Hey guys, and welcome to the FINAL CHAPTER of We Are Anonymous. In this chapter, we will find out what happened to the world-famous Anonymous (and their top leaders). Did they manage to survive the countless waves of cops and somehow keep their reputation as one of the world's best hacking organizations? Or will they give in to the authorities, just like Sabu and Topiary? Well, don't let me hold you any longer, here's what happened...
In this chapter, the authorities take care of one more loose end: Kayla. Like all the other Anonymous, she too, eventually got down to the ground. And the interesting thing was that "she" was actually a "he". Yes, you read that right; Kayla is a GUY. On September 2, 2011, the Feds pulled up near a house in South Yorkshire. They found a 25-year old man named Ryan Mark Ackroyd, who turned out to be the notorious Kayla all along. Needless to say, the cops arrested him.
Ackroyd was an ex-British infantryman, who had served for four years, mainly in Iraq, which may have explained his outstanding hacking skills. The police also revealed that Sabu, one of the greatest Anons, was an informant to the police (he spilled the beans on Kayla's true identity). Sabu also compromised the identity of five other Anons. The news headlines were blaring, "Infamous International Hacking Group Brought Down By Own Leader" and an FBI official said that "We're chopping off the head of Anonymous". Emick also had a field day, and used it as an opportunity to show the whole world that Anonymous was no longer existent on the face of the Earth.
And Emick's statement seemed to ring true. As it seems, Anonymous members were getting arrested left and right. In Anonymous, it seemed like you couldn't be a famous hacker without getting the cops on your tail or even worse, get arrested (which, in the leaders' cases, was what happened). If it was that easy to catch a hacker leader, imagine how easy it was to catch the typical Anon hacker/supporter. As a matter of fact, in a protest in September 2011, 6800 people involved in a protest supporting Anonymous were arrested by the cops.
Despite the invaluable tips they got from Sabu, the FBI hadn't succeeded in getting Anonymous to give up. Instead, they decided to launch a sort of "counterattack" against various companies. Their recent series of arrests because of Sabu has led them to distrust in their hacker friends much more. New and skilled splinter groups of hackers risen in the wake of the crumbling of Anonymous.
Oh yeah, I think I forgot to tell you... it turned out that the authorities haven't arrested the real Kayla yet (honestly, how far will this "secret identity" thing go?). It turns out that although Ackroyd was a likely suspect (doing part of the hacks that "Kayla" did), but not the authentic hacker the cops were looking for. Emick posted that they haven't caught the real Kayla yet and were still hot on her trail. Additionally, Topiary made an impressive article online. It was about whaty had happened in Anonymous lately and most importantly, it sent a message to the public that Anonymous will not go down that easily. It was one impressive piece of work, and until today Anonymous is still hiding somewhere, hiding right under our noses.
That's all for the We Are Anonymous book. I really hoped that it helped you about knowledge about the world-known hacking group. I'll think of another book someday, but until then, goodbye and see you until the next post!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
We Are Anonymous Chapter 25
Hello guys, and welcome back once again to another summary of We Are Anonymous. We have ventured far into the story of Anonymous, but unfortunately our journey through the hacking world has come to an end. Sabu arrested, LulzSec disbanded, and worst of all, THERE ARE ONLY 3 CHAPTERS LEFT IN THE BOOK! NO!!! So hold on tight. We are going to find out what happens in the final chapters of the book and the epic conclusion that awaits us at the final chapter.
What will happen in the end? Will Anonymous get disbanded as well? Will our heroes (I mean, hackers) survive the oncoming waves of the Feds and the special forces? Or will their identity eventually be compromised by the authorities? Well, we'll all find out at the end of the book. BUT... this is still the 3rd last chapter of the book, so without further ado, why not I just stop talking and get on with the summary? Anyway, the chapter begins in Topiary's point of view...
This chapter, sadly, discusses about Topiary's downfall. One fateful day, the Metropolitan police (or at least, some people who claimed to be with them) decided to go to Jake's house and bust him. The Feds had enough evidence to arrest him, as Topiary didn't think about wiping his incriminating documents (don't ask me how he forgot/didn't feel the need to do THAT) from his computer. He kicked himself for not doing that, and although the data in his computer's hard drive was encrypted, the cops easily extracted the encryption password from him as easy as one, two, three. Needless to say, Topiary was arrested, and Sabu posted "RIP Topiary" on his Twitter feed.
