Data securityAnonymous targets child porn sites, releases names of 1,500 members
Last week hackers from the hacktivist movement Anonymous took down more than forty child pornography websites and leaked the names of more than 1,500 members that belonged to one of the sites Law enforcement officials may have a surprising new ally in the fight against child pornography and those who distribute it
In a surprising switch, Anonymous targets child porn sites // Source: siliconrepublic.com
Last week hackers from the hacktivist movement Anonymous took down more than forty child pornography websites and leaked over 1,500 names of members that belonged to one of the sites.
The cyberattacks, dubbed “Operation Darknet,” initially began on 14 October after members of Anonymous discovered a compendium of child-pornography sites contained on a secret website called the Hidden Wiki, a collection of hundreds of various underground websites.
After removing the links to the child-pornography sites, the administrator of the section re-inserted the links spurring Anonymous to additional action. Upon further investigation, hacktivists discovered that 95 percent of the links originated from Freedom Hosting, a hosting server.
According to Anonymous, prior to taking down Freedom Hosting, the group issued a warning to the host to remove the illegal content from their servers. After refusing to remove the child-pornography, Anonymous proceeded to infiltrate the server and shut it down.
In addition, the group singled out Lolita City, a file-sharing site for pedophiles, by releasing the names of the site’s 1,589 active members.
In a statement, the group said, “The owners and operators at Freedom Hosting are openly supporting child pornography and enabling pedophiles to view innocent children, fueling their issues and putting children at risk of abduction, molestation, rape, and death.”
Anonymous explained, “By taking down Freedom Hosting, we are eliminating forty-plus child pornography websites, among these is Lolita City, one of the largest child pornography websites to date containing more than 100GB of child pornography. We will continue to not only crash Freedom Hosting’s server, but any other server we find to contain, promote, or support child pornography.”
In a stern warning, Anonymous said individuals and servers that engage in the distribution of child pornography would also become the target of cyberattacks.
“It does not matter who you are, if we find you to be hosting, promoting, or supporting child pornography, you will become a target.”
