Underground hacktivist group Anonymous announced that its 'OpIcarus' successfully shut down the websites of many central banks and “corrupt banking cartels,” has barely been covered by worldwide media.
OpIcarus planned to close services at the World Bank, the New York Stock Exchange, five U.S. Federal Reserve Banks and the Vatican and was successful with website down and internal systems disrupted.
Anonymous, in conjunction with Ghost Squad Hackers, managed to hack into over 30 central banks and disrupt their smooth functioning.
The operation, according Anonymous, was necessary because “the banks have been getting away with murder, fraud, conspiracy, war profiteering, money laundering for terrorists and drug cartels, have put millions of people out on the street without food or shelter and have successfully bought all our governments to help keep us silenced.
“We represent the voice of the voiceless. We are uniting to make a stand. The central banks which were attacked in recent days were attacked to remind people that the biggest threat we face to an open and free society is the banks. The bankers are the problem and #OpIcarus is the solution.”
The scale of the attacks was made possible as Anonymous had the help of Ghost Squad Hackers and other covert hackers coordinated by BannedOffline.
Anonymous targetted central banks but left individual accounts un-touched as its battle is against institutions, not the public.
Targets included Rothschild, the central banks of Guernsey, Cyprus, Panama, British Virgin Isles, South Korea, Jordan, Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Holland, Maldives and the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
Last Saturday, hackers hit the Bank of France, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Central Bank of Tunisia, the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and the Philippine National Bank followed up by an attack on the Central Bank of Iraq.
The first wave of attacks was reported by Reuters, and later attacks warranting mention on IBTimes and HackRead but global media seems to have suffered soem sort of mass blackout despite the worldwide disruption caused by the successful Anonymous attacks including high profile targets such as the Bank of England.
Anonymous gave due warning of 'OpIcarus' at the beginning of May and released a list of institutions it was going to hack into, divided into four sectors; the U.S. Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund, sites owned by the World Bank, and over 150 sites associated with national banks.
The hackers undoubtedly have been successful and the game of cat and mouse continues with the forces of law and order keener than ever to track down these electronic ghosts.
