Timeline of events associated with Anonymous

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anonymous is a decentralised virtual community.[1] They are commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals, like its organization, are decentralized. Anonymous seeks mass awareness and revolution against what the group perceives as corrupt entities, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Anonymous has had a hacktivist impact.[2] This is a timeline of activities reported to have been carried out by the group.

2007

  • January: Radio host Hal Turner sued several online groups, alleging Anonymous "posted unauthorized copies of his radio shows online, attacked [his] server so as to make it unavailable, and placed unauthorised orders for goods, services and merchandise from third parties in [his] name." The case was dismissed in December for lack of response.[3]
  • December: A man was arrested in Toronto on charges of luring a child under the age of 14, attempting to invite sexual touching, attempted exposure, and other charges. Police stated that Anonymous, a cyber-vigilante group which trolls for pedophiles and then "outs" them, had targeted the suspect before law enforcement was involved, and cautioned that such interference could impede official investigations.[4][5][6]

2008

  • February–December: Known as Project Chanology, Anonymous organized multiple in-person pickets in front of Churches of Scientology world-wide, starting February 10 and running throughout the year, achieving coordinated pickets in over 100 cities, thousands of protestors, and wearing Guy Fawkes masks.[9]
  • June: Anonymous claimed responsibility for attacking and defacing websites and forums of SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop) and AllHipHop, causing the sites to temporarily shut down. They also stole personal information about SOHH employees.[12] (See also SOHH § Defacement.)

2009

  • January: Anonymous targeted California teen McKay Hatch who runs the No Cussing Club, a website against profanity. Hatch's home address, phone number, and other personal information were leaked on the internet, and his family received hate mail, obscene phone calls, bogus pizza deliveries, and pornography through the mail.[15][16][17]

2010

  • January: Anonymous attacked websites of the governments of Tunisia and Zimbabwe over censorship issues related to WikiLeaks.[20]
  • July: Anonymous flooded the Oregon Tea Party's Facebook page when they found out that OTP had been using part of Anonymous' slogan, "We Are Legion". OTP surrendered, apologized and recanted.[23]
  • July: In response to Chelsea Manning's imprisonment and treatment after leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, Anonymous threatened to disrupt activities at Marine Corps Brig, Quantico by cyber-attacking communications, exposing private information of personnel, and other harassment methods. Military spokespersons responded that the threat has been referred to law enforcement and counterterrorism officials and requested an investigation.[24][25]
  • September: Anonymous targeted major pro-copyright and anti-piracy organizations, law firms, individuals, and entertainment industry websites in retaliation for DDoS attacks on torrent sites.[26][27] (See also Operation Payback.)
  • December: Anonymous promoted sifting through WikiLeaks to identify potentially overlooked cables, making short videos covering the topic, and flooding the internet with them.[30]

