. Most do not know who they are operating with.
"You cannot join Anonymous. Nobody can... (it is) not an organisation, a club, or even a movement. There is no charter, no manifesto, no membership fees. It has no leaders, no gurus. It fact, it does not even have a fixed ideology," online portal Hacker News reports.
As there is no central body controlling Anonymous, any hacker can attribute his or her activities to the group by leaving the group logo or message.
Hackers use multiple layers of free-to-use facilities online to hide their identities, hiding their internet protocol address using virtual private networks (VPN) and firewall systems and registering fake identities.
The hackers hardly ever show their identity offline, but it is said that hackers would put on a Guy Fawkes mask in parades and street demonstrations in reference to the film 'V for Vendetta'.
One self-description often used in press interviews with unidentified members: 'We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.'
How do I get in touch with an Anonymous hacker?
Anonymous hackers 'meet' virtually in Internet relay chatrooms, sites like 4chan, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. There is no official site, but several have been identified as favourite places to connect.
Neither is there a spokesperson, but an account can be set up for the purpose of communicating their message for a short mission.
In the Malaysian attack last week, Anonymous communicated its threat via YouTube and Twitter.
Hacker News notes that those interested to be in touch with other hackers in the Anonymous network should search 'anonymous' or 'anonops', although there is no way to determine if this could generate the desired results and keywords often change.
How long has Anonymous existed?
Starting in 2003 as an Internet meme in online forums, Anonymous grew in prominence for collective hacking, or hacktivism, in 2008.
The attacks in 2008 were a series of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, where servers were clogged by fake messages to access a page, denying entrance to genuine users.
There were, however, notable attacks by individuals identifying as Anonymous prior to 2008.
Are they the only group of hackers around?
No. Another prominent hacking group is Lulzsec or Lulz Security. According to CNet cyber security correspondent Elinor Mills, Lulzsec differs from Anonymous, as the former "does it for the kicks", while the latter attacks for political and ideological reasons.
Others have disputed this, however, with Anonymous members also claiming to be doing it "for the lulz (laughs)".
How do the hackers decide who to attack?
Speaking to CNN, Internet activist Greg Housh, who claims to be monitoring the group, said that targets are often decided collectively and spontaneously.
"If you want to go on (in a portal) and say, 'Let's attack this group and the majority of the people who are in that portal at that time agree, then that group will be targeted.
"If the majority of people present in the portal decide - at that time - that your suggested target is a dumb idea, nobody acts," he said in a phone interview with the news network.
In their message to Malaysia, Anonymous said it attacked government websites because Malaysia is "one of the worst in the world" for Internet censorship.
The government had prior to that announced the blocking of the top 10 file-sharing websites, including Pirate Bay and Megaupload.
How do they attack?
Methods vary but Anonymous has reportedly claimed that DDOS attacks are the simplest and most effective way for them to create an impact.
Internet users who do not have hacking skills but still want to contribute can leave messages in forums frequented by Anonymous hackers offering the use of their computers.
But much of Anonymous remains a big mystery.
Below Malaysiakini compiles answers to frequently asked questions about the hackers, based on media reports on the individuals lauded by some as "unidentified cyber heroes".
Who is Anonymous, and how can I join?
As a loose group of covert operators, there is really no way to 'join' Anonymous. The group, in fact, is not even a group. Most do not know who they are operating with.
"You cannot join Anonymous. Nobody can... (it is) not an organisation, a club, or even a movement. There is no charter, no manifesto, no membership fees. It has no leaders, no gurus. It fact, it does not even have a fixed ideology," online portal Hacker News reports.
As there is no central body controlling Anonymous, any hacker can attribute his or her activities to the group by leaving the group logo or message.Hackers use multiple layers of free-to-use facilities online to hide their identities, hiding their internet protocol address using virtual private networks (VPN) and firewall systems and registering fake identities.
The hackers hardly ever show their identity offline, but it is said that hackers would put on a Guy Fawkes mask in parades and street demonstrations in reference to the film 'V for Vendetta'.
One self-description often used in press interviews with unidentified members: 'We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.'
How do I get in touch with an Anonymous hacker?
Anonymous hackers 'meet' virtually in Internet relay chatrooms, sites like 4chan, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. There is no official site, but several have been identified as favourite places to connect.
Neither is there a spokesperson, but an account can be set up for the purpose of communicating their message for a short mission.
In the Malaysian attack last week, Anonymous communicated its threat via YouTube and Twitter.
Hacker News notes that those interested to be in touch with other hackers in the Anonymous network should search 'anonymous' or 'anonops', although there is no way to determine if this could generate the desired results and keywords often change.
How long has Anonymous existed?
Starting in 2003 as an Internet meme in online forums, Anonymous grew in prominence for collective hacking, or hacktivism, in 2008.
The attacks in 2008 were a series of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, where servers were clogged by fake messages to access a page, denying entrance to genuine users.
