Anonymous, Russia and what being a hacker really means
A couple of days ago I had a conversation with Xira Valdés, a journalist at Spain’s SER national radio network, to talk about Anonymous and its attacks on Russia, basically trying to explain the concept of the hacker, why it has nothing to do with crime, but simply with the use of an advanced area of any technology for certain purposes, and how that area can be used, as in this case, for cyberactivism.
Understanding the meaning of the term hacker is fundamental to understanding the phenomenon. Anonymous hackers are generally tech-savvy people who in their professional life usually work in information technology, feed open source repositories or even participate in companies like HackerOne that allow them to train their skills and search for vulnerabilities in companies in exchange for rewards, but who jump at the opportunity to take part in cyberactivism campaigns.
About three weeks ago, Anonymous posted a tweet declaring war on Russia, saying “it was the right thing to do”, and partly in response to a call from the Ukrainian government for cyber-volunteers around the world.
The question was to what extent a relatively loosely coordinated collective like Anonymous could stand up to the country that has most commonly used the net to spread disinformation and attack its enemies, and the answer is that…
