Hacktivism, is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. A form of Internet activism with roots in hacker culture and hacker ethics, its ends are often related to free speech, human rights, or freedom of information movements.
Cyberterrorism is the use of the Internet to conduct violent acts that result in, or threaten, the loss of life or significant bodily harm, in order to achieve political or ideological gains through threat or intimidation. Emerging alongside the development of information technology, cyberterrorism involves acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet by means of tools such as computer viruses, computer worms, phishing, malicious software, hardware methods, and programming scripts can all be forms of internet terrorism. Some authors opt for a very narrow definition of cyberterrorism, relating to deployment by known terrorist organizations of disruption attacks against information systems for the primary purpose of creating alarm, panic, or physical disruption. Other authors prefer a broader definition, which includes cybercrime. Participating in a cyberattack affects the terror threat perception, even if it isn't done with a violent approach. By some definitions, it might be difficult to distinguish which instances of online activities are cyberterrorism or cybercrime.
The Internet has a long history of turbulent relations, major maliciously designed disruptions, and other conflicts. This is a list of known and documented Internet, Usenet, virtual community and World Wide Web related conflicts, and of conflicts that touch on both offline and online worlds with possibly wider reaching implications.
Patriotic hacking is a term for computer hacking or system cracking in which citizens or supporters of a country, traditionally industrialized Western countries but increasingly developing countries, attempt to perpetrate attacks on, or block attacks by, perceived enemies of the state.
During the Russo-Georgian War, a series of cyberattacks swamped and disabled websites of numerous South Ossetian, Georgian, Russian and Azerbaijani organisations. The attacks were initiated three weeks before the shooting war began.
Anonymous is a decentralised virtual community. They are commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals, like its organization, are decentralized. Anonymous seeks mass awareness and revolution against what the group perceives as corrupt entities, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Anonymous has had a hacktivist impact. This is a timeline of activities reported to have been carried out by the group.
Operation Ababil was a series of cyber attacks starting in 2012, targeting various American financial institutions and carried out by a group calling itself the "Cyber fighters of Izz Ad-Din Al Qassam".
OpIsrael (#OpIsrael) is an annual coordinated cyber-attack where hacktivists attack Israeli government and even private websites with DDoS attacks and more. The inaugural campaign was launched in 2013 by Anonymous hackers on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The campaign has since been held annually.
Israeli Elite Force (iEF) is a hacktivism group founded two days before OpIsrael on April 5, 2013, that is responsible for multiple high-profile computer attacks and large scale online vandalism. Targets include ISPs, domain registrars, commercial websites, educational institutions, and government agencies. The group's core members are: mitziyahu, Buddhax, amenefus, bl4z3, r3str1ct3d, Mute, Cyb3rS74r, Oshrio, Aph3x, xxtr, Kavim, md5c, prefix, Cpt|Sparrow, gal-, gr1sha, nyxman and TheGodOfHell.
Cyberwarfare is a part of the Iranian government's "soft war" military strategy. Being both a victim and wager of cyberwarfare, Iran is considered an emerging military power in the field. Since November 2010, an organization called "The Cyber Defense Command" has been operating in Iran under the supervision of the country's "Passive Civil Defense Organization" which is itself a subdivision of the Joint Staff of Iranian Armed Forces.
Ghost Squad Hackers ("GSH") is a hacktivist group responsible for several cyber attacks. Former targets of the group include central banks, Fox News, CNN, the United States Armed Forces and the government of Israel. The group is led by a de facto leader known as s1ege, and selects targets primarily for political reasons. The group forms a part of the hacktivist group Anonymous.
The IT Army of Ukraine is a volunteer cyberwarfare organisation created at the end of February 2022 to fight against digital intrusion of Ukrainian information and cyberspace after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The group also conducts offensive cyberwarfare operations, and Chief of Head of State Special Communications Service of Ukraine Victor Zhora said its enlisted hackers would only attack military targets.
Anonymous, a decentralized international activist and hacktivist collective, has conducted numerous cyber-operations against Russia since February 2022 when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
Killnet is a pro-Russia hacker group known for its DoS and DDoS attacks towards government institutions and private companies in several countries during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The group is thought to have been formed sometime around March 2022.
NoName057(16) is a pro-Russian hacker group that first declared itself in March 2022 and claimed responsibility for cyber-attacks on Ukrainian, American and European government agencies, media, and private companies. It is regarded as an unorganized and free pro-Russian activist group seeking to attract attention in Western countries.
Anonymous Sudan is a criminal hacker group that has been active since mid-January 2023. They are alleged to have committed over 35,000 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against entire small countries, government agencies, universities, newspapers, hospitals and LGBT sites. While they claim to be doing it for pro-Palestinian ideological reasons, they have attempted to extort money from victims.
A cyberattack is any unauthorized effort against computer infrastructure that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of its content.