There were, however, notable attacks by individuals identifying as Anonymous prior to 2008.
Are they the only group of hackers around?
No. Another prominent hacking group is Lulzsec or Lulz Security. According to CNet cyber security correspondent Elinor Mills, Lulzsec differs from Anonymous, as the former "does it for the kicks", while the latter attacks for political and ideological reasons.
Others have disputed this, however, with Anonymous members also claiming to be doing it "for the lulz (laughs)".
How do the hackers decide who to attack?
Speaking to CNN, Internet activist Greg Housh, who claims to be monitoring the group, said that targets are often decided collectively and spontaneously.
"If you want to go on (in a portal) and say, 'Let's attack this group and the majority of the people who are in that portal at that time agree, then that group will be targeted.
"If the majority of people present in the portal decide - at that time - that your suggested target is a dumb idea, nobody acts," he said in a phone interview with the news network.
In their message to Malaysia, Anonymous said it attacked government websites because Malaysia is "one of the worst in the world" for Internet censorship.The government had prior to that announced the blocking of the top 10 file-sharing websites, including Pirate Bay and Megaupload.
How do they attack?
Methods vary but Anonymous has reportedly claimed that DDOS attacks are the simplest and most effective way for them to create an impact.
Internet users who do not have hacking skills but still want to contribute can leave messages in forums frequented by Anonymous hackers offering the use of their computers.
Anonymous then links to the computer and uses the collective force among the volunteered machines to launch an attack.
Who have they attacked?
In one of their earlier attacks, Canada daily Toronto Sun reported that prior to his arrest, child predator Chris Forcand was tracked by "a group of cyber vigilantes" later identified as Anonymous.
The profile-raising attack was made on the Church of Scientology, who in 2008 asked for a video interview with actor Tom Cruise be removed from YouTube due to copyright purposes. The cyber attack spilled over to street demonstrations worldwide.
Another notable attack was the YouTube Porn Day in 2009, when the hackers uploaded scores of pornographic videos but tagged them with names of pop stars and other 'family-friendly' labels.
Besides Malaysia, websites belonging to the governments of Australia, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries hit by the Arab Spring also came under attack.
Anonymous fell under the international spotlight again for Operation Payback, when it took down the Mastercard, Visa and Paypal who stopped service to whistleblower website Wikileaks, following pressure.
Other large corporations that have fallen prey include Bank of America and Sony.
Have they gotten off scot-free?
Anonymous claims that the Church of Scientology engaged in a tit-for-tat attack on epilepsy foundations by uploading scripts to trigger epileptic reactions and attributing it to Anonymous.
The church has denied this claim and maintains that the hacker group was responsible for the act.
More recently, a 16-year-old in the Netherlands and five men aged under-30 in the UK were arrested for participation in DDOS attacks.
An Australian man was also arrested and fined for participating in a forum to plan the Australian attack and for volunteering his computer to be used for the purpose.
Spanish Police earlier this month nabbed three individuals it claims to be part of the hacking group behind the attack on the websites of the governments of Iran, Libya, Chile and Egypt among others.
In the biggest haul yet, 32 men were on June 13 taken in by Turkish police for their attack on government websites there.
Who have they attacked?
In one of their earlier attacks, Canada daily Toronto Sun reported that prior to his arrest, child predator Chris Forcand was tracked by "a group of cyber vigilantes" later identified as Anonymous.
The profile-raising attack was made on the Church of Scientology, who in 2008 asked for a video interview with actor Tom Cruise be removed from YouTube due to copyright purposes. The cyber attack spilled over to street demonstrations worldwide.Another notable attack was the YouTube Porn Day in 2009, when the hackers uploaded scores of pornographic videos but tagged them with names of pop stars and other 'family-friendly' labels.
Besides Malaysia, websites belonging to the governments of Australia, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries hit by the Arab Spring also came under attack.
Anonymous fell under the international spotlight again for Operation Payback, when it took down the Mastercard, Visa and Paypal who stopped service to whistleblower website Wikileaks, following pressure.
Other large corporations that have fallen prey include Bank of America and Sony.
Have they gotten off scot-free?
Anonymous claims that the Church of Scientology engaged in a tit-for-tat attack on epilepsy foundations by uploading scripts to trigger epileptic reactions and attributing it to Anonymous.
The church has denied this claim and maintains that the hacker group was responsible for the act.
More recently, a 16-year-old in the Netherlands and five men aged under-30 in the UK were arrested for participation in DDOS attacks.
An Australian man was also arrested and fined for participating in a forum to plan the Australian attack and for volunteering his computer to be used for the purpose.
Spanish Police earlier this month nabbed three individuals it claims to be part of the hacking group behind the attack on the websites of the governments of Iran, Libya, Chile and Egypt among others.
In the biggest haul yet, 32 men were on June 13 taken in by Turkish police for their attack on government websites there.