Anonymous declares “total war” on Islamic State after Paris attacks

The Anonymous hacking group has declared “total war” on Islamic State, reports Newsweek. The announcement, which came through a series of Tweets and a YouTube post comes just days after a series of coordinated attacks in Paris left more than 100 dead.

Make no mistake: #Anonymous is at war with #Daesh. We won’t stop opposing #IslamicState. We’re also better hackers. #OpISIS

— Anonymous (@GroupAnon) November 15, 2015

Following the announcement on Twitter the group released a YouTube video with a masked presenter speaking in French.  

In it he or she states, “The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger. Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you.” There are then several images of the aftermath of the attack in Paris last week connecting the announcement directly to last week’s attacks. A second Tweet then followed outlining the group were better hackers than Daesh – an acronym for the Islamic State’s proper Arabic name, al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham.

Make no mistake: #Anonymous is at war with #Daesh. We won’t stop opposing #IslamicState. We’re also better hackers. #OpISIS — Anonymous (@GroupAnon) November 15, 2015

If Anonymous’ previous history of attacking the Islamic State is anything to go by, expect them to be effective.

According to Foreign Policy magazine, the group has dismantled some 149 Islamic State-linked websites and flagged roughly 101,000 Twitter accounts and 5,900 propaganda videos.

While there is little doubt that the wheels of the UK, the US and French security services have been quietly and constantly turning to disrupt the Islamic State’s digital presence, we can’t help feel that Anonymous joining the party will yield very public results.

➤ Hacker Group Anonymous Announces ‘Biggest Operation’ Against ISIS After Paris Attacks [Newsweek]