Top 10 Infamous Anonymous Hacks
#10: The Minneapolis Police Department
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Anonymous made headlines several times in the 2010s, but went quiet towards the end of the decade. They returned however in 2020 to support the protests sweeping America following the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. A video released on May 28th declared that they’d take revenge on the local police department, and shortly afterwards the Minneapolis police and official city websites went down. Anonymous also leaked hundreds of emails and passwords, although these appear to be from older breaches. Their resurgence in popularity was helped by retweets from K-Pop fans, in an unexpected alliance of activists.
#9: Operation Tunisia
During the Arab Spring, Anonymous was everywhere, with numerous operations in support of anti-government protests. In Egypt, Anons hacked into government websites and took them offline. In Syria, they posted a message supporting the civil uprising on the Defense Ministry website. However, one of their most famous and substantial operations was in Tunisia during the revolution of 2010 and 2011. Anonymous not only took down government websites, they also distributed anonymising software for protesters and helped share videos of the uprising. The revolution ended with President Ben Ali fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
#8: HBGary
In February 2011, security firm HBGary claimed that it had successfully infiltrated Anonymous. The company’s chief executive, Aaron Barr, stated that he would publicly unveil their findings. In retaliation, Anonymous hacked into HBGary’s website, posted thousands of company emails online, and erased various files. Included in the emails were sketchy tactics aimed at discrediting WikiLeaks on behalf of the Bank of America. Following that, Anonymous went after Burr himself and revealed his supposed home address and social security number through Twitter. It was a public relations nightmare for HBGary, and Barr announced his resignation from the company on February 28.
#7: Project Chanology
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One of the first and most popular attacks by Anonymous was aimed at the controversial Church of Scientology. It began on January 14, 2008, when a leaked Scientology video starring Tom Cruise made its way onto YouTube. The Church subsequently filed a copyright violation claim against the website, which Anonymous argued was a form of censorship. Anons sent black faxes to various Scientology centers, and launched denial-of-service attacks against their websites - which is when a website becomes overburdened with traffic, preventing users from accessing the site. Anonymous’ actions greatly increased awareness of the Church’s problematic practices, leading to worldwide protests attended by thousands of people.
#6: Operation Payback
What began as a skirmish soon became an online war. In 2010, private antipiracy company Aiplex Software launched numerous denial-of-service attacks against various torrent sites, such as The Pirate Bay. In response, Anonymous launched a widespread campaign against pro-copyright and anti-piracy organizations, including law firms, lobby groups, the United States Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America, and KISS’s very own Gene Simmons. The campaign broadened to other issues in December, when financial institutions began to freeze donations to WikiLeaks. In what became “Operation Avenge Assange”, Anons launched DDoS attacks against PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and more. When the dust settled, thirteen members of Operation Payback were indicted in federal court on felony charges.
#5: Operation Free Korea
It might seem ambitious to go after North Korea, but ambition is not something Anonymous lacks. In April 2013, Anonymous claimed to have hacked into the state-controlled website Uriminzokkiri and stolen 15,000 “membership records.” They then unveiled a list of demands, including the resignation of Kim Jong-un, the installation of democracy, the abandoning of the country’s nuclear projects, and uncensored internet access for its citizens. They also broke into North Korea’s Flickr site and posted a photo of Kim Jong-un with a pig snout and a Mickey Mouse tattoo. Following that, Anonymous stated that they’d release stolen secret military documents, but these threats never came to fruition.
#4: Operation Megaupload
One of Anonymous’ recurring concerns is with the free dissemination of information and entertainment. Megaupload was one of the biggest file sharing services in the world between 2005 and 2012. In January of 2012 however the United States Department of Justice closed the site on the grounds of copyright infringement and arrested four of its employees. In response, Anonymous launched retaliatory DDoS attacks against numerous government bodies, including the Department of Justice, the Copyright Office, and even the FBI. Entertainment organizations were also targeted, including Universal Music Group, the MPAA, RIAA, and Warner Brothers Music.
#3: Bank of America
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In March 2011, Anonymous released a number of internal emails from the Bank of America. Posted on BankofAmericaSuck.com, they allegedly came from a former employee, and exposed “corruption and fraud”. The source worked for Balboa Insurance, a firm that was owned by the bank until being sold later that same year. The accusations included “forced-place insurance” policies that inflated premiums. The bank also purportedly manipulated numbers used to identify loan insurance accounts, resulting in improper foreclosures. Of course, no one was especially surprised, owing to the bank’s history of shady loan practices.
#2: Westboro Baptist Church
Based in Kansas, the Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for picketing funerals and its history of hate speech. Often described as a hate group, the Church has protested and released inflammatory statements against homosexuals, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, among many others. Anonymous went after the Church in December 2012 after it planned to picket the funerals of Sandy Hook victims. They hacked into members’ social media accounts, launched a DDoS attack on their website, and released personal information - including names and home addresses - of various prominent Church members. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Uganda LGBT Rights Anonymous Hacked Into Government Websites to Protest Stringent LGBT Laws Operation DarkNet Anonymous Published 1,500 Usernames in Relation to Nefarious Activities The Hal Turner Raid Anonymous Took Radio Host Hal Turner’s Website Offline Anonymous vs. The Australian Government Took Down the Prime Minister of Australia’s Website in Response to Imageboard Censorship Defacement of Support Online Hip Hop Anonymous Attacked the Hip Hop News Website in Retaliation for Insults Made Against Them
#1: Operation Sony
To understand Anonymous’ attack on Sony, we need to delve into their past with well-known hacker George Hotz, AKA geohot. Hotz is famous for both unlocking the iPhone and for publishing the root keys of the PlayStation 3 on his website. Sony in turn sued Hotz for his involvement and were granted the IP addresses of everyone who’d visited his site. In retaliation, Anonymous launched various attacks against Sony, like taking down their website and the PlayStation Store and tracking down personal details of various executives. Later, the PlayStation Network suffered a historic outage and up to 77 million personal accounts were breached. While Anonymous Operations denied taking part in the attack, they also admitted that another branch of Anonymous may have been responsible.
