‘Operation global blackout’ — Anonymous targets Facebook

Facebook has once again caught the attention of everyone’s favourite hacktivist group, Anonymous, reports Business Insider. The group has been on a retaliation quest over the past few days, following the takedown of MegaUpload. In a weekend of mass attacks, the group diverted all traffic away from CBS.com, took down Universal Music Group and various government sites.

A new video posted on a supposed Anonymous-affiliated YouTube account, has singled out Facebook as the group’s next target. The video, which encourages people to download a linked program that they can use to attack Facebook, was only uploaded a few hours ago.

The attack, which is set for January 28th, is part of what the group is calling the second phase of Operation Global Blackout. In the video, Anonymous mentions that “they should have expected” them and that operation “Facebook Engaged” is on the way.

“While it is true that Facebook has at least 60 000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down.”

The group is notorious for targeting big corporations and government entities. Sites targeted in the past include the United Nations, Xbox Live, U.S. Bank, Twitter, and YouTube.

Last week the group also released a video in which it claimed to have access to the servers of the United Nations, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and various banks, and threatened to take them down. “We are prepared to launch a global blackout of these websites” if Megaupload isn’t back online in 72 hours, the video said.

“We have access to banking and credit card information of millions of citizens. But as for the citizens, do not fear — for your accounts will not be compromised. This is simply to raise awareness — a demonstration to those that doubt our abilities. To those that support SOPA and PIPA. To those congressmen that want to vote yes on those bills. We are not f-ing playing. You have been warned.”