Analysts: ‘Hacktivism’ on the rise during protests
From the National Journal: Many analysts believe that as social unrest continues around the world, cyberattacks in the name of political or commercial causes will increase. In fact, over the past year, and especially in recent months, protests have played out in increasingly brazen cyberattacks online.
For example, in response to San Francisco transit authorities’ decision to shut down cell service in train stations to head off planned protests, the hacker group Anonymous has hacked a Bay Area Rapid Transit website, stolen user information, and instigated street protests.
Despite claims that cyberattacks are in the name of protecting rights or protesting injustice, many cybersecurity analysts just see more threats. The rise in such activity over the past weeks prompted DDoS mitigation service provider Prolexic to raise its internal threat indicator from “elevated” to “high,” the company said in a statement. Read the entire article here.