It was quite confusing when you think of how Topiary, a hacker who had successfully laid low well out of the cops, managed to get tracked down to his remote house in his remote island home. Some people say that it was thanks to Sabu and his federal friends (remember, Sabu was arrested by the cops a few months back, so he probably didn't have much of a choice but to work with his new federal fiends (I mean, "friends"). As a skilled Anonymous hacker, he's capable of accomplishing great hacks and may be the reason behind Topiary's arrest (if you ask me, it's a bunch of nonsense, especially because Sabu has been with Topiary even AFTER he got arrested. But then again, Sabu didn't have much of a choice.
Anyway, back to Topiary. Still remember that dude William? You know, the young hacker who blackmailed his friends? Well, Topiary had a little chat with him in a pizza restaurant about the leak of LulzSec to the public. They talked about how influential Anonymous was to the public. With their (mostly Topiary's) assistance, the world is now a changed place. Lots of people look up to their legendary hacking skills, and have seen the Anons as role models.
Soon, chatting time was over and William had to hop onto a train to his next destination (God knows where that was, I either missed it/it wasn't mentioned in the book). While on the train, William decided to change (and not in such a good, "no-hacking" way, either). He wanted to amount to more than just a mischievous kid who yearned to wreak havoc in the Web by holding people's Web accounts at ransom for porn photos (yes, he actually did this). He wanted to be one of the legendary hackers with the hacking capability of LulzSec hackers, who performed feats that have changed the world.
So that's what happened. Topiary down with Sabu (although probably not in the doghouse like Sabu), leaving only one hacker left for the authorities to track down: Kayla. In the second-to-last chapter, will SHE survive the assault of the police? Or will she crumble and be brought down to her knees thanks to the Feds? Well, we'll find out in the next summary, but that's another chapter, another summary, another day. Hope you guys aren't too disappointed, given the closeness of our completion of the book. So anyway, goodbye people, and see you in the next post! Goodbye for now!
What will happen in the end? Will Anonymous get disbanded as well? Will our heroes (I mean, hackers) survive the oncoming waves of the Feds and the special forces? Or will their identity eventually be compromised by the authorities? Well, we'll all find out at the end of the book. BUT... this is still the 3rd last chapter of the book, so without further ado, why not I just stop talking and get on with the summary? Anyway, the chapter begins in Topiary's point of view...
This chapter, sadly, discusses about Topiary's downfall. One fateful day, the Metropolitan police (or at least, some people who claimed to be with them) decided to go to Jake's house and bust him. The Feds had enough evidence to arrest him, as Topiary didn't think about wiping his incriminating documents (don't ask me how he forgot/didn't feel the need to do THAT) from his computer. He kicked himself for not doing that, and although the data in his computer's hard drive was encrypted, the cops easily extracted the encryption password from him as easy as one, two, three. Needless to say, Topiary was arrested, and Sabu posted "RIP Topiary" on his Twitter feed.
It was quite confusing when you think of how Topiary, a hacker who had successfully laid low well out of the cops, managed to get tracked down to his remote house in his remote island home. Some people say that it was thanks to Sabu and his federal friends (remember, Sabu was arrested by the cops a few months back, so he probably didn't have much of a choice but to work with his new federal fiends (I mean, "friends"). As a skilled Anonymous hacker, he's capable of accomplishing great hacks and may be the reason behind Topiary's arrest (if you ask me, it's a bunch of nonsense, especially because Sabu has been with Topiary even AFTER he got arrested. But then again, Sabu didn't have much of a choice.
Anyway, back to Topiary. Still remember that dude William? You know, the young hacker who blackmailed his friends? Well, Topiary had a little chat with him in a pizza restaurant about the leak of LulzSec to the public. They talked about how influential Anonymous was to the public. With their (mostly Topiary's) assistance, the world is now a changed place. Lots of people look up to their legendary hacking skills, and have seen the Anons as role models.
