Took from http://www.theepochtimes.com
The “hacktivist” group, Anonymous, posted a mission statement to Pastebin on June 12 describing the reasoning behind their planned and upcoming attack on official Malaysian government websites. Anonymous warned, “We fear that if you make further decisions to take away human freedom, we [will be] obligated to act fast and have no mercy.”
Anonymous claims that Malaysia is preventing the free distribution of information by censoring its internet, calling it “one of the world’s strictest governments,” similar to the reasoning behind their recent attacks on Turkish government websites, after which 32 people—who the Turkish government claimed were members of Anonymous—were arrested.
Sources within Anonymous revealed several details in an exclusive interview with the Epoch Times on the upcoming action, organization, and target selection process of the group.
Anonymous revealed that target countries are selected based on input from users in those countries, however when asked whether or not there were Anonymous in Malaysia, they responded only that “[We] cannot give you that info.”
They further revealed that certain countries, however notorious for internet censorship, like China, are incredibly difficult to attack because they do not have many users who are based in the country and therefore do not have effective inside sources to relay information. The group says an attack on China might come someday, but not any time soon.
Sources within Anonymous went on to say they understand that the Malaysian government will “not be happy” and are anticipating a negative reaction. In order to remain covert and prepare for the operation, Anonymous have been advising all of their participants to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in order to encrypt their network connections and transfer their data from remote locations that cannot be accessed without authentication.
The sources say that users who have been arrested before failed to use VPNs or other security measures to protect their identities. Anonymous does respond when their members are detained however.
The group retaliated against Spain on Friday for arresting three of its members by taking down the Spanish official police website—the effort being known as OpPolicia—for “a combined total of a lot more than an hour”, contrary to what some news sources reported.
The sources said that even now, “OpTurkey”, the continuation of efforts against the Turkish government in response to the arrests made in Turkey, was underway. One member said, “I cannot speak for the future of the operation, but currently [the site that is targeted] has been down for 1 hour already and it seems more popular than OpPolicia, and it looks like the target’s server is crap, so it might stay down for some time.”
They revealed that they fear “being backtracked” and do worry about getting caught, however they feel safer knowing that “there is a liberating faith” in the nature of Anonymous. One member stated “It’s what makes it fun though.”
The nature of Anonymous is most accurately described in their name. They view themselves as less of a real group and more of a collective of voices who speak out and protest against censorship and what they believe are efforts to suppress the freedom of speech and information. The composition of their membership may vary from day to day and anyone can be a part of anonymous at any time without any real or permanent stake.
When asked if they had a large user base in the Middle East, they responded, “[our] groups aren’t groups, they’re scattered everywhere. We don’t even know.”
The sources also stated that they have had interaction with another hacker group which has been making headlines, LulzSec. However, they stated that they have not been involved with any of LulzSec’s activities nor has LulzSec been involved with Anonymous operations.
They did state that in a sense, LulzSec are also “Anons” because they share a similar root. “They are Anons,” however, “LulzSec has nothing to do with Anonymous, apart that they sprang of the same base.”
Anonymous continues to affirm that “we’re trying to loosen the ties on Malaysia’s government and its internet censorship.”
According to purported Anonymous images circulating around the web, the attack on Malaysia is to commence on June 15th.
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