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Who created Anonymous and why? Why do they have no leader and how do they coordinate their actions around the world? What do the 4chan forum, the Guy Fawkes mask and the largest cyberattacks in the history of the Internet have in common?
Anonymous is not just hackers, but a global movement that has become a symbol of digital resistance. Their history began with online trolling and flash mobs, but quickly grew into an ideological fight against censorship, abuse of power and restrictions on freedom of speech. The group has no structure, center or official leaders - anyone who shares the ideas of the movement can become part of it.
Contents:
The topic takes a detailed look at iconic attacks on corporations and government organizations: Sony, PayPal, the Pentagon, the Church of Scientology, and others. It tells about the hackers’ methods — DDoS, SQL injections, phishing, social engineering — as well as how their anonymity and internal ethics work. This is a story about cybersecurity, protest movements, digital activism, and the influence of Anonymous on the world.
The site is not responding, please try again later. This is the message that millions of PayPal users saw in December 2010. The service, which processes $315 billion a year, was completely paralyzed. Absolute chaos reigned at the company’s headquarters. Engineers rushed between servers, and top managers demanded answers. “Who did this?” the SEO shouted, looking at graphs with peaks of hundreds of thousands of requests per second.
And it was hackers from the Anonymous group who did it. They did not demand money, they did not try to steal data. They were just taking revenge. And that was just the beginning. No one could feel safe, Anonymous declared war on those who stood in the way of a free internet. Over the 20 years of its existence, Anonymous hacked the Pentagon, brought down the propaganda of a terrorist organization consisting of four letters, well, you get the idea, by simply bombarding them with gifs with cats and even repealed SOPA, a law that threatened a free internet.
How a group of Sfachan trolls literally became a nightmare for intelligence agencies around the world, why their attacks are compared to a digital guerrilla movement and, most importantly, what remains of the legion in the era when neural networks predict hacker attacks before they begin.
This contributed to the emergence of a new profession and white hat hackers stood up to fight ordinary hackers. They, like Anonymous, hack company systems, but they do it in order to find vulnerabilities, report gaps and protect businesses from real threats. But the threats are global, because hackers are constantly coming up with new ways to attack. In this regard, there is a good demand for cybersecurity specialists.
Anonymous is the most famous hacker group in the world.
At the same time, they have no clear structure, no hierarchy, and therefore no leaders. Well, what kind of leader can anarchists have, and Anonymous is just that, only cyber-anarchists. Now the groups are known all over the world, they are engaged in attacks on government agencies, billion-dollar corporations, and also support a number of protest movements absolutely all over the world. They are literally called the collective mind of the Internet.
After all, they are capable of literally delivering a digital blow to those they consider enemies of freedom of speech, privacy and justice in a matter of seconds. And at the same time, being completely unorganized. But all this can be said about Anonymous today. And how did such a powerful hacker group emerge? Who are they? Anonymous appeared around 2003 on the Fachan imageboard. This is an English-language forum with a simple option to attach images to messages.
The same as the Russian-language Dvach. The future symbol of cyber activism emerged gradually. Initially, these were just users of the platform who posted memes, supported flash mobs and were engaged in outright trolling of everything and everyone. From mocking individual Fachan users to ridiculing trends and current political events. The general topics "Views" and "Goals" united several forum users into a group, and the trolling has already become collective.
However, by the mid-2000s, memes and trolling had grown into more serious things. Their activities had acquired a political nature. And Anonymous began to participate in actions against censorship, abuse of power, and human rights violations. One of the first major actions was the Chonology project. In 2008, there was a mass attack on the Church of Scientology.
The reason was the deletion of a video with Tom Cruise, which showed his participation in the service of Scientologists. The video was removed from YouTube at the request of the church, which attracted the attention of FCA users. In response to the deletion of the video, Anonymous organized a series of cyberattacks on the church's websites, mass phone calls to Scientology centers, and also organized offline protests with people in Guy Fawkes masks around the world.
The hackers wanted to draw attention to the violation of freedom of speech, censorship, and control of the Internet by the powers that be. The Church of Scientology later accused them of cyberterrorism. From that moment on, the well-known hacker group we now know simply as Anonymous emerged. The fight against Scientologists not only brought Anonymous onto the international stage for the first time, but also laid the foundations for their philosophy.
The attacks on the church showed that even a disparate group of anonymous people, united by a common idea, was capable of challenging literally all the elites of the time. But to transform themselves from random trolls into a force that governments reckoned with, they needed more than just technical skills. They needed an ideology, that is, a set of principles that would turn chaotic attacks into a conscious struggle.
The main principle of cyberanarchists is decentralization — they have no centralized leaders or clear structure. In fact, anyone who shares their ideas and methods can act under the banner of the group. Speaking of the banner. One of the symbols of their movement is the Guy Fawkes mask. It was not accidental. Guy Fawkes was a conspirator who tried to blow up the English parliament in the 17th century. In the film V for Vendetta, this image turned into a symbol of resistance to oppression.
For Anonymous, a mask is not just a way to hide your face, but also a sign of unity. By putting it on, a person becomes part of an idea, not an individual. Anonymous adheres to their own philosophy, which reflects freedom of information and the fight against injustice. They also adhere to strict rules regarding their anonymity. Anonymity is generally the basis for the existence of their organization.
Their activities revolve around the principle that a person should not be more important than an idea. That is why they use various methods to hide their identity and avoid persecution by the authorities. The participants begin to hide their identities more carefully, using pseudonyms, VPN, TOR and other privacy technologies. And no, friends, buying a subscription to some popular VPN service, commenting on an anti-government video on YouTube does not make you a member of Anonymous.
Because the group's activities are aimed at larger-scale protests. Freedom of information becomes one of the fundamental foundations of the collective. The group opposes censorship and control over the Internet, supporting the free exchange of data. To understand what drives Anonymous, let's imagine a digital army of soldiers, but without generals, But with a common goal.
