At a time when U.S. agencies and thousands of companies are fighting off major hacking campaigns originating in Russia and China, a different kind of cyber threat is re-emerging: activist hackers looking to make a political point.
According to a U.S. counter-intelligence strategy released a year ago,"ideologically motivated entities such as hacktivists, leaktivists, and public disclosure organizations," are now viewed as"significant threats," alongside five countries, three terrorist groups, and"transnational criminal organizations."
Gab, a social network favored by white nationalists and other right-wing extremists, has also been hurt by the hacktivist campaign and had to shut down for brief periods after breaches."QAnon trying to adopt Anonymous and merge itself into Anonymous proper, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back," said Cottle, who has held a number of web development and engineering jobs, including a stint at Ericsson.
"Indictments like Tillie's show just how scared the government is, and just how many corporations consider embarrassment a greater threat than insecurity," Best wrote https://ddosecrets.substack.com/p/hacktivism-leaktivism-and-the-future. Hottmann and their lawyer declined to discuss the U.S. charges of wire fraud for some of Hottmann's online statements, aggravated identity theft for using employee credentials, and conspiracy, which together are enough for a lengthy prison sentence.