“Hacktivist” group Anonymous has issued yet another threat of a cyber attack, this time against Facebook, reports tech blog Mashable.
The loosely organised group of hackers has declared, in a statement aimed at the global body of Facebook users, that “your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed”.
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The statement goes on to explain the reasoning for what has been dubbed, “OpFacebook”:
Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.
These claims are reminiscent of Anonymous fan and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s statement that “Facebook is the most appalling spying machine ever invented”.
Whatever the stated reasons for the operation, some have correctly pointed out that Facebook has been beset with privacy issues for a considerable period of time. As such, they wonder whether the timing of the operation may have more to do with Anonymous’ stated plan to launch its own social-network, AnonPlus.
Plans for AnonPlus were announced following Anonymous being booted off Google’s social network Google+, reportedly for violating community standards.
At the time of the announcement of AnonPlus, reports said that the site consisted of a splash screen which explained the reasoning behind the site: “A new social network where there is no fear…of censorship…of blackout…nor of holding back.”
The hacker hacked
In a twist however, at the time of writing, AnonPlus has been hacked.
The site [Warning: Very graphic images] now carries the message:
In response to your hacking to the website of the Syrian Ministry of Defence, the Syrian people have decided to purify the internet of your pathetic website. Your website has been hacked, and here we leave you these photos showing the scale of terrorism committed by Muslim Brotherhood Organization, whose members have been killing Syrian citizens – civilian and military. You are defending this terrorits [sic] organization and this is our response. here is photos of the Syrian Army Martyrs
Following the initial reports of threat to Facebook, an Anonymous Twitter account tweeted a disclaimer regarding the operation to “kill” Facebook:
“#OpFacebook is being organised by some Anons. This does not necessarily mean that all of #Anonymous agrees with it.”
Image: AnonPlus Development Blog
