Hacking is a common occurrence in today’s landscape. Anyone and anything is unsafe from a hack, whether it be your social media account or the government. Hacking is considered a terrible thing, and many people despise anyone who has the ability to do so. Sometimes, it can be used for good. Hacking activists use their skills to send a message to individuals or big companies. A lot of the time, they are against something politically or morally. As a result, many places seen by the public as morally “incorrect” are the target of a lot of these attacks. Personal information, company secrets, or even government documents can easily be accessed by skilled hacktivists and used to leverage their cause.
Popular hacking groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec, utilize their ability to send a message to individuals and companies. Both of these groups have carried out mass attacks that have affected companies in tremendous ways. For instance, Anonymous has recently attacked Russia by leaking private information about Russian soldiers. They have deleted and defaced over 2,500 Russian websites. This paved the way for them to send the message they created.These groups were an inspiration for modern-day hacktivist groups and inspired many to create their own movement.
Recently, a hacktivist group known as “SiegedSec” has taken over the internet. They were formed in early 2022 in a Telegram group chat. Their goal was to spread their morals and values across the internet using black hat hacking. They are known for multiple large-scale attacks and recently performed a very large political attack before disbanding. They are infamous for their uncaring nature and will fight for what they think is right. However, they target more political situations due to the higher coverage they may receive.
Atlassian was their first mainstream attack. SiegedSec infiltrated the database of a large program provider. Once in, they leaked over 13,000 different employee credentials. These credentials contained emails, phone numbers, names, and passwords. They were also able to obtain the floor plans for all of the Atlassian offices. They had to quickly disable all of the employees’ accounts. At first, Atlassian said they were not compromised, but soon the truth did come out. They announced they were hacked shortly after SiegedSec posted the information.
One of their biggest hacks consisted of hacking NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), leaking over 3000 private files. NATO was not prepared for the hack and had over 70 of their employees compromised. According to a NATO official, “NATO cyber experts are actively addressing incidents affecting some classified NATO websites.” This attack had NATO astonished at how a small hacktivist group could do something so drastic. Their reason for executing this hack was due to the “heavy” lack of morals in NATO, according to SiegedSec.
SiegedSec did one final hack of The Heritage Foundation. This hack caused widespread panic among the foundation. After the damage control was finished, they decided to split apart. They went their separate ways to stay out of the FBI’s line of sight. This hack caused individuals in the company to leave and open their eyes to the terrible side of their company. After changing the lives of many and fighting for their own opinions, they had to leave the internet. Now, many of them may still be active but not under the SiegedSec name. Hacktivists work on more of an individual basis and the group is more so an idea than a physical presence. Just like Anonymous, anyone from around the world could participate in these actions. This will not be the last group and more are soon to be created and try to replicate the fame this group has garnered over the years.
