Hacktivism

 

Hacktivism is the act of misusing a computer system or network for a socially or politically motivated reason. Individuals who perform hacktivism are known as hacktivists.

Hacktivism is meant to call the public's attention to something the hacktivist believes is an important issue or cause, such as freedom of information, human rights or a religious point of view. Hacktivists express their support of a social cause or opposition to an organization by displaying messages or images on the website of the organization they believe is doing something wrong or whose message or activities they oppose.

Hacktivists are typically individuals, but there are hacktivist groups as well that operate in coordinated efforts. Anonymous and Lulz Security, also known as LulzSec, are examples. Most hacktivists work anonymously.

What motivates hacktivists?

Hacktivists usually have altruistic or ideological motives, such as social justice or free speech. Their goal is to disrupt services and bring attention to a political or social cause. For example, hacktivists might leave a visible message on the homepage of a website that gets a lot of traffic or embodies a point of view that the individual or group opposes. Hacktivists often use denial-of-service or distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks where they overwhelm a website and disrupt traffic.

Hacktivists want others to notice their work to inspire action or change. They often focus on social change but also target government, business and other groups that they don't agree with for their attacks. Sending a message and eliciting change trump profit motives for hacktivists.

What is the difference between a hacker and a hacktivist?

Hackers and hacktivists generally use the same tools and techniques to achieve their goals. Unlike hacktivists, hackers are not defined solely by social causes. The answer to the question, "Is hacktivism good or bad?" is a point of debate. The legality of hacktivist acts is less contentious.

DoS and DDoS attacks are federal crimes in the United States under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Those types of attacks are illegal in many other places as well, including the European Union, United Kingdom and Australia. Website defacement, where attackers access a website and change its contents, is considered cyber vandalism and is a crime. Corporate data theft is also illegal.

Opponents of hacktivism argue that these acts cause damage in a forum where there is already ample opportunity for nondisruptive free speech. Others insist that such acts are the equivalent of peaceful protest and, therefore, are protected as a form of free speech. Hacktivists often consider their activities a form of civil disobedience, meaning they are willfully breaking a law to further their protest.

Types of hacktivism

Hacktivists use a variety of techniques to get their message across. Their tactics include the following:

• Anonymous blogging. Activists, whistleblowers and journalists use this tactic. It protects the blogger, while providing a platform for them to speak out about an issue, such as human rights violations or oppressive government regimes.

• DoS and DDoS attacks. Hacktivists use these attacks to prevent users from accessing targeted computer systems, devices or networks. DoS and DDoS attacks flood systems with traffic, overwhelm resources and make them difficult to access.

• Doxing. This involves the gathering of information -- through hacking or social engineering -- about a person or organization and making it public. The information is typically sensitive and is sometimes used in extortion schemes.

• Geobombing. This technique enables internet users to add a geotag to YouTube videos to display the location of the video on Google Earth and Google Maps. Hacktivists use geobombing to display the location of videos posted by political prisoners and human rights activists.

• Leaking information. This is a popular activist tactic. Typically, an insider source will access sensitive or classified information -- which implicates an individual, organization or government agency in an activity that reflects negatively on them -- and make it public. WikiLeaks is known for publishing leaked data.

• RECAP. This software lets users search for free copies of documents that are otherwise only accessible by paying a fee to the United States federal court database known as Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). RECAP is PACER spelled backwards.

• Website defacement. Hacktivists change a website's code or software so visitors see errors or messages expressing the attacker's point of view. The message may be threatening or embarrassing, or the attack may disable a key function of the site or software to get the hacktivist's message across.

• Website mirroring. Here, hacktivists replicate a legitimate website's content but with a slightly different URL. This technique is often used to get around censorship that blocks a site. If a website has been censored, the hacktivist will duplicate the content and attach it to a different URL on a mirror site so the content is still accessible.