Angela B. Tech 05.02.2023 12:May PM EDT

5 Most Interesting Hacks from Anonymous Hacker Group

Anonymous is arguably the most famous hacker group out there and people have always been fascinated by their talent for inciting chaos. They earned their recognition for all their famous and infamous hacks throughout the years, especially the ones against governments or company giants, and here are a few of those incidents.

1. The Revenge of Hackers

The software security firm HBGary Federal claimed that they had defeated the hacker group by infiltrating them, but little did they know that Anonymous was going to strike back harder. The hacker collective hacked into the company's system and leaked its data.

That included 68,000 private emails that held presentations, information about competitors, and the firm's plans to shut down WikiLeaks. As a cherry on top, the hackers also took over the Twitter account of former CEO Aaron Barr and posted his home address and phone number.

2. Operation Sony

George "geohot" Hotz is a hacker turned executive thanks to his expertise in his field. He is also infamously known for creating software that allows PlayStation 3 users to install other operating systems on the console, resulting in Sony's legal action against Hotz.

Anonymous seems to hate the course of action and launched a cyberattack against the entertainment giant, which resulted in PlayStation's inactivity for weeks, as well as information from 77 million users stolen, which may have also included credit card details, according to Auralcrave.

3. Siding with the Pirates

Anonymous is known to be a champion of the people. Even though they do questionable things sometimes, they do so with the intention of putting the public first as opposed to big names and companies who wish to take away what Anonymous believes people deserve.

Back in 2012, the Megaupload website was taken down by the US government, which was used to download pirated music and films by people who can't watch on actual streaming sites. In response, Anonymous shut down the FBI website along with other music and movie sites.

4. Anonymous Sides with WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks has been supported by industry giants like Visa, PayPal, MasterCard, and Amazon, but when the news about the US government demanding the site to take down leaked top-secret diplomatic information, the companies who supported WikiLeaks jumped ship.

Anonymous decided to take WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's side, as mentioned in Complex. As revenge for the companies abandoning WikiLeaks to save their own reputations, the hacker group took down the sites of Visa, PayPal, and MasterCard among others.

5. Going Against Putin

One of the most recent issues that the entire world watched was the war between Russia and Ukraine. Anonymous, like many of those aware of the situation, sided with Ukraine and launched a cyberattack against the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

The hacker group released 200 GB worth of private data from the country's Ministry of Defense, along with information from the military company that supported Russia, Tetraedr. Hackers also changed the Vesseltracker navigation tracking system of President Putin's yacht to show a destination that leads "to hell."