Anonymous Make Plans to Attack Facebook

Anonymous are turning their attention to Facebook, with a new press release talking of an attack on November 5.  This date is when the British people celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates the man who attempted to blow up Britain’s House of Parliament and his consequent capture.

November 5 has also been immortalised in the movie “V for Vendetta”, with the Guy Fawkes masks used in that film long used as imagery by members of the Anonymous hacking group.  Anonymous are obviously not happy with Facebook, which you can read here in an excerpt from the press release.

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows: Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.

Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

These are pretty strong words, and this attack will put Facebook in the company of the International Monetary Fund, News Corp., and the Iranian government among others – all of whom have been singled out and attacked by Anonymous.

After reading the comments in a number of blogs related to this press release, many users seem worried that Anonymous will release their personal Facebook data to the world.  I guess we will have to wait until November 5 to see what damage Anonymous manage to do, although this date does give Facebook a lot of time to get themselves ready.