Anonymous, Lulzsec, 4Chan & Tom Cruise’s Scientology

Anonymous

Anonymous’ origin is an interesting study in serendipity. To begin, we need to look at the 4chan message board system. 4chan started in 2003 in the bedroom of a then-15-year-old student, Christopher Poole. The message board’s simple origins were created based on the desire to share interests such as anime, manga, technology, sport, photography, music, hentai, torrents, travel and physical fitness. 4chan has since grown to the point where the Los Angeles Times now reports it as being one of the Internet’s most trafficked imageboards.

Unlike many web forums, 4chan does not have a registration system; it allows users to post blog entries, files and information anonymously. To this end, any message post made without filling in the “Name” field causes posts to be attributed to “Anonymous”. The general understanding on 4chan site is that the name Anonymous does not stand for a single person but rather a collective of users who chose not to identify themselves.

We should pause here and note the pieces of the Anonymous hacktivist group origin puzzle that now fall into place. The fact that 4chan members could secretly post messages (defaulting to the user name Anonymous) not only provides insight into the group name but also sets the stage for a discreet communication mechanism that would support a disjoint, but coordinated set of individuals, in this case a group of hackers performing illegal acts (in the eyes of the government).

While the general public, through continued media reporting, is very aware of the Anonymous group name, very few people outside of the hard-core technology world are aware of the 4chan origin, or how 4chan continues to be in close association with the Anonymous group itself. It has been said that the uploading of Tom Cruise’s scientology video by 4channers which was subsequently removed by the Church of Scientology as quickly as they could resulted in a group of 4channers coming together ‘anonymously’ as a force (dubbed ‘Operation Channology’) to protest against the Church. A series of DDos attacks – especially aimed at the scientologists – eventually occurred as the church began to threaten and stalk anyone removing content or who were part of the ‘anonymous’ underground movement. 4Channers were not to blame as the ultimate root cause seems to be the Church of Scientology. After all, the internet is all about ‘free’ speech and this freedom of speech and truth is and should be protected.

It is widely believed (and in some cases proven) that many early hacking attacks originated from 4chan members. In fact, several hacking attacks actually used 4chan facilities to carry out denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against government websites.

According to Wikipedia, in December 2006 and January 2007, users of 4chan launched DDoS attacks against Hal Turner (an American white nationalist and Holocaust denier) in addition to prank calling his phone-in radio show. In 2008, it was reported that the Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin’s private email account was also hacked by a 4chan user.

While many other reports of hacking by 4chan members can be cited—one particularly memorable, touching event occurred on February 15, 2009. The posting of several YouTube videos featuring the physical abuse of a domestic cat by a person calling himself “Timmy” prompted the 4chan community to track down the originator of the videos. Timmy, who turned out to be a fourteen-year-old from Oklahoma, was reported to his local police department by 4chan members, which resulted in his arrest. The cat was treated by a veterinarian and taken to a safe place. Note the social orientation (hacktivist) of this effort. While not directly attributed to Anonymous, the act did connect the desire of 4chan members to use their technical skills for social good.

LulzSec

Much younger than Anonymous, the hacker group Lulz Security (also known as LulzSec), is reported to be a splinter group of Anonymous. The exact origin of LulzSec as a group is not known; nor is the current relationship between Anonymous and LulzSec known. At times the relationship appears to be one of cooperation, at other times one of frustration, which might be a result of LulzSec’s lack of true hacktivism orientation.

The LulzSec name originated as a derivative of the texting shortcut LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and a shortened version of the word “security.” LulzSec attitudes, public statements and chosen attack victims appear to be far more frivolous that the older Anonymous group.

LulzSec’s first reported attack came in May 2011 against Fox.com. This attack, like more recent LulzSec initiated attacks, does not appear to have a solid philosophical foundation other than at least one LulzSec member did not like some report or personality associated with the attacked entity.

In a supposedly final, odd twist, on June 26, 2011, LulzSec released a statement titled “50 days of lulz,” suggesting the disbanding of their group. Whether the claim was yet another LulzSec joke or LulzSec members could not live without their occasional fame, the group committed another hack against newspapers owned by News Corporation on July 18, 2011, when they posted false reports on the death of Rupert Murdoch.

Written in part by the WDDinc.