This army is free people who are united by the idea of \u200b\u200bfighting for truth, freedom of speech and justice. And they can be anyone. Programmer Vasya, who works for Yandex in the morning, and at night is engaged in DDoS attacks on governments of different countries. Or a pastry chef, from whom you, for example, buy a bun every morning. And even a classmate or fellow student, and this will not necessarily be some inconspicuous quiet one.
None of them have a charter, but they have principles that they adhere to, so to speak, intuitively. It's like, for example, a code of honor. As you already understood, there are no generals, but how do they decide when it's time for them to act? Usually, it all starts with some high-profile event. It could be a case of injustice, censorship, or standard, so to speak, corruption.
Then discussions appear on the Internet, in which someone suggests doing something about it. Information is distributed through forums, instant messengers, and social networks, gathering like-minded people. The organization within Anonymous is like a chaotic fermentation of ideas, but even in this chaos there is a system. If the idea of an action finds support, people begin to coordinate their actions.
Someone creates a video message, someone collects data on the target of the attack, and someone programs the necessary tools. All this happens without formal leadership, thanks to the collective mind. In addition, Anonymous adheres to the principle of some vagueness. Let me explain in more detail now. No one knows who exactly is behind a particular attack. Sometimes actions are carried out by several people, and sometimes by entire groups, coordinated through temporary communication channels.
Even within the community itself, no one can be sure with whom they are interacting. This not only increases the level of security, but also makes it impossible to disclose the entire network in the event of the detention of one of the participants. If necessary, Anonymous contacts the public. They use familiar methods such as Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and other platforms to announce their actions, but there is no official account in any of these social networks.
Not counting, of course, platform X, that is, former Twitter, here they even have a check mark and millions of readers. It may seem like their actions are anarchic and chaotic, but Anonymous is guided by an internal moral compass. They do not attack random targets, but rather choose those they consider guilty of oppression, corruption, or abuse of power. The ideology of Anonymous is not just a set of abstract principles, but an instruction manual.
If the Guy Fawkes mask has become a symbol of resistance, then DDoS attacks, phishing, and askuel injections are its language. Let's imagine that there is a corporation that hides its financial machinations. A multi-billion dollar company with hundreds of thousands of employees and a large security department with powerful server protection. At first glance, the company is impregnable, but Anonymous knows how to find vulnerabilities, because weak spots in the cybersecurity of any organization are the very existence of the Anonymous group.
One of the hackers' favorite methods is DDoS attacks. For those who do not quite understand what it is, I will try to explain it on my fingers. Imagine that you go into a store, but instead of the usual queue you see thousands of people who came into the store at once. The employees do not have time to serve everyone, the second cash register, as always, does not work, because the store manager is a toad and has to hire another Zinochka to unload the first one, and as a result the store simply closes.
DDoS works the same way - the server is overloaded with requests and becomes simply unavailable for some time. Accordingly, the people who came for those very buns simply cannot buy them, and the company suffers losses. Another attack method is SQL injection.
It sounds complicated and confusing, but in reality it is quite simple. It is like finding a crack in a fence. For example, instead of a regular password, hackers enter a special code that makes the system reveal all the information. This is approximately how the data of Sony PlayStation Network users was hacked in 2011, but we will talk about this in more detail a little later. The well-known phishing is also one of the most popular hacking methods.
Let's imagine that you receive a letter supposedly from a bank, where they ask you to urgently update your password. And you generally have no doubts, the letter is designed in a corporate style, the link seems to lead to the bank's website, and the page itself is completely visually copied. You follow the link, enter the data and it ends up in the hands of hackers. Do large corporations really fall for such childish, obvious traps? Yes, friends, they do.
Here we need to make a reservation. Most likely, your news feed from month to month flashes sad reports like "Internet scammers robbed an old lady again, she transferred her money to some secure account and deprived her of his conditional million dollars. Everyone wonders where old ladies get such money, but that's not the point. And here you need to understand that in any Internet system, the most vulnerable link is a person.
Yes, they still play with the code, but the lion's share of all hacker attacks, perhaps, simply because of the banal human factor. Anonymous did this to Sony. Hackers sent letters to the company's employees with an update of a type of software. When the employees opened these letters, their devices were infected with malware, which provided hackers with access to corporate networks.
There are less serious hacking methods, but they are also quite effective. Especially if the goal is, if not to humiliate, then at least to show incompetence, unprofessionalism or helplessness. Deface is the digital equivalent of graffiti on the side of a building. Most often, it is expressed in replacing the main page or adding offensive, propaganda, political or hacker messages.
One of the famous cases is the hacking of the official website of, damn it, the CIA, when instead of official information, a satirical inscription appeared. And, perhaps, the most difficult thing is social engineering. It is literally the key to the most difficult lock. Sometimes the best way to get data is to simply convince someone to give it to you. Remember the examples with the grandmother and the million dollars?
This is also social engineering. For example, hackers can call tech support posing as a company employee and simply ask to change the password. And yes, friends, it works, you just have to be convincing and, of course, choose the right victim. The alternation and collaboration of all these methods allows Anonymous to attack even the most secure systems, and now you will see for yourself.
Large copyright protection companies began ordering DDoS attacks on pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay and other torrent trackers. This, of course, became a big trigger for the Anonymous ideology. One of the hacker group’s first targets was the Indian law firm iPlex Software, hired by Hollywood to carry out DDoS attacks on pirate sites. As soon as information about this surfaced, Anonymous decided to strike back.
On September 29, 2010, the group began its attack. First, they brought down the iBlox sites, and then declared a full-scale war on copyright protection organizations. Over the course of several months, Anonymous attacked dozens of organizations associated with anti-piracy measures, and even individuals like KISS bassist Gene Simmons. The attacks were massive DDoS strikes that completely disabled sites for hours and even days.
December 2010 changed the course of the operation. The international non-profit organization Wikileaks, led by Julian Asange, which publishes secret documents concerning politics, international relations, and affecting a particular society as a whole, published hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic documents.
