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Anonymous claims responsibility for Russian government website outages
Some official Russian government websites are down following alleged cyberattacks from Anonymous.
Anonymous chat app Yik Yak is back from the dead
Yik Yak shut down in 2017 following misconduct controversies and users moving elsewhere.
Google Meet for Education will auto-block users who don't log in
G Suite for Education will block anonymous users from Google Meet video calls.
DOJ accuses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of recruiting hackers
The Justice Department has filed updated charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that accuse him of recruiting hackers from Anonymous and beyond.
Anonymous social network Blind left user data exposed
Blind is a workplace social network that lets employees at various companies discuss sensitive topics anonymously. The company describes it as a safe place where workers can talk about salaries, workplace concerns and employee misconduct without being identified. But Blind recently left a database server unsecured, exposing some of its users' account information, including their corporate email addresses.
Anonymous deals with its QAnon branding problem
When you're a notorious hacking entity like Anonymous, and a pro-Trump conspiracy cult (QAnon) steals your branding (while claiming you're the impostor), the obvious thing to do is declare cyberwar. That's exactly what Anonymous did this past week in a press announcement, followed by a social media and press offensive. So far Anonymous has managed to take over QAnon's hashtags (while adding #OpQAnon and others) and dox a couple hundred members of Trump's pedophilia-obsessed, "deep state" doomsday cult. QAnon's mouthpieces responded exactly as we'd expect, with taunts and tweets saying: "These people are STUPID!! They have no brains and no skills. Typical 'empty threat' terrorists! But DO NOT click their links!! Virus city baby!!"
Alleged British hacker Lauri Love wins US extradition appeal
Lauri Love, a 32-year-old student accused of hacking US government websites in 2012 and 2013, has won a high court battle and will not be extradited to the States. He suffers from Asperger syndrome -- a form of autism that makes him worry and obsess -- depression and sudden, untreatable outbursts of eczema. Love's legal team argued that extradition would have caused his condition to deteriorate and, therefore, compromised his basic human rights. In the US courts, he faced up to 99 years in prison — an effective life sentence — and a fine up to $9 million (£6.3 million). Love said he would kill himself if he was extradited.
GoDaddy dumps white supremacist site 'Daily Stormer' (updated)
White supremacist website Daily Stormer just lost its web domain. In a tweet, GoDaddy claims it's giving the site "24 hours" to move to another domain provider, having found it to be in violation of its terms and services. The announcement came in response to a Twitter appeal from The New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind, who pointed out an article by the neo-Nazi publication. In the piece, Daily Stormer used obscene language in regards to Heather Heyer -- the woman who was killed in Charlottesville on Saturday after a man rammed his car into a crowd of people. Heyer was among those protesting against the Unite the Right white supremacist rallies over the weekend.
Who needs friends when you have anonymous feedback apps?
The No. 1 app in the iOS App Store has a curious name. It's called Sarahah, and it's been at the top of the iTunes Free Apps chart for the past few weeks. It's an anonymous messaging service for personal feedback. Anyone -- whether they're on the service or not -- can leave comments for users without revealing who they are.
Yik Yak's anonymous chat app is shutting down
Just four years after it started, Yik Yak is shutting down. In the past couple of years, issues like bullying have taken a toll on the allure of the anonymous internet, while this app had its own issues with threats and harassment. In a blog post, the Yik Yak team didn't explain their reasons for shutting down, but did confirm earlier reports that a "few members" will join Square. In 2015 we recounted the rise and fall of Secret, however others like Whisper and Confide are still going. Business Insider reports that it raised more than $73 million in venture capital, but struggled to keep its users as students migrated to other apps like Snapchat.
Terror threat posted on Whisper leads to arrest
A man from North Carolina was arrested by federal authorities shortly after he submitted a post that sounded like a threat to the anonymous secret-sharing app Whisper. According to the feds' affidavit, Garrett Grimsley from Cary posted the words "Salam, some of you are alright, don't go to Cary tomorrow" written on a photo of a bearded man carrying a red flag with a black star in the center. Another user who asked for a clarification through private message contacted authorities after receiving his response:
Hack knocks out a fifth of the Dark Web
The Dark Web is having a rough time right now... although the victims in this case won't earn too much sympathy. An Anonymous-linked hacker speaking to Motherboard brought down about a fifth of the Tor network's 'secret' websites (over 10,000 of them) in a claimed vigilante move. The intruder decided to attack a Dark Web hosting service, Freedom Hosting II, after discovering that it was managing child porn sites it had to be aware of -- they were using gigabytes of data each when the host officially allows no more than 256MB. Each site had its usual pages replaced with a message that not only chastised FH2, but offered a data dump (minus user info) and explained the nature of the hack.
