With the digitalization of our society, the number of internet users has increased as well. In the year 2000, 414,794,957 (6.8%) users had access to the internet. Now, 16 years later 3,424,971,237 (46.1% of total population)users have access. (Internetlivestats, 2016). Of course, how more users on the internet, how more interesting it is for hackers to abuse their knowledge of the technical aspect of the internet.
Today I want to talk about one of the most well-known hackers organization Anonymous. Anonymous was founded in 2003, on the imageboard 4chan. Their members, so-called ‘Anons’ consider their selves as hacktivists, but what is the difference between a hacker and a hacktivist? A hacker is a person who gains unauthorized access to computer system. This can be either for good or bad reasons, but usually it is to deal damage to the system or in order to retrieve valuable information. (Merrian-webster.com, 2016) A hacktivist on the other side, is a person who gains unauthorized access to a computer system and carry out various disruptive actions as a means of achieving political and social goals. (dictonairy.com, 2016)
We can also differ white-hat hackers, which have good intention and black-hat hackers, which have bad intentions. White-hat hackers are usually computer system testers or security experts. Black-hat hackers are the hackers where you think about when people are talking about hacking, breaking into systems and dealing damage to those systems.
So before we place Anonymous into these categories, what have they done in the past 13 years? Let’s list up some, to my opinion, good actions of Anonymous:
- Operation Deatheaters. (thousands of pedophile networks were shut down and names of visitors were published).
- Shutting down hundreds of accounts, forums, websites of IS supporters
- Leaking Bank of America corrupt and unfair mortgage practices.
On the other side, they did certain things which aren’t justifiable:
- Hacking Sony’s systems in 2011. Caused a 10% stock value loss and published tens of thousands of private emails.
- Putting personal information of HBGary Federal lawyers after Aaron Barr (CEO) said he had ‘cracked’ Anonymous. (Bright, 2012)
These are just a few examples of the hundred things Anonymous has claimed to do. Most good things they do have to do with publishing information and shutting down ‘bad’ websites. The bad things Anonymous is doing is mostly reacting to certain, in their eyes, bad deeds. Also, they respond to threats, like the HBGary Federal case.
So whether Anonymous is a good or a bad organization is a matter of perspective. I wouldn’t say they are white-hat or black-hat hackers/hacktivists. In 1996 at the DEF Con Hacking Conference they made up a new kind of hackers/hacktivists: grey-hat hackers/hacktivists. These are hackers/hacktivists which may sometimes violate the law, but not have malicious intentions like the black-hat hackers. I would say they are grey-hat hacktivists, what do you think?
Thank you for reading!
Feel free share your knowledge and opinions about this topic!
(Also, if you’re interested in Anonymous, check out the movie ‘We Are Legion'(2012)).
References
Bright, P. (2012, October 03). With arrests, HBGary hack saga finally ends. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/the-hbgary-saga-nears-its-end/
Hacker. (2016, October 09). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker
Hacktivist [Def. 1], (2016, October 9) Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hacktivist
Internet users. (2016, October 09). Retrieved from http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
La Monica, P. A. U. L. (2014, December 15). Sony hack sends stock down 10% in past week. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/15/investing/sony-stock-hack/
Hey Justin, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree with you, I think the hackers collective Anonymous is one of the few groups that can challenge the status quo on the internet. However, Anonymous should be careful not to impose their moral standard on everyone accessing the web. I mean, if it wasn’t for guys like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, what would we have known about the NSA and other governmental issues that influence the whole world? It’s always balancing between what’s wrong and right. So, yes, they definitely are grey-hat activists.