These leaks were called Cablegate and caused an international scandal. Among the published materials were cables from American diplomats with critical reviews of world leaders, evidence of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as corruption schemes of politicians and corporations. After this leak, pressure began to be put on WikiLeaks. The US demanded the closure of the site and the arrest of Asange, Amazon refused to work with the project's servers, and PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Bank of America blocked transfers in support of the organization.
Asange was arrested in the UK in December 2010. Of course, here too, Anonymous perceived this as censorship and an attack on freedom of speech. In December 2010, Anonymous launched a large-scale cyberattack on financial organizations that refused to work with WikiLeaks.
DDoS attacks were carried out using the Loic tool. Hundreds, then thousands of users simultaneously sent millions of requests to the victims’ servers, overwhelming them. Although payment systems quickly recovered, the attacks attracted media attention and damaged their reputation. Some Anonymous members were arrested, but for Anonymous, the real danger is not a prison sentence, but the loss of anonymity.
In the world of hacktivism, a nickname, or Guy Fawkes mask, is a shield that allows one to operate without fear of prosecution. Deanonymization breaks down this barrier, turning the invisible freedom fighter into an identified target. It opens up access not only to law enforcement, but also to private corporations, competitors, political opponents, and even ordinary vengeful users. When a hacker is exposed, he loses not only his freedom, but also the ability to continue the fight.
He can be made an example of, publicly denounced, forced to cooperate, or even use his skills for the benefit of those he spoke out against. In addition, the threat of persecution can extend to his family, friends, and colleagues, which makes exposure even more painful. This is what happened to some members of the Anonymous group.
Jack Leslie Davis, also known as Topiary, Ryan Cleary, and Christopher Weatherhurt, known as Nerda, were caught and received real prison terms. But this only played into the hands of the hackers and led to the growth of the group's popularity. After this operation, they became widely known. They began to be perceived as defenders of free speech and opponents of corporate control over the Internet.
Operation Payback began as revenge for attacks on pirate sites, but turned into a global cyberwar for Internet freedom. It showed the power of a decentralized movement and became a prologue to even larger-scale operations by Anonymous. After the success of Payback, the group felt its full power and decided that it was capable of absolutely anything. Four of the most experienced members decided to create a small group within Anonymous itself and called it LulzSec.
They specialized in detecting websites with low security, stealing data and posting it on the Internet. And their first victim was Sony. In April 2011, the company faced one of the largest data leaks in history. Unknown hackers hacked the PlayStation Network. These unknown hackers, as you understood, were the Anonymous group.
Why did they need to attack Sony, well, like there are guys playing on PlayStation, what information could be there, and the fact is that Sony entered into an open conflict with the hacker community because of the hacking of PlayStation 3. Hacker George Hodes, nicknamed Geohod, and the Failoverflow team found a way to run pirated games and home-made programs on PS3. What does this mean, friends? Well, of course, Sony and the game copyright holder suffered huge losses, because if there is an option not to pay, then, accordingly, no one will pay.
They did the same thing in 2021, but with the PlayStation 5. Of course, as expected, Sony sued them, which caused the righteous anger of anonymity. PlayStation Network was completely disabled, and just think about it for 23 days. The data of 77 million users was stolen, and these are names, addresses, credit card numbers. Sony lost about 170 million dollars, and the culprits were never found.
Another success, of course, turned their heads and it was decided to raise the risk level. The choice fell on a quasi-governmental organization. The American private intelligence company Stratfor, which specialized in collecting information and analytics on security and international relations, provided secret reports, made forecasts about political and economic events literally all over the world.
Its clients included large corporations, government agencies and private investors. The company had a reputation as a major player in the world of intelligence and strategic analysis. But you have to admit, it was a normal competitor. But the classified data was at risk when the company's networks were hacked in 2011. The attack on Stratfor was part of an operation, of course, by the Anonymous group.
The hackers were outraged by the actions of companies that, as they believed, helped governments and corporations hide corruption schemes. The goal of the attack was not just to hack the system, but also to show that even the most secure data can be disclosed without much effort. In December 2011, a group of hackers penetrated the company's system. By hacking email, servers and a database, the hackers gained access to a huge amount of confidential information.
Now, friends, just think about it. Personal data of employees, their names, addresses, phone numbers, private and government correspondence, documents and classified reports, loans and bank accounts, information about financial transactions in the company, and, of course, passwords and accounts, as well as access to closed customer data.
Conventionally, Anonymous got its hands on everything, well, just everything that could be pulled out. The hackers leaked letters and company data to the network, which caused a huge resonance in society. When the data was published, many shocking facts were revealed. Corruption and manipulation in the field of international relations. Stratfor's cooperation with governments and private corporations in matters of protecting their interests, as well as underground activities in relation to personal and corporate data.
After the hack, information appeared that Stratfor was actively monitoring protests and political activity, helping companies and states suppress discontent in different countries. But here's what happened in the end. The company publicly admitted that it had lost access to a lot of data and said that it would begin the process of restoring security. However, many accused Stratfor of failing to properly protect its data.
It was later revealed that the hack was carried out by Jeremy Hammond, an activist and former member of Anonymous. Hammond was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013 for his role in the attack. The Stratford hack was one of the most high-profile revelations in the history of cyberwarfare, demonstrating how hackers can break down corporate and government barriers by leaking classified data and evidence of corruption.
This attack called into question the security and transparency of many influential organizations, and also demonstrated the possibility of hacking as a means of influencing the world elite. After this incident, cybersecurity issues began to be discussed much more seriously, and many government and private companies began to strengthen their data protection systems. But even strengthening security measures did not help to protect the most secret organization in the United States of America.
The hack of the Pentagon is one of the most high-profile and symbolic episodes in the history of Anonymous. As they used to say on the forums, for those who are in the tank, let me explain in more detail. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. It is literally the nerve center of the American army. A pentagon-shaped building where decisions are made on military operations, cybersecurity and national defense.