2011

  • January 3: Anonymous got involved during the Tunisian Revolution and engaged in DDoS attacks on key Tunisian websites—including the president, prime minister, ministry of industry, ministry of foreign affairs, and the stock exchange—taking down at least 8 websites and defacing several others. Anonymous distributed information and scripts to help Tunisians bypass government censorship, and Anonymous' own website also came under DDoS attack.[20][31][32][33]
  • January 9: Anonymous hacked and defaced the website of Fine Gael, an Irish political party.[34]
  • February 5–6: The CEO of security firm HBGary announced they had successfully infiltrated Anonymous. In retaliation, Anonymous hacked and vandalized the company's website, took control of the company's e-mail, and took down the phone system. Anonymous also hacked the CEO's Twitter account and doxed him online.[35]
  • March 14: Anonymous threatened to release Bank of America emails purported to show evidence of fraud in the force-placed insurance market. The emails were alleged to have come from a former employee of a subsidiary to Bank of America.[40]
  • June 12: Anonymous claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack of the website of the National Police Corps of Spain, asserting it was a legitimate form of peaceful protest in retaliation for the arrest of three individuals alleged to be associated with acts of cyber civil disobedience attributed to Anonymous.[43]
  • June 15: The group launched DDoS attacks on ninety-one Malaysian government websites in retaliation for their censoring of websites.[44]
  • June 20: Operation AntiSec — The group collaborated with LulzSec to hack the websites of a number of government and corporate sources and release information from them.[50][51] As well as targeting American sites, Anonymous also targeted government sites in Tunisia, Anguilla, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Turkey, and Australia. On July 21, Anonymous released two documents allegedly taken from NATO.[52]
  • June 28: Anonymous announced that within the next 24 hours, it would hack into the website of the Knesset, the legislature of Israel, and knock it offline. It was stated that the planned attacks were a response to alleged hacking attacks by Israeli intelligence such as the Stuxnet virus, a computer virus which allegedly was created by Israeli and U.S. intelligence and targeted the Iranian nuclear program.[53]
  • August: Someone announced "Operation Facebook", an alleged plan to take down Facebook on November 5, 2011. It was an attempted revival of an earlier OpFacebook that was also abandoned.[54]
  • August: Operation BART — After Bay Area Rapid Transit shut down cell phone service in an attempt to disconnect protesters from assembling after a police shooting, Anonymous sent out a mass email/fax bomb to BART personnel and organized multiple mass in-person protests at the network's Civic Center station. Anonymous also hacked the BART website, and released the personal information of 102 BART police officers, as well as account information for about 2,000 customers.[55]
  • August: Dubbed "Shooting Sheriffs Saturday," Anonymous hacked 70 (mostly rural) law enforcement websites and released 10 GB of leaked emails, social security numbers of police, training files, informant information and other information.[56]
  • August: Anonymous hacked the Syrian Ministry of Defense website and replaced it with an image of the pre-Ba'athist flag, a symbol of the pro-democracy movement in the country, as well as a message supporting the 2011 Syrian uprising and calling on members of the Syrian Army to defect to protect protesters.[57]
  • August 17: (Operation Pharisee) Anonymous organized efforts against the Vatican's websites, coinciding with World Youth Day 2011. Hacking was unsuccessful and a two-day DDoS attack failed to slow the website.[58]
  • October 6: Op Cartel — Anonymous claimed Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas had kidnapped one of the group's members, demanded the hostage be freed, and threatened to publish personal information about members of the cartel and their collaborators in politics, police, military, and business. The website of Gustavo Rosario Torres, a former Tabasco state prosecutor, was defaced with a message suggesting his involvement with the organization. Anonymous claimed in early November that the victim had been freed, but reporters did not find evidence of Anonymous involvement and noted a lack of details and police reports. The Veracruz state attorney general couldn't confirm the kidnapping.[60]
  • November 7: (Operation Brotherhood Takedown) Anonymous threatened to take down the websites of the Muslim Brotherhood, and on November 12 the Muslim Brotherhood announced that four websites were temporarily taken down by a DDoS attack.[61]

