Tango down: Internet access in North Korea goes black after the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous promised revenge against North Korea for hacking Sony and forcing the withdrawal of the controversial film "The Interview."
A Dec. 23 report issued by CNN concerning the Internet outages that have plagued North Korea over the past 48 hours made a cryptic reference to the Anonymous collective being behind the attack, noting the party responsible could be “a 15-year-old in a Guy Fawkes mask.”
Those familiar with Anonymous know that the ubiquitous Guy Fawkes mask is often associated with the hacktivist collective.
Matthew Prince, president of CloudFlare, a performance and security company, told CNN that the U.S. government is probably not behind the attack, but that it's well within the realm of possibility that a single individual could have been behind the interruption:
"If it is an attack, it's highly unlikely it's the United States. More likely it's a 15-year-old in a Guy Fawkes mask."
The Washington Post reports that a Twitter account affiliated with Anonymous announced on Friday that a counterattack against North Korea had begun. A Twitter account known as @theanonmessage tweeted:
"Operation RIP North Korea, engaged. #OpRIPNK ,"
The @theanonmessage account was suspended by Twitter on Monday.
Anonymous voiced its collective discontent at North Korea after the withdrawal of the film "The Interview" and promised retaliation . However, another hacktivist collective, Lizard Squad, a group responsible for much larger denial of service attacks against Xbox Live and others, also claimed responsibility .
The North Korean regime is upset over Sony's controversial comedy, "The Interview," which follows a plot to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong Un.
The studio decided to pull the film after threats to moviegoers. However, after a public outcry, Sony announced they will be showing "The Interview" in a limited release on Christmas day.
North Korea continues to deny that it was responsible for the hack that hobbled Sony, exposed intimate emails from top executives and posted online copies of unreleased films — all efforts in an apparent revenge scheme for "The Interview," a comedy about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Previously Anonymous has conducted successful campaigns against such targets as Scientology, Visa and MasterCard, the Westboro Baptist Church and the Internet security firm HBGary. Anonymous has been credited with tracking down pedophiles and posting seizure-inducing images on epilepsy forums.
Earlier this year, after the Ku Klux Klan threatened to use “lethal force” against Ferguson protesters, the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous declared “cyber war,” hacking the KKK’s Twitter accounts , and exposing and humiliating racist Klan members in the process.
For more on this developing story, follow the Twitter hashtag #OpRIPNK .
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