This is the place where military secrets, strategic plans and the most advanced technologies are concentrated. In theory, its digital protection should be impenetrable. In 2011, a group of hackers associated with Anonymous gained access to confidential data of the US Department of Defense. As part of the operation, which was carried out in response to the persecution of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, hackers stole hundreds of thousands of documents.
It is important to make a reservation here. In fact, there was no direct hacking of the Pentagon's systems. But hackers managed to hack the servers of a private Pentagon contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, leaking 90 thousand military logins. Attacks on state corporations and large financial institutions faded into the background after the activation of four-letter militants in Syria. In 2015, after a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, Anonymous announced the beginning of an operation aimed at exposing and destroying terrorists' online propaganda.
Anonymous used an unconventional tactic - they literally began publishing memes and gifs with cats on pages associated with militants. This demoralized the terrorists and reduced the effectiveness of their recruitment. More than 5,000 accounts of adherents of radical Islam on social networks were hacked and blocked.
The level of online propaganda has significantly decreased, which has been confirmed even by Western intelligence agencies. But the hacker group's relationship with the Russian government was not limited to one operation. The attacks by the anonymous person became part of a broader context of cyber warfare that unfolded in response to political events. The protests in Russia in 2011-2012 against election fraud and mass arrests of opposition members are legislative initiatives aimed at restricting freedom of speech on the Internet and human rights.
In 2011, when tensions in the country reached the peak of the Bolotnaya protests, Anonymous announced the start of a series of attacks on websites and resources associated with the Russian government. The goal was to demonstrate solidarity with the protesters and draw attention to the violation of democratic principles. In 2014, against the backdrop of the referendum in Crimea and political tensions with the West, Anonymous became active again.
They carried out a series of cyber attacks on the official website of the Kremlin. The goal was not only to show protest against Russia's foreign policy, but also to hinder the work of information services that supported the policies of the current government. And, of course, the peak of the group's activity against the Russian government occurred in 2022. One of the largest attacks was Anonymous' intervention in the geopolitical situation in Ukraine.
In response to the events between Russia and Ukraine, the group announced the start of a cyber war against Russia and government structures. Protesting against the actions of the authorities and the violation of international law, Anonymous began attacks on major information resources in Russia. As mentioned earlier, anonymity is the primary basis of the Anonymous hacker group, which is basically clear from its name.
But sometimes the masks fly off and the faces of Internet heroes are recognized not only by fans and colleagues, but also by intelligence agencies in different countries. The first person to receive a real sentence for actions related to Anonymous was 19-year-old American Dmitry Guzner. In 2009, he was convicted of participating in the hacking of the Scientology Church website, which became one of the first attacks by activists.
Guzner did not look like a typical cybercriminal. A smiling guy with glasses from New Jersey. He took all the blame, but refused to admit that he was part of Anonymous. The prosecutor demanded 10 years in prison, but the court was more lenient. Guzner received only 366 days in prison and a ban on using computers for two years. Next on the radar was Christopher Doyan, 50, aka Commander X. He was arrested in 2011 for a DDoS attack on a Santa Cruz County website to protest a camping ban.
Once released, he fled to Canada, where he continued to work for Anonymous, participating in Arab Spring-related operations. LulzSec, the most vocal and brazen Anonymous outfit that targeted Sony, also did not escape justice. Authorities carried out a mass arrest in 2012, detaining three more key members along with Jeremy Hammond.
Ryan Ekrolid, nicknamed Kaylo, was considered the most advanced hacker in the group. He posed as a “female hacker” named Kaylo and was responsible for penetrating most of the US military and government servers. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in England, served his entire sentence, and was released. Ryan Cleary, nicknamed Viral, controlled a zombie network of 100,000 computers, which allowed him to carry out large-scale attacks.
The court sentenced him to 32 months in prison. After serving his sentence, Cleary was released, but he was prohibited from using the Internet without permission. Mustafa Albasam, nicknamed Tiflow, specialized in finding vulnerabilities in government websites. At the time of his arrest in 2011, he was only 16 years old. And of course, he was able to avoid prison, receiving suspended sentences and a ban on using the Internet without police supervision.
He then entered King's College London, where he received a degree in computer science. Not only hackers, but also ordinary activists have had problems with the law. Among those arrested was 20-year-old student Mercedes Renee Heffer, under the pseudonym Noe from the University of Nevada. Unlike professional hackers, she did not possess complex hacking methods, but only used logic to participate in a DDoS attack.
However, this did not save her from charges. After her arrest, little is known about Mercedes' fate. She did not figure in subsequent cyberattacks and, it seems, left activism. As the threats from Anonymous grew, governments around the world began to strengthen cybersecurity. New defense systems are being developed, and special units are being created to counter hacker attacks.
However, Anonymous continues to find vulnerabilities, demonstrating that no state is 100% protected. Anonymous continues to participate in protest movements, helping activists and disseminating information that governments and corporations are simply trying to hide. For example, during the Black Lives Matter protests, they hacked police databases and distributed videos documenting police brutality.
The group remains active and carries out new attacks. Recent actions include attacks on Russian government agencies, leaks of government officials’ data, and cyberattacks on various authoritarian regimes. They also fight against large corporations accused of corruption and human rights violations. Anonymous has inspired many new hacker collectives, many of which use similar methods. Some focus on freedom of information, others on protecting digital rights.
Despite the disunity, the spirit of Anonymous lives on in new generations of cyber activists. Anonymous is probably not just a hacker anymore, it is some kind of phenomenon that unites people who want to remain unnoticed, but at the same time loudly declare their position. It is important to emphasize that the activities of hacker groups such as Anonymous should not be romanticized or perceived as harmless.
In Russia, such actions are subject to criminal liability under the following articles of the Criminal Code. Articles 272, 273 and 274. Any such actions are illegal and can threaten you with a real term. Agree, it is much better to read our forum and drink tea with cheesecakes than to sit in prison and drink chifir, but without our topics. Thank you for your likes and comments, friends. The algorithms fail, but we continue to work as an artist especially for you.