2012

  • January: Anonymous hacked the website of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association and released information about its members' identities, addresses, and credit cards.[64]
  • February: (Operation Russia) Anonymous hackers obtained access to the emails of several prominent pro-Kremlin activists and officials including Vasily Yakemenko, head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, Kristina Potupchik, press secretary for the Nashi youth movement, and Oleg Khorokhordin, deputy head of the Department for Internal Affairs at the Presidential Administration. Twitter account @OP_Russia posted links to copies of the emails, which disclosed how some influential bloggers and trolls had been paid to post pro-Putin comments and stories on negative press articles on the internet.[68]
  • February 3: Anonymous leaked a recorded conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard officials discussing hacking investigations.[70]
  • February 10: Anonymous claimed responsibility for taking down the CIA website for several hours.[72]
  • February 29: After Interpol announced arrests of 25 suspected Anonymous members, its website briefly went down in an apparent cyberattack.[73]
  • March 6: Donncha O'Cearbhaill was charged in connection with the leaked FBI–Scotland Yard call in February, and released the next day.[75][76]
  • March 7: A DDoS attack by Anonymous temporarily brought down the official website of the Vatican.[77]
  • March 12: A second DDoS attack by Anonymous brought down the Vatican's official website for several hours, and the group also hacked Vatican Radio and accessed its database.[79]
  • March 16: Anonymous took down Monsanto's Hungarian website, which remained offline until March 26.[80]
  • April 5: Anonymous hacked 485 Chinese government websites, some repeatedly, to protest the government's treatment of citizens.[82]
  • April 21: Anonymous Philippines defaced the China University Media Union website in response to the University of the Philippines hack and the Scarborough Shoal dispute.[84]
  • May 17: Anonymous attacked the websites of the India Supreme Court and the ruling Congress party in protest of ISP blocks on video and file‑sharing sites.[85]
  • May 30: Anonymous threatened to disrupt the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix and claimed to have accessed personal information from the F1 website.[89] Then on also May 30, Anonymous leaked a two‑hour video filmed in Sagard, Quebec, showing a 2008 birthday celebration for Jacqueline Desmarais attended by prominent political and cultural figures.[90][91]
  • June 8: (Operation Cyprus) Anonymous released a video announcing plans to target the government of Cyprus.[92] On June 26, DDoS attacks took down 47 websites belonging to the Republic of Cyprus for about 15 hours. The government stated that Anonymous was responsible.[93]
  • June 26: (Operation Japan) The website of the Japan Business Federation was taken offline. Anonymous claimed responsibility and referred to the action as part of "Operation Japan".[94] The incident followed amendments to Japan's copyright laws that increased penalties for illegal downloading.[95]
  • July: Anonymous hacked Australian ISP AAPT and leaked 40 GB of partially redacted customer data. The incident was described as a protest against data retention policy.[96]
  • July 6: As part of the Yo Soy 132 protest movement, the Mexican branch of Anonymous defaced the website of the PRI party and left anti‑fraud slogans.[97][98][99] On July 20, a second PRI‑related website was defaced by the Mexican branch of Anonymous, again connected to the Yo Soy 132 movement. The attackers replaced the page with an image of president‑elect Peña Nieto and anti‑fraud slogans.[100]
  • July 9: Anonymous provided WikiLeaks with more than 2.4 million Syrian government emails.[101] (See also Syria Files.)
  • July 25: (Operation Anaheim) Anonymous released personal information belonging to several Anaheim police officials, including the police chief, during an online protest related to the Anaheim police shooting.[102]
  • August 10: (Operation Myanmar) Anonymous carried out DDoS attacks and defaced more than 100 Myanmar websites, allegedly in reaction to killing Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar.[103] Myanmar‑based hackers conducted counterattacks.[104]
  • August 13: Anonymous hacked two Uganda government websites. The incident was described as a protest against the country's strict anti‑gay laws.[105]
  • September: Anonymous claimed responsibility for leaking government documents and taking down the website of Hong Kong's National Education Centre during protests over the proposed Moral and National Education curriculum.[106]
  • November 17: Anonymous claimed it deployed a "Great Oz" firewall to prevent alleged US election tampering.[110]

