Hacker group ‘Anonymous’ facing hurdles in its ‘war’ against ISIS

11/25/2015 / By usafeaturesmedia

(Cyberwar.news) The hacking consortium known as “Anonymous” has stumbled out of the gate following its self-declared cyber war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A few days after the group appeared to launch its online assault against the terrorist organization’s digital presence, it said it had unearthed a list of 20,000 Twitter accounts linked to ISIS. But now it looks as though Twitter isn’t ready to accept Anonymous’ research because the group has consistently been inaccurate in the past, The Hill reported.

Also, there are emerging fractures within the hacking collective that have surfaced in recent days, with some Anonymous members accusing others of being “fame whores” for jumping on the operation against ISIS.

In the wake of the deadly ISIS-backed attacks that killed about 130 people in Paris Nov. 13, the hacking collaborative declared “total war” against the terrorist group.

As The Hill reported further:

The team behind the campaign, OpParis, has focused on going after ISIS accounts on Twitter, where many are surprised by the terror group’s ease of ability to recruit followers. Within days, OpParis claimed to have taken down 5,500 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts.

Late on Nov. 20, the team released a video stating that the number of accounts had surpassed 20,000. If true, that would be more than half of the total number of ISIS-affiliated accounts according to an estimate by the Brookings Institute a few months ago.

“Social media has proven that it is an advanced weapon,” says a person in the video, wearing the trademark Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask and black hoodie. “We must all work together and use social media to eliminate the accounts belonging to terrorists.”

While some are pleased that the group has perhaps turned its attention away from government and corporate sites for the time being, there is a growing backlash against Anonymous. A spokesperson from Twitter said that the company was not current investigating the lists that the group has published because previous research discovered they were rarely correct, according to tech site The Daily Dot.

“Users flag content for us through our standard reporting channels, we review their reports manually, and take action if the content violates our rules,” the unnamed spokesperson told The Daily Dot. “We don’t review Anonymous lists posted online, but third-party reviews have found them to be wildly inaccurate and full of academics and journalists.”