Compliance Management, Privacy, Threat Management

Anonymous warns Trump, claims credit for website DDoS attack

Last month Anonymous set its sights on ISIS, now the hacktivist collective has targeted Donald Trump, claiming it had taken down a Trump Tower website via a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in response to the billionaire presidential candidate's heated rhetoric and call to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.

"The more the United States appears to be targeting Muslims, not just radical Muslims, you can be sure that ISIS will be putting that on their social media campaign," a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask said in a video posted by Anonymous. The figure warned that Trump's call could set dangerous policy that would “have a huge impact” and could be used by ISIS to recruit followers.

Anonymous has relentlessly heckled the terrorist group since the Paris attacks. On its #OpParis Twitter account in mid-November, the hacktivists claimed they took down 5,500 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts. Less than a week later, Anonymous used an age-old internet prank and “Rick-rolled” ISIS, posting links on social media accounts connected to Rick Astley's 1987 music video of “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

And the group declared December 11 is a trolling day against the terrorist group, calling for people, in a message posted on Ghostbin, to mock ISIS, 

The latest attack, against Trump, is the group's “statement against racism and hatred,” the video said, that was tinged with an ominous tone. "Donald Trump, think twice before you speak anything. You have been warned."

Carl Herberger, vice president of Security Solutions at Radware, warned that politicians shouldn't be dismissive of hacktivists' efforts.

“During political campaigns, evidence supports that every viable candidate has their message come under attack to both silence and demonstrate incompetence on behalf of the victim,” Herberger said in emailed comments to SCMagazine.com, noting that government and officials and websites are attacked on average once annually. “It is clear that more deference must be paid on where, how and why to place major democracy messages and campaigns.”

Herberger said that “hacktivists will only become more savvy with more powerful techniques such as Advanced Persistent Dos (APDoS). With the race for the White House picking up speed, politicians and affiliated organizations must take action, now.”

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