Anonymous is not just hackers, but a global movement that has become a symbol of digital resistance. Their history began with online trolling and flash mobs, but quickly grew into an ideological fight against censorship, abuse of power and restrictions on freedom of speech. The group has no structure, center or official leaders - anyone who shares the ideas of the movement can become part of it.
Contents:
- The beginning of the story
- Ideology and structure
- Hackers' working methods
- Exposing some of the hackers
- Pentagon hack?
- Trial of hackers
The topic takes a detailed look at iconic attacks on corporations and government organizations: Sony, PayPal, the Pentagon, the Church of Scientology, and others. It tells about the hackers’ methods — DDoS, SQL injections, phishing, social engineering — as well as how their anonymity and internal ethics work. This is a story about cybersecurity, protest movements, digital activism, and the influence of Anonymous on the world.
The site is not responding, please try again later. This is the message that millions of PayPal users saw in December 2010. The service, which processes $315 billion a year, was completely paralyzed. Absolute chaos reigned at the company’s headquarters. Engineers rushed between servers, and top managers demanded answers. “Who did this?” the SEO shouted, looking at graphs with peaks of hundreds of thousands of requests per second.
And it was hackers from the Anonymous group who did it. They did not demand money, they did not try to steal data. They were just taking revenge. And that was just the beginning. No one could feel safe, Anonymous declared war on those who stood in the way of a free internet. Over the 20 years of its existence, Anonymous hacked the Pentagon, brought down the propaganda of a terrorist organization consisting of four letters, well, you get the idea, by simply bombarding them with gifs with cats and even repealed SOPA, a law that threatened a free internet.
How a group of Sfachan trolls literally became a nightmare for intelligence agencies around the world, why their attacks are compared to a digital guerrilla movement and, most importantly, what remains of the legion in the era when neural networks predict hacker attacks before they begin.
This contributed to the emergence of a new profession and white hat hackers stood up to fight ordinary hackers. They, like Anonymous, hack company systems, but they do it in order to find vulnerabilities, report gaps and protect businesses from real threats. But the threats are global, because hackers are constantly coming up with new ways to attack. In this regard, there is a good demand for cybersecurity specialists.
Anonymous is the most famous hacker group in the world.
At the same time, they have no clear structure, no hierarchy, and therefore no leaders. Well, what kind of leader can anarchists have, and Anonymous is just that, only cyber-anarchists. Now the groups are known all over the world, they are engaged in attacks on government agencies, billion-dollar corporations, and also support a number of protest movements absolutely all over the world. They are literally called the collective mind of the Internet.
After all, they are capable of literally delivering a digital blow to those they consider enemies of freedom of speech, privacy and justice in a matter of seconds. And at the same time, being completely unorganized. But all this can be said about Anonymous today. And how did such a powerful hacker group emerge? Who are they? Anonymous appeared around 2003 on the Fachan imageboard. This is an English-language forum with a simple option to attach images to messages.
The same as the Russian-language Dvach. The future symbol of cyber activism emerged gradually. Initially, these were just users of the platform who posted memes, supported flash mobs and were engaged in outright trolling of everything and everyone. From mocking individual Fachan users to ridiculing trends and current political events. The general topics "Views" and "Goals" united several forum users into a group, and the trolling has already become collective.
However, by the mid-2000s, memes and trolling had grown into more serious things. Their activities had acquired a political nature. And Anonymous began to participate in actions against censorship, abuse of power, and human rights violations. One of the first major actions was the Chonology project. In 2008, there was a mass attack on the Church of Scientology.
The reason was the deletion of a video with Tom Cruise, which showed his participation in the service of Scientologists. The video was removed from YouTube at the request of the church, which attracted the attention of FCA users. In response to the deletion of the video, Anonymous organized a series of cyberattacks on the church's websites, mass phone calls to Scientology centers, and also organized offline protests with people in Guy Fawkes masks around the world.
The hackers wanted to draw attention to the violation of freedom of speech, censorship, and control of the Internet by the powers that be. The Church of Scientology later accused them of cyberterrorism. From that moment on, the well-known hacker group we now know simply as Anonymous emerged. The fight against Scientologists not only brought Anonymous onto the international stage for the first time, but also laid the foundations for their philosophy.
The attacks on the church showed that even a disparate group of anonymous people, united by a common idea, was capable of challenging literally all the elites of the time. But to transform themselves from random trolls into a force that governments reckoned with, they needed more than just technical skills. They needed an ideology, that is, a set of principles that would turn chaotic attacks into a conscious struggle.
The main principle of cyberanarchists is decentralization — they have no centralized leaders or clear structure. In fact, anyone who shares their ideas and methods can act under the banner of the group. Speaking of the banner. One of the symbols of their movement is the Guy Fawkes mask. It was not accidental. Guy Fawkes was a conspirator who tried to blow up the English parliament in the 17th century. In the film V for Vendetta, this image turned into a symbol of resistance to oppression.
For Anonymous, a mask is not just a way to hide your face, but also a sign of unity. By putting it on, a person becomes part of an idea, not an individual. Anonymous adheres to their own philosophy, which reflects freedom of information and the fight against injustice. They also adhere to strict rules regarding their anonymity. Anonymity is generally the basis for the existence of their organization.
Their activities revolve around the principle that a person should not be more important than an idea. That is why they use various methods to hide their identity and avoid persecution by the authorities. The participants begin to hide their identities more carefully, using pseudonyms, VPN, TOR and other privacy technologies. And no, friends, buying a subscription to some popular VPN service, commenting on an anti-government video on YouTube does not make you a member of Anonymous.
Because the group's activities are aimed at larger-scale protests. Freedom of information becomes one of the fundamental foundations of the collective. The group opposes censorship and control over the Internet, supporting the free exchange of data. To understand what drives Anonymous, let's imagine a digital army of soldiers, but without generals, But with a common goal.