Soon, chatting time was over and William had to hop onto a train to his next destination (God knows where that was, I either missed it/it wasn't mentioned in the book). While on the train, William decided to change (and not in such a good, "no-hacking" way, either). He wanted to amount to more than just a mischievous kid who yearned to wreak havoc in the Web by holding people's Web accounts at ransom for porn photos (yes, he actually did this). He wanted to be one of the legendary hackers with the hacking capability of LulzSec hackers, who performed feats that have changed the world.
So that's what happened. Topiary down with Sabu (although probably not in the doghouse like Sabu), leaving only one hacker left for the authorities to track down: Kayla. In the second-to-last chapter, will SHE survive the assault of the police? Or will she crumble and be brought down to her knees thanks to the Feds? Well, we'll find out in the next summary, but that's another chapter, another summary, another day. Hope you guys aren't too disappointed, given the closeness of our completion of the book. So anyway, goodbye people, and see you in the next post! Goodbye for now!
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
We Are Anonymous Overall Summary Part Two
Hey guys, and welcome to another summary of We Are Anonymous. I've just completed Part 2/3 of the book, so why not go back a little and revise what has happened in the past chapters? So without further ado, here's an overall summary of what had happened in the chapters of part two of the book...
We learned about Anonymous's attack on the despicable Westboro Baptist Church ("God hates fags", remember?) . Still remember when Westboro attempted to trash-talk Anonymous into defeat? Well, that didn't really work out so well. Anonymous then decided to use the media (read: The David Pakman Show) against their enemies, and eventually, after defacing Westboro's website(s), managed to bring their opponent down and showed them as a disgrace to the public.
Then, after arousing some attention from the public, the members of Anonymous (namely Topiary) started to get invited to talk shows (where they talked only with their voice without their faces being shown for the sake of privacy). At the same time, we also discover that our ex-Anonymous pal (now turned Anonymous hater) Jennifer Emick is still hot on the trail of compromising the identities of the hackers and showing the world that Anonymous wasn't really anonymous if she could compromise the group's key leaders (if not the entire group) to the whole wide world.
Then the story (temporarily) switches to Emick's point of view. It shows her hard at work and apparently addicted to compromising the identities of her targets. Fortunately for her, the FBI was also on her side and they had formed some kind of alliance. And then we discover that Topiary is getting bored with the current Anonymous raids and decided to take it to the next level. Then, after a few tens of raids later, something VERY BIG happened.
A few chapters later, we discover that Sabu's reign as a hacker (well, an Anonymous hacker at least) has come to a potential end. He got arrested by the po-po for a few crimes sufficient enough to get him in the doghouse for at least several years. However, despite the loss of Sabu to the team, the hackers trudged on and contiued their hacking spree.
Oh yeah, and by the way, did I mention LulzSec? How stupid of me. As you may have remembered, the feds eventually caught up to the Anons with the assistance of the vengeful Jennifer Emick. Now Anonymous was in chaos and at least a few hundred suspects related to Anonymous are now in the big house. Fortunately, there were a few Anons who decided to let go of the hacking group and start a team of their own.
These people were the "main characters" of the book; Topiary, Sabu and Kayla. They had a hunch that something bad was about to go down in Anonymous, prompting them to go take cover while all the ruckus blows over. While doing so, they created LulzSec, a small team that, in the chapters that followed, had proved itself beyond question. It took down massive websites and companies, and all it took was the hacking skills of six people (at least until Sabu got arrested). They also made an alliance with Julian Assange (that also meant that WikiLeaks was also on their side).
However, all good things must eventually come to an end. The authorities eventually tracked down LulzSec and shut it down for good (or actually, come to think of it, shut it down for bad). And that was the end of the infamous LulzSec: the notorious hacking group eventually came to an end by their famed hunters: the FBI and the cops eventually caught up to the hackers and that was that. The fate of LulzSec's HACKERS, though, is still indefinite.
Well, that's a summary of what happened so far in part two. I will begin part 3 in just a few days, and it's a kind of epilogue to what has happened lately. Until then, you'll have to wait. Goodbye for now!