2013

  • January 13: Anonymous Mexico penetrated the website of the Mexico army, SEDENA, disclosed information including usernames and passwords, and replaced the site content with a video referencing riots during Peña Nieto's presidential inauguration and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.[115] (See also: Yo Soy 132)
  • March: During the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, cyberattacks were exchanged between Philippine and Malaysian hacking groups. Philippine sources reported that Malaysian hackers defaced Philippine websites and posted threats.[118] In response, the Philippine Cyber Army defaced 175 Malaysian websites, including state-owned pages. McAfee researchers later listed the Philippine Cyber Army as a global hacktivist threat, noting its ties to Anonymous.[119]
  • April: After Cleveland police fired 137 rounds at a car in December 2012, killing its two occupants,[120] Anonymous released personal information of the officers involved in April 2013.[121] Twelve officers were later fired or disciplined, and criminal charges were considered by a grand jury.[120]
  • April 2: Anonymous announced "Operation Free Korea," calling for political changes in North Korea and threatening cyberattacks if demands were not met.[122] On April 3, the group claimed to have stolen 15,000 user passwords.[123] On April 4, Anonymous claimed responsibility for hacking the Uriminzokkiri website and its associated Twitter and Flickr accounts.[124] A defaced image of Kim Jong Un was posted on the group's Flickr page, and The Jester (hacktivist) separately claimed attacks on Air Koryo and other North Korean sites.[125] On June 22, Anonymous claimed to have stolen North Korean military documents and said they would be released on June 25, though no documents were published.[126] (See also: 2013 Korean crisis and Cyberactivism in North Korea)
  • April 6: (OpIsrael) Anonymous-affiliated groups and other anti-Israel actors carried out coordinated cyberattacks against Israeli websites to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day.[127][128] The campaign consisted mainly of denial of service attacks and targeted government, banking, media, and small business websites. Most attacks were repelled, though the Central Bureau of Statistics site may have been briefly taken offline.[129][130] Some sites were defaced with anti-Israel slogans, while various social media accounts associated with the attackers made false claims of large-scale damage, including fabricated financial losses and nationwide outages.[131] Israeli hackers responded by taking down the OpIsrael website, replacing it with pro-Israel messages and the national anthem Hatikvah, and by targeting sites associated with Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and individuals involved in the operation.[131][132]
  • May 10: After a Philippine Coast Guard vessel fired on the Taiwanese fishing boat Guang Da Xing No. 28 on May 9, killing a fisherman, hackers identifying as "AnonTAIWAN" attacked Philippine government websites and leaked account information. The attacks caused disruptions to government websites during the Philippine general election.[135]
  • May 28: Anonymous published personal information belonging to members of the English Defence League (a far right street protest movement) in what the group described as an effort to destroy the organization.[136]
  • June 7: Anonymous released documents they described as secret NSA files, though the materials were already publicly available.[137]
  • June 30: After a Hawthorne, California police officer shot a dog during an arrest, Anonymous issued a video threat directed at the police department.[138] The city website also experienced a DDoS attack, though it is unclear whether Anonymous was responsible.[139]
  • July 4: Anonymous hacked the national website of Nigeria after the passage of legislation imposing prison sentences of up to 14 years for same-sex relationships.[140]
  • November: Anonymous Philippines hacked 115 government websites during protests against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), prompting investigations by Philippine law enforcement agencies.[144] The NBI was ordered to investigate the attacks.[145] Some senators downplayed the incidents but acknowledged the grievances raised, while Senator Trillanes IV expressed concern about the potential impact of such attacks on government systems.[146]

2014

  • April: (#OpJustina) Anonymous carried out DDoS attacks against Boston Children's Hospital in connection with the custody case of Justina Pelletier. A member involved in the attacks was later arrested while attempting to flee to Cuba.[147][148]
  • August 10: (Operation Ferguson) Anonymous released a video criticizing the Ferguson, Missouri, police following the Shooting of Michael Brown and warned of retaliation if protesters were harmed.[149] On August 12, Anonymous released personal information belonging to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar after he declined to release the name of the officer involved in the shooting and dismissed the group's threats.[150] The group also released incorrect information claiming to identify the officer who shot Brown.[151]
  • October 1: (Operation Hong Kong) Anonymous released a video announcing cyberattacks against the Government of Hong Kong in response to police actions during the 2014 Hong Kong protests.[152][153] The group expressed support for the protesters and threatened to target government websites and databases.[154] On October 2, Hong Kong media reported that Anonymous had taken over several company websites.[155] The Hong Kong Government stated that its systems remained functional and that cyber defenses had been strengthened.[156]
  • November 8: (Operation Infosurge) Anonymous Leyte defaced and disrupted Philippine government websites to protest the government's response to Typhoon Haiyan (also called Super Typhoon Yolanda).[157] More than 10 websites were defaced and 33 others were rendered inaccessible for up to seven hours.[158] A week earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry had been hacked, with about 2,000 email addresses, usernames, and password hashes leaked online.[159][160] The operation coincided with the anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan, which saw protests from various online groups.[161]