This army is free people who are united by the idea of \u200b\u200bfighting for truth, freedom of speech and justice. And they can be anyone. Programmer Vasya, who works for Yandex in the morning, and at night is engaged in DDoS attacks on governments of different countries. Or a pastry chef, from whom you, for example, buy a bun every morning. And even a classmate or fellow student, and this will not necessarily be some inconspicuous quiet one.
None of them have a charter, but they have principles that they adhere to, so to speak, intuitively. It's like, for example, a code of honor. As you already understood, there are no generals, but how do they decide when it's time for them to act? Usually, it all starts with some high-profile event. It could be a case of injustice, censorship, or standard, so to speak, corruption.
Then discussions appear on the Internet, in which someone suggests doing something about it. Information is distributed through forums, instant messengers, and social networks, gathering like-minded people. The organization within Anonymous is like a chaotic fermentation of ideas, but even in this chaos there is a system. If the idea of an action finds support, people begin to coordinate their actions.
Someone creates a video message, someone collects data on the target of the attack, and someone programs the necessary tools. All this happens without formal leadership, thanks to the collective mind. In addition, Anonymous adheres to the principle of some vagueness. Let me explain in more detail now. No one knows who exactly is behind a particular attack. Sometimes actions are carried out by several people, and sometimes by entire groups, coordinated through temporary communication channels.
Even within the community itself, no one can be sure with whom they are interacting. This not only increases the level of security, but also makes it impossible to disclose the entire network in the event of the detention of one of the participants. If necessary, Anonymous contacts the public. They use familiar methods such as Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and other platforms to announce their actions, but there is no official account in any of these social networks.
Not counting, of course, platform X, that is, former Twitter, here they even have a check mark and millions of readers. It may seem like their actions are anarchic and chaotic, but Anonymous is guided by an internal moral compass. They do not attack random targets, but rather choose those they consider guilty of oppression, corruption, or abuse of power. The ideology of Anonymous is not just a set of abstract principles, but an instruction manual.
If the Guy Fawkes mask has become a symbol of resistance, then DDoS attacks, phishing, and askuel injections are its language. Let's imagine that there is a corporation that hides its financial machinations. A multi-billion dollar company with hundreds of thousands of employees and a large security department with powerful server protection. At first glance, the company is impregnable, but Anonymous knows how to find vulnerabilities, because weak spots in the cybersecurity of any organization are the very existence of the Anonymous group.
One of the hackers' favorite methods is DDoS attacks. For those who do not quite understand what it is, I will try to explain it on my fingers. Imagine that you go into a store, but instead of the usual queue you see thousands of people who came into the store at once. The employees do not have time to serve everyone, the second cash register, as always, does not work, because the store manager is a toad and has to hire another Zinochka to unload the first one, and as a result the store simply closes.
DDoS works the same way - the server is overloaded with requests and becomes simply unavailable for some time. Accordingly, the people who came for those very buns simply cannot buy them, and the company suffers losses. Another attack method is SQL injection.
It sounds complicated and confusing, but in reality it is quite simple. It is like finding a crack in a fence. For example, instead of a regular password, hackers enter a special code that makes the system reveal all the information. This is approximately how the data of Sony PlayStation Network users was hacked in 2011, but we will talk about this in more detail a little later. The well-known phishing is also one of the most popular hacking methods.
Let's imagine that you receive a letter supposedly from a bank, where they ask you to urgently update your password. And you generally have no doubts, the letter is designed in a corporate style, the link seems to lead to the bank's website, and the page itself is completely visually copied. You follow the link, enter the data and it ends up in the hands of hackers. Do large corporations really fall for such childish, obvious traps? Yes, friends, they do.
Here we need to make a reservation. Most likely, your news feed from month to month flashes sad reports like "Internet scammers robbed an old lady again, she transferred her money to some secure account and deprived her of his conditional million dollars. Everyone wonders where old ladies get such money, but that's not the point. And here you need to understand that in any Internet system, the most vulnerable link is a person.
Yes, they still play with the code, but the lion's share of all hacker attacks, perhaps, simply because of the banal human factor. Anonymous did this to Sony. Hackers sent letters to the company's employees with an update of a type of software. When the employees opened these letters, their devices were infected with malware, which provided hackers with access to corporate networks.
There are less serious hacking methods, but they are also quite effective. Especially if the goal is, if not to humiliate, then at least to show incompetence, unprofessionalism or helplessness. Deface is the digital equivalent of graffiti on the side of a building. Most often, it is expressed in replacing the main page or adding offensive, propaganda, political or hacker messages.
One of the famous cases is the hacking of the official website of, damn it, the CIA, when instead of official information, a satirical inscription appeared. And, perhaps, the most difficult thing is social engineering. It is literally the key to the most difficult lock. Sometimes the best way to get data is to simply convince someone to give it to you. Remember the examples with the grandmother and the million dollars?
This is also social engineering. For example, hackers can call tech support posing as a company employee and simply ask to change the password. And yes, friends, it works, you just have to be convincing and, of course, choose the right victim. The alternation and collaboration of all these methods allows Anonymous to attack even the most secure systems, and now you will see for yourself.
Large copyright protection companies began ordering DDoS attacks on pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay and other torrent trackers. This, of course, became a big trigger for the Anonymous ideology. One of the hacker group’s first targets was the Indian law firm iPlex Software, hired by Hollywood to carry out DDoS attacks on pirate sites. As soon as information about this surfaced, Anonymous decided to strike back.
On September 29, 2010, the group began its attack. First, they brought down the iBlox sites, and then declared a full-scale war on copyright protection organizations. Over the course of several months, Anonymous attacked dozens of organizations associated with anti-piracy measures, and even individuals like KISS bassist Gene Simmons. The attacks were massive DDoS strikes that completely disabled sites for hours and even days.
December 2010 changed the course of the operation. The international non-profit organization Wikileaks, led by Julian Asange, which publishes secret documents concerning politics, international relations, and affecting a particular society as a whole, published hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic documents.
