The Islamic State terror group’s supporters responded Tuesday to threats of “massive cyberattacks” by Anonymous by shrugging them off and calling the hacktivists “idiots.”
Anonymous, the political hacker movement, issued the threats on Monday in a video in response to the Paris attacks on Friday that left 129 dead and 352 wounded.
“The #Anonymous hackers threatened in new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic state (idiots),” reads a memo reportedly shared over the messaging app Telegram this week by pro-Islamic State users and confirmed by SITE, an organization that monitors jihadi activity on the Web.
“What they gonna hack?” asked the author of the communique, but not before claiming that Anonymous isn’t capable of compromising anything beyond social media accounts and email addresses.
Hacktivists with Anonymous claimed to take down 5,500 Twitter accounts tied to the Islamic State.
We report that more than 5500 Twitter account of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectUs
— #OpParis (@opparisofficial) November 17, 2015
SEE ALSO: #OpISIS and #OpParis: Anonymous hacktivists to retaliate against ISIS after Paris attacks
Nevertheless, the dispatch goes on to list a series of pointers for sympathisers of ISIS, another name for the Islamic State, who want to protect their online accounts before concluding with the sign-off: “May Allah protect u and all Ansar of the Islamic state from those dirty kuffar.”
Individuals claiming affiliation with Anonymous — a nearly decade-old hacktivist movement that has previously set its sights on corporations, governments and hate groups, among other targets — “declared war” against the Islamic State in a video statement uploaded to YouTube over the weekend; in three days, the clip has been viewed more than 5 million times.
“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down,” the hacktivists vowed. On Twitter, Anons are using the hashtags #OpISIS and #OpParis.
As of Tuesday this week, Anons had begun assembling lists of extremist social media accounts and websites to be taken down, the Independent reported, but the details could not be independently verified.
Absent leadership and with an unknown number of individuals around the world claiming allegiance, Anonymous has had mixed results with past operations, or “Ops.” The hacktivists have previously succeeded with crippling websites and pilfering data from targets, but drew fire from critics last month after an attempt from Anons to out members of the Ku Klux Klan yielded mixed results.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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