The Hactivist Group Anonymous Take Over Dozens Of ISIS Social Media Accounts
The Hactivist Group Anonymous Take Over Dozens Of ISIS Social Media Accounts.
The online "hacktivist" group Anonymous has just hit a massive blow against ISIS and destroyed its months of recruiting efforts. Yes, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — the radical Islamic terrorist group known for its haematic, terrible propaganda videos.
ISIS has a huge social media presence, with multiple Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram accounts. But, the Anonymous group recently took control of over dozens of Facebook and Twitter accounts used by ISIS recruiters to bring in new members.
Anonymous also released a video on Friday saying, "We are Muslims, Christians, Jews alike. We hackers, crackers, Hacktivist, phishers, agents, spies, or just the guy next door… students, administrators, workers, clerks, unemployed, rich, poor."
"We are young, or old, gay or straight… from all races, countries, religions, and ethnicity. United as one, divided by zero," and most important point made by the video is that the Anonymous believes that "the terrorists that are calling themselves [the] Islamic State (ISIS) are not Muslims."
The group further issued a warning to ISIS in its own statement, which is as follows:
"We will hunt you, take down your sites, accounts, emails, and expose you. From now on, no safe place for you online. You will be treated like a virus, and we are the cure. We own the internet. We are Anonymous; we are Legion; we do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect us."
The Anonymous group then said it made good on its pledge by launching cyber attacks and disabling several Twitter and Facebook accounts linked to ISIS which were used for recruiting purposes. Under the Twitter hashtag #OpISIS, Anonymous released a list of what it said were ISIS sites crippled by the cyber attack.
Some of ISIS Twitter accounts, that were taken offline by the online Hackivist group as part of #OpISIS are as follows:
- and many more
Anonymous says the following Facebook accounts are in close contact with ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They advise us to “keep a close eye” on them.
- and more to come
According to Anonymous, it’s just the beginning of their operation and warned ISIS that there will be "more to come."
About the Author:
Swati Khandelwal - She is an Cyber Security Expert and Technical Writer at 'The Hacker News.