These leaks were called Cablegate and caused an international scandal. Among the published materials were cables from American diplomats with critical reviews of world leaders, evidence of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as corruption schemes of politicians and corporations. After this leak, pressure began to be put on WikiLeaks. The US demanded the closure of the site and the arrest of Asange, Amazon refused to work with the project's servers, and PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Bank of America blocked transfers in support of the organization.
Asange was arrested in the UK in December 2010. Of course, here too, Anonymous perceived this as censorship and an attack on freedom of speech. In December 2010, Anonymous launched a large-scale cyberattack on financial organizations that refused to work with WikiLeaks.
DDoS attacks were carried out using the Loic tool. Hundreds, then thousands of users simultaneously sent millions of requests to the victims’ servers, overwhelming them. Although payment systems quickly recovered, the attacks attracted media attention and damaged their reputation. Some Anonymous members were arrested, but for Anonymous, the real danger is not a prison sentence, but the loss of anonymity.
In the world of hacktivism, a nickname, or Guy Fawkes mask, is a shield that allows one to operate without fear of prosecution. Deanonymization breaks down this barrier, turning the invisible freedom fighter into an identified target. It opens up access not only to law enforcement, but also to private corporations, competitors, political opponents, and even ordinary vengeful users. When a hacker is exposed, he loses not only his freedom, but also the ability to continue the fight.
He can be made an example of, publicly denounced, forced to cooperate, or even use his skills for the benefit of those he spoke out against. In addition, the threat of persecution can extend to his family, friends, and colleagues, which makes exposure even more painful. This is what happened to some members of the Anonymous group.
Jack Leslie Davis, also known as Topiary, Ryan Cleary, and Christopher Weatherhurt, known as Nerda, were caught and received real prison terms. But this only played into the hands of the hackers and led to the growth of the group's popularity. After this operation, they became widely known. They began to be perceived as defenders of free speech and opponents of corporate control over the Internet.
Operation Payback began as revenge for attacks on pirate sites, but turned into a global cyberwar for Internet freedom. It showed the power of a decentralized movement and became a prologue to even larger-scale operations by Anonymous. After the success of Payback, the group felt its full power and decided that it was capable of absolutely anything. Four of the most experienced members decided to create a small group within Anonymous itself and called it LulzSec.
They specialized in detecting websites with low security, stealing data and posting it on the Internet. And their first victim was Sony. In April 2011, the company faced one of the largest data leaks in history. Unknown hackers hacked the PlayStation Network. These unknown hackers, as you understood, were the Anonymous group.
Why did they need to attack Sony, well, like there are guys playing on PlayStation, what information could be there, and the fact is that Sony entered into an open conflict with the hacker community because of the hacking of PlayStation 3. Hacker George Hodes, nicknamed Geohod, and the Failoverflow team found a way to run pirated games and home-made programs on PS3. What does this mean, friends? Well, of course, Sony and the game copyright holder suffered huge losses, because if there is an option not to pay, then, accordingly, no one will pay.
They did the same thing in 2021, but with the PlayStation 5. Of course, as expected, Sony sued them, which caused the righteous anger of anonymity. PlayStation Network was completely disabled, and just think about it for 23 days. The data of 77 million users was stolen, and these are names, addresses, credit card numbers. Sony lost about 170 million dollars, and the culprits were never found.
Another success, of course, turned their heads and it was decided to raise the risk level. The choice fell on a quasi-governmental organization. The American private intelligence company Stratfor, which specialized in collecting information and analytics on security and international relations, provided secret reports, made forecasts about political and economic events literally all over the world.
Its clients included large corporations, government agencies and private investors. The company had a reputation as a major player in the world of intelligence and strategic analysis. But you have to admit, it was a normal competitor. But the classified data was at risk when the company's networks were hacked in 2011. The attack on Stratfor was part of an operation, of course, by the Anonymous group.
The hackers were outraged by the actions of companies that, as they believed, helped governments and corporations hide corruption schemes. The goal of the attack was not just to hack the system, but also to show that even the most secure data can be disclosed without much effort. In December 2011, a group of hackers penetrated the company's system. By hacking email, servers and a database, the hackers gained access to a huge amount of confidential information.
Now, friends, just think about it. Personal data of employees, their names, addresses, phone numbers, private and government correspondence, documents and classified reports, loans and bank accounts, information about financial transactions in the company, and, of course, passwords and accounts, as well as access to closed customer data.
Conventionally, Anonymous got its hands on everything, well, just everything that could be pulled out. The hackers leaked letters and company data to the network, which caused a huge resonance in society. When the data was published, many shocking facts were revealed. Corruption and manipulation in the field of international relations. Stratfor's cooperation with governments and private corporations in matters of protecting their interests, as well as underground activities in relation to personal and corporate data.
After the hack, information appeared that Stratfor was actively monitoring protests and political activity, helping companies and states suppress discontent in different countries. But here's what happened in the end. The company publicly admitted that it had lost access to a lot of data and said that it would begin the process of restoring security. However, many accused Stratfor of failing to properly protect its data.
It was later revealed that the hack was carried out by Jeremy Hammond, an activist and former member of Anonymous. Hammond was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013 for his role in the attack. The Stratford hack was one of the most high-profile revelations in the history of cyberwarfare, demonstrating how hackers can break down corporate and government barriers by leaking classified data and evidence of corruption.
This attack called into question the security and transparency of many influential organizations, and also demonstrated the possibility of hacking as a means of influencing the world elite. After this incident, cybersecurity issues began to be discussed much more seriously, and many government and private companies began to strengthen their data protection systems. But even strengthening security measures did not help to protect the most secret organization in the United States of America.
The hack of the Pentagon is one of the most high-profile and symbolic episodes in the history of Anonymous. As they used to say on the forums, for those who are in the tank, let me explain in more detail. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. It is literally the nerve center of the American army. A pentagon-shaped building where decisions are made on military operations, cybersecurity and national defense.
