A hacker startup staffed by (alleged) former members of Anonymous is threatening to publish “identifying information” on key personnel within the cyber activist organization.
”[Anonymous] has truly become moralfags. Anonymous has never been about revolutions,” Hubris, BackTrace’s so-called director of psychological operations, proclaimed to Forbes.
“It’s not about the betterment of mankind. It’s the Internet hate machine, or that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
As such, Hubris said the group would post the names and IM logs of several Anonymous activists who purportedly participated in campaigns against PayPal, Mastercard, HBGary, Westboro Baptist Church and the U.S. Marine Corp.
According to Hubris, the company has saved a triple-encrypted torrent file labeled “insurance” on its website, along with “hundreds” of links to copies on filesharing sites.
The keys will supposedly be released sometime early next week, allowing downloaders to unlock the file and view its contents, which reportedly includes names, pseudonyms, chat logs and methods of Anonymous hackers.
“If you do enough damage to someone, you don’t have to fear retaliation. Once the world sees who these kids are and what they stand for, no one will follow them. They say they fight for free speech, but then they use fear and intimidation, like Scientology or Fox News. That’s not freedom of speech, and we won’t put up with that crap.
“[They should] be making fun of stupid people on the Internet. Laughing at natural disasters. Like back to the good old days. Not trying to overthrow governments. [In the old days], we didn’t break any laws. All we did was hack peoples’ minds, because they’re fuc**** retarded.”
My take on all of this?
Yes, it all sounds terribly melodramatic and could theoretically reveal the identities of several prominent Anonymous members, along with their preferred methods of operations.
Then again, even Hubris admits he hasn’t been involved in Anonymous activities since 2009 – well over two years ago.
It is therefore questionable as to what data BackTrace actually possesses and how relevant it is to current members of the cyber activist group.
BackTrace’s agenda should also be carefully analyzed, as the little known “security” website will undoubtedly gain prestige (and perhaps even a client or two) if its “insurance” file turns out to be even remotely genuine.
