What Is Anonymous (Internet Group)?
Anonymous started in 2003 as a group of hackers and activists on the 4chan chat board when members began working together. Community members of the Anonymous network online work together through secure social media channels and encrypted Internet message boards.
Anonymous performs major cyber-attacks on governments, their associates, professional groups, businesses, and the Church of Scientology above all else.
Those who want to join Anonymous expose their identity while wearing Guy Fawkes masks to disguise themselves in public. Guy Fawkes served as a member of local Catholic Englishmen during their failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot to kill King James. The Gunpowder Plot existed as a plot to win religious freedom under the rule of King James. When the House of Lords exploded, King James’s residence, Elizabeth, was supposed to take power as the Catholic head of state.
After his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, Fawkes became identified with this failed event, which has been honored by UK ceremonies each year since 1605. Fawkes’s figure gets burned on a bonfire during this day, and fireworks often join the ceremony.
Actions and Methods of Anonymous (Internet Group)
Anonymous groups act as interconnected groups that focus on achieving common targets together. Members of it have pursued different objectives throughout history that combine political activism with disruptive actions to oppose perceived threats to their colleagues or allies.
It members organize to express support when political uprisings like the Arab Spring occur. The primary forms of public demonstration and response used by it include launching distributed denial of service assaults against targets such as governments or organizations. The group received global attention when it blocked Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal services due to their payment freezes for WikiLeaks in 2010. The group conducts these operations under the name Operation Payback.
Reach and Decline of Anonymous (Internet Group)
The lack of traditional leadership inside Anonymous makes it hard to estimate how many people participate in its actions. The effectiveness of an Anonymous operation depends directly on how many people participate. Several independent groups can label themselves as Anonymous to participate in a shared operation.
After the FBI placed its informant inside, Anonymous operations decreased substantially. Through FBI collaboration with ex-hackers, they found and arrested the leader of LulzSec’s activities. His involvement in this group caused his capture by authorities. After the police arrested him, the FBI used Sabu to spy on Anonymous operations. After LulzSec ended its activities, Sabu started AntiSec, and the FBI directed this second hacking operation.
Conclusion
Finding specific results from Anonymous is challenging because the group stays secretive about its structure. After 2011, the group made fewer public actions, leading people to wonder if its most prominent members were taking less risky actions to stay hidden. The group still operates by sharing news through its official website and Twitter platform.