Journalist Matthew Keys gets two years for aiding Anonymous
Convicted journalist Matthew Keys was sentenced to 24 months in prison in federal court room. Keys was found guilty in October 2015 of giving Anonymous login credentials that allowed a member of the group to deface a Los Angeles Times article back in 2013. Keys contends that he was working on an article about Anonymous and did not help the hacktivist collective gain access to the publication's site. Keys was convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Assistant U.S. Attorney, Matthew Segal had asked the court to sentence Keys to five yeas. Instead, he was sentenced to 24 months in jail which will be followed by two years of supervised release. After the sentencing, Keys tweeted that his lawyers would file a motion to stay the sentence. 2 years. We plan on filing a motion to stay the sentence. — Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) April 13, 2016 At the time of the hack, Keys was working for Tribune Media-owned Fox 40 in Sacramento. He was convicted of sharing the login credentials of the company's CMS with Anonymous. Hacker "Sharpie" then used the information to deface an article that was live on the LA Times site for 40 minutes before an editor noticed the digital vandalism and fixed the issue.
Anonymous declares 'total war' on Donald Trump
Donald Trump is in the sights of hacktivist collective Anonymous again. On March 4th the group posted a video declaring "total war" on the presidential candidate. It hopes to not only bring down many of Trump's sites, but also halt his presidential bid by uncovering and exposing embarrassing information. "We need you to shut down his campaign and sabotage his brand," said a Guy Fawkes-masked individual in the video.
Yik Yak 'Handles' finally attach names to posts
Since it launched, Yik Yak has allowed users to anonymously post messages and pictures viewable by others within their local area. Popular among students, the service has been controversial and considered by some as a vehicle for cyberbullying, and threats of violence, but now for the first time it's letting users attach their nicknames to posts. If you choose to grab a "Handle," it will be on by default for new posts afterwards, but you can choose to post without it, or continue using the service without one.
Anonymous-linked hacker rescued at sea and then arrested
A purported member of online activist group Anonymous was arrested by the FBI in Miami after a Disney cruise ship rescued him and his wife from a sailboat near Cuba. As NBC reports, the FBI had been investigating Martin Gottesfeld since October 2014 for his possible involvement with Anonymous' cyberattacks against a Boston hospital.
Anonymous takes credit for cyberattacks crippling Turkey
Apparently, the hacktivists from Anonymous aren't just targeting ISIS directly -- they're causing chaos for indirectly responsible countries, too. The collective is taking credit for an escalating series of cyberattacks that have disrupted banks, internet backbones and government websites in Turkey. The campaign is meant to punish Turkey for allegedly turning a blind eye to activities that fund ISIS' extremism, such as oil smuggling. According to Radware, the attacks have been so fierce that they took down access to 400,000 sites and left Turkey blocking traffic in an attempt to keep sites online.
Anonymous goes to war with ISIS over Paris attacks
In the wake of ISIS' coordinated attacks on Paris Friday night that left 129 civilians dead and scores more injured, the loosely-affiliated hacker collective known as Anonymous announced Sunday the launch of a massive cyber-campaign, dubbed #OPParis, designed to scrub the terrorist organization's influence from the internet while French airstrikes wipe ISIS strongholds off the map. "We can not fight them with guns and rifles," an Anonymous spokesperson told the BBC, "stopping their propaganda is an effective way to weaken their manpower and their presence in the Internet."
Anonymous posts the names of people it believes are KKK members
Online activist group Anonymous has followed through on its promise to divulge the names of people it believes are involved in the Ku Klux Klan. On November 2nd, Anonymous outlined its plan to release about 1,000 names, with a chosen date of November 5th for the full info dump. An early leak of the list claimed to name politicians and police officers as KKK members, though many of those "outed" at the time denied their involvement. The list released today includes fewer than 1,000 names, though it claims to reveal popular online gathering spaces for KKK members and the names of regional groups. Anonymous notes that it collected the data over 11 months through interviews with experts, public documents and "digital espionage." In some cases, purported KKK affiliates spoke with Anonymous members via chat services, the group says. "You never know who you are talking to on the internet," Anonymous writes.
ICYMI: Floating wind farm, autonomous robot delivery & more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-570480{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-570480, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-570480{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-570480").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Delivery company Starship Technologies will begin testing sidewalk-scooting autonomous delivery robots next year in London and the U.S. They can go up to 4 miles-per-hour and carry about 20 pounds worth of whatever it is you've ordered. Scotland's coast will be home to Europe's largest offshore wind farm. And Georgia Tech researchers are studying fire ants to try to engineer self-healing materials.
