Who is Anonymous? An introduction to the secret hacktivist group

After a few years of silence, the society of online hackers who are deemed as activists, Anonymous, made a resurgence. On May 29, 2020, Anonymous took to Facebook and posted a video threatening to expose the Minneapolis Police Department's crimes after the murder of George Floyd. The resurgence of Anonymous took the internet by storm as the online hacking society evidently follows a cult following.

A few days after the video released by Anonymous, the Minneapolis Police Department's website witnessed malfunctions as it crashed and later asked users to send in a captcha to catch bots. The Anonymous group allegedly carried out this hack and has also reportedly breached into the security of Minneapolis Police Department.

With many people on the internet celebrating the reappearance of Anonymous after a few years, people are also reportedly looking into knowing who is Anonymous and what is its history. 

Also read: Did Anonymous hack Minneapolis police website? Hacktivist group makes a resurgence

Who is Anonymous?

Image courtesy - Still from Anonymous' latest video (Facebook)

Anonymous is one of the most famous collaborations of online hackers around the world. It is a decentralised organisation which is spread across the world and does not follow any form of hierarchy. The hackers are reportedly spread across the world and come together from time to time to typically send a political message. The operations carried out by Anonymous are often anti-establishment and receive a substantial amount of support from people around the world. 

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Anonymous' Moto 

We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect us

Biggest operations

The Anonymous in the past has held cyber attacks against companies working towards copyright preservation. The hacking society has been vocal about their hate towards copyright preservation as it restricts free speech. Back in 2010, Operation Payback carried out by Anonymous targetted various movie and art studios along with production houses of American and copyright protection groups. The group has also backed the efforts of Julian Assange and became supporters of WikiLeaks. 

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To counter the efforts taken by various authorities to take down WikiLeaks, Anonymous targetted various corporate entities. Among those corporations was PayPal which lose over $5 million due to a cyber DDoS attack. Anonymous later also targetted vocal criticizes of WikiLeaks through a series of cyberattacks. 

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