2015

  • January: Anonymous launched Operation Death Eaters, calling for public assistance in compiling information about alleged international child abuse networks.[162]
  • January 9: Following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Anonymous released a statement offering condolences, condemning the attack as an assault on freedom of expression, and announcing plans to target jihadist websites and social media accounts linked to Islamic terrorism.[163]
  • February 11: Anonymous altered the online configuration of at least one automated fuel tank gauge, changing its label from "DIESEL" to "WE_ARE_LEGION". Reports noted that such access could allow a hacker to disrupt station operations by falsifying fuel levels, triggering alarms, or locking operators out of the system.[164]
  • April 2: (Operation Stop Reclamation) Anonymous Philippines attacked and defaced 132 Chinese government, educational, and commercial websites in response to China's reclamation activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea.[165]
  • July 19: After a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask was shot and killed by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer on July 17, Anonymous-affiliated accounts announced Operation Anon Down. The RCMP website was reported inaccessible nationwide on July 19.[166][167]
  • July 21: (Operation StormFront) Anonymous released a video announcing plans to attack the white supremacist website Stormfront due to its racist and extremist content. The attack was scheduled for August 1.[168][169]
  • October 22: (Operation KKK) Anonymous-associated accounts claimed to have accessed a KKK-linked Twitter account and announced plans to expose identifying information for up to 1,000 KKK members. Subsequent releases included several hundred names and social media profiles.[170][171]

2016

2017

  • February: A hacker broke into the servers of dark web hosting company Freedom Hosting II, discovered that half of their client's websites were child pornography or other illegal activities, stole information, publicly dumped it, and compromised the company's servers. Security experts later noted that the Tor network had shrunk by 15-20%.[174][175]

2019

  • December: Anonymous gained access to six email accounts of the Chilean Army and revealed information related to intelligence, operations, finances and international relations from 2015 to 2019.[177]

2020

  • May 28: (#PLDTHacked) Anonymous Philippines hacked into the Twitter account of PLDT's customer service, changed the profile's name to "PLDT Doesn't Care", and posted a message which began "As the pandemic arises, Filipinos need fast internet to communicate with their loved ones. Do your job."[178]
  • June 1: Anonymous Brasil posted personal, location and financial information on Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and his cabinet. They also published information about billionaire businessman Luciano Hang.[180]
  • June 19: Anonymous claimed responsibility for stealing a trove of documents and leaking the 269-gigabyte collection through DDoSecrets.[181] See BlueLeaks.
  • November 20: The Uganda Police website was down for a number of days. Anonymous claimed credit and said it was in response to the violent crackdown on protesters following the arrest of presidential candidate Bobi Wine.[182]

2021

  • January: (#OpsWakeUp21) Eleven Anonymous Malaysia suspects were arrested after they hacked and defaced 17 websites of local governments and universities.[183]
  • September 3: Anonymous announces #OperationJane to sabotage websites related to the recently passed Texas Heartbeat Act.[185]
  • September 13: Release of hundreds of gigabytes of personal information of Epik's customers, customer's credit card information, internal company emails, and other information.[187] A further 300 gigabytes of Epik's data were released on September 29 and October 4 including bootable disk images.[188] (See 2021 Epik data breach)
  • September: Twitter suspended the account of Anonymous Germany (@AnonNewsDE) after they hacked accounts of conspiracy theorist Attila Hildmann and doxxed him on Twitter.[189]
  • December 21: Anonymous Brazil hacked the website of the Brumadinho City Hall and left a video in remembrance of the dam disaster that occurred on 25 January 2019 which caused the deaths of 270 people.[190]

2022

  • Anonymous conducted numerous cyber-operations against Russia starting February when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Most of the actions were theft and publication of Russian emails and data. See Anonymous and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

2023

  • October 7: Hackers engaged in several online disruptions to Israeli systems including a DDoS attack on Israel's Red Alert app which provides real-time rocket information to citizens. Anonymous Global issued a warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Gaza war.[191]

2024

2026

  • April 23: (#OpEchoNuke) Anonymous-affiliated participants launched a decentralized awareness campaign aimed at revitalizing and spreading the Anonymous collective's identity and ideology on a global scale. The operation involved mass distribution of physical materials including Stray stickers placed in public spaces, alongside coordinated online posts across multiple platforms, consistently referencing the collective's cultural roots — including the 2005 film V for Vendetta, the imageboard 4chan, and the broader hacktivist tradition. The campaign operated without central coordination, consistent with Anonymous' decentralized structure.[194]

See also

References

Further reading

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