This is the place where military secrets, strategic plans and the most advanced technologies are concentrated. In theory, its digital protection should be impenetrable. In 2011, a group of hackers associated with Anonymous gained access to confidential data of the US Department of Defense. As part of the operation, which was carried out in response to the persecution of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, hackers stole hundreds of thousands of documents.
It is important to make a reservation here. In fact, there was no direct hacking of the Pentagon's systems. But hackers managed to hack the servers of a private Pentagon contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, leaking 90 thousand military logins. Attacks on state corporations and large financial institutions faded into the background after the activation of four-letter militants in Syria. In 2015, after a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, Anonymous announced the beginning of an operation aimed at exposing and destroying terrorists' online propaganda.
Anonymous used an unconventional tactic - they literally began publishing memes and gifs with cats on pages associated with militants. This demoralized the terrorists and reduced the effectiveness of their recruitment. More than 5,000 accounts of adherents of radical Islam on social networks were hacked and blocked.
The level of online propaganda has significantly decreased, which has been confirmed even by Western intelligence agencies. But the hacker group's relationship with the Russian government was not limited to one operation. The attacks by the anonymous person became part of a broader context of cyber warfare that unfolded in response to political events. The protests in Russia in 2011-2012 against election fraud and mass arrests of opposition members are legislative initiatives aimed at restricting freedom of speech on the Internet and human rights.
In 2011, when tensions in the country reached the peak of the Bolotnaya protests, Anonymous announced the start of a series of attacks on websites and resources associated with the Russian government. The goal was to demonstrate solidarity with the protesters and draw attention to the violation of democratic principles. In 2014, against the backdrop of the referendum in Crimea and political tensions with the West, Anonymous became active again.
They carried out a series of cyber attacks on the official website of the Kremlin. The goal was not only to show protest against Russia's foreign policy, but also to hinder the work of information services that supported the policies of the current government. And, of course, the peak of the group's activity against the Russian government occurred in 2022. One of the largest attacks was Anonymous' intervention in the geopolitical situation in Ukraine.
In response to the events between Russia and Ukraine, the group announced the start of a cyber war against Russia and government structures. Protesting against the actions of the authorities and the violation of international law, Anonymous began attacks on major information resources in Russia. As mentioned earlier, anonymity is the primary basis of the Anonymous hacker group, which is basically clear from its name.
But sometimes the masks fly off and the faces of Internet heroes are recognized not only by fans and colleagues, but also by intelligence agencies in different countries. The first person to receive a real sentence for actions related to Anonymous was 19-year-old American Dmitry Guzner. In 2009, he was convicted of participating in the hacking of the Scientology Church website, which became one of the first attacks by activists.
Guzner did not look like a typical cybercriminal. A smiling guy with glasses from New Jersey. He took all the blame, but refused to admit that he was part of Anonymous. The prosecutor demanded 10 years in prison, but the court was more lenient. Guzner received only 366 days in prison and a ban on using computers for two years. Next on the radar was Christopher Doyan, 50, aka Commander X. He was arrested in 2011 for a DDoS attack on a Santa Cruz County website to protest a camping ban.
Once released, he fled to Canada, where he continued to work for Anonymous, participating in Arab Spring-related operations. LulzSec, the most vocal and brazen Anonymous outfit that targeted Sony, also did not escape justice. Authorities carried out a mass arrest in 2012, detaining three more key members along with Jeremy Hammond.
Ryan Ekrolid, nicknamed Kaylo, was considered the most advanced hacker in the group. He posed as a “female hacker” named Kaylo and was responsible for penetrating most of the US military and government servers. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in England, served his entire sentence, and was released. Ryan Cleary, nicknamed Viral, controlled a zombie network of 100,000 computers, which allowed him to carry out large-scale attacks.
The court sentenced him to 32 months in prison. After serving his sentence, Cleary was released, but he was prohibited from using the Internet without permission. Mustafa Albasam, nicknamed Tiflow, specialized in finding vulnerabilities in government websites. At the time of his arrest in 2011, he was only 16 years old. And of course, he was able to avoid prison, receiving suspended sentences and a ban on using the Internet without police supervision.
He then entered King's College London, where he received a degree in computer science. Not only hackers, but also ordinary activists have had problems with the law. Among those arrested was 20-year-old student Mercedes Renee Heffer, under the pseudonym Noe from the University of Nevada. Unlike professional hackers, she did not possess complex hacking methods, but only used logic to participate in a DDoS attack.
However, this did not save her from charges. After her arrest, little is known about Mercedes' fate. She did not figure in subsequent cyberattacks and, it seems, left activism. As the threats from Anonymous grew, governments around the world began to strengthen cybersecurity. New defense systems are being developed, and special units are being created to counter hacker attacks.
However, Anonymous continues to find vulnerabilities, demonstrating that no state is 100% protected. Anonymous continues to participate in protest movements, helping activists and disseminating information that governments and corporations are simply trying to hide. For example, during the Black Lives Matter protests, they hacked police databases and distributed videos documenting police brutality.
The group remains active and carries out new attacks. Recent actions include attacks on Russian government agencies, leaks of government officials’ data, and cyberattacks on various authoritarian regimes. They also fight against large corporations accused of corruption and human rights violations. Anonymous has inspired many new hacker collectives, many of which use similar methods. Some focus on freedom of information, others on protecting digital rights.
Despite the disunity, the spirit of Anonymous lives on in new generations of cyber activists. Anonymous is probably not just a hacker anymore, it is some kind of phenomenon that unites people who want to remain unnoticed, but at the same time loudly declare their position. It is important to emphasize that the activities of hacker groups such as Anonymous should not be romanticized or perceived as harmless.
In Russia, such actions are subject to criminal liability under the following articles of the Criminal Code. Articles 272, 273 and 274. Any such actions are illegal and can threaten you with a real term. Agree, it is much better to read our forum and drink tea with cheesecakes than to sit in prison and drink chifir, but without our topics. Thank you for your likes and comments, friends. The algorithms fail, but we continue to work as an artist especially for you.