We learned about Anonymous's attack on the despicable Westboro Baptist Church ("God hates fags", remember?) . Still remember when Westboro attempted to trash-talk Anonymous into defeat? Well, that didn't really work out so well. Anonymous then decided to use the media (read: The David Pakman Show) against their enemies, and eventually, after defacing Westboro's website(s), managed to bring their opponent down and showed them as a disgrace to the public.
Then, after arousing some attention from the public, the members of Anonymous (namely Topiary) started to get invited to talk shows (where they talked only with their voice without their faces being shown for the sake of privacy). At the same time, we also discover that our ex-Anonymous pal (now turned Anonymous hater) Jennifer Emick is still hot on the trail of compromising the identities of the hackers and showing the world that Anonymous wasn't really anonymous if she could compromise the group's key leaders (if not the entire group) to the whole wide world.
Then the story (temporarily) switches to Emick's point of view. It shows her hard at work and apparently addicted to compromising the identities of her targets. Fortunately for her, the FBI was also on her side and they had formed some kind of alliance. And then we discover that Topiary is getting bored with the current Anonymous raids and decided to take it to the next level. Then, after a few tens of raids later, something VERY BIG happened.
A few chapters later, we discover that Sabu's reign as a hacker (well, an Anonymous hacker at least) has come to a potential end. He got arrested by the po-po for a few crimes sufficient enough to get him in the doghouse for at least several years. However, despite the loss of Sabu to the team, the hackers trudged on and contiued their hacking spree.
Oh yeah, and by the way, did I mention LulzSec? How stupid of me. As you may have remembered, the feds eventually caught up to the Anons with the assistance of the vengeful Jennifer Emick. Now Anonymous was in chaos and at least a few hundred suspects related to Anonymous are now in the big house. Fortunately, there were a few Anons who decided to let go of the hacking group and start a team of their own.
These people were the "main characters" of the book; Topiary, Sabu and Kayla. They had a hunch that something bad was about to go down in Anonymous, prompting them to go take cover while all the ruckus blows over. While doing so, they created LulzSec, a small team that, in the chapters that followed, had proved itself beyond question. It took down massive websites and companies, and all it took was the hacking skills of six people (at least until Sabu got arrested). They also made an alliance with Julian Assange (that also meant that WikiLeaks was also on their side).
However, all good things must eventually come to an end. The authorities eventually tracked down LulzSec and shut it down for good (or actually, come to think of it, shut it down for bad). And that was the end of the infamous LulzSec: the notorious hacking group eventually came to an end by their famed hunters: the FBI and the cops eventually caught up to the hackers and that was that. The fate of LulzSec's HACKERS, though, is still indefinite.
Well, that's a summary of what happened so far in part two. I will begin part 3 in just a few days, and it's a kind of epilogue to what has happened lately. Until then, you'll have to wait. Goodbye for now!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
We Are Anonymous Chapter 24
Well people, this is the final chapter of Part 2 of We Are Anonymous. In this final epic chapter, we're going to find out what happened after all the awesome acts that LulzSec had made. Did the group get busted by the cops? Was it destroyed in the end? Well, in this chapter, let's find out!
It shocked the public (and probably you guys too) to know that Lulzsec wasn't actually a massive group of talented hackers that were working in unison to bring down famous websites and pull off difficult operations; it was a tiny group of six people. Imagine that! Six people working together and managing to bring down Fox, various corporations and governments.
In LulzSec's case, you didn't need an overcrowded organization of hackers in order to pull off phenomenal feats of hacking. LulzSec had something worth at least a few hundred peoples' hacking skills compiled into 6 people. Topiary even had a thought that Anonymous was like the more intelligent caveman, who would grief his enemies' houses at the dead of night. This caveman represented Anonymous; the superior people who had more brains than the average caveman at the time.
And anyway, don't think that just because LulzSec has been disbanded meant that it was their ultimate destruction. There were still some people in the world who were encouraged by the outstanding bravery and skill of our LulzSec hackers. These were the people who decided to split up into "splinter groups" which were basically smaller hacking groups avenging the downfall of LulzSec. They were a lot like the Anons and LulzSec, establishing their own ops, often in the name of Antisec (that anti-LulzSec group represented by the graffiti on a wall showing a crudely drawn guy in a top hat, remember?) and web activism. So although LulzSec was gone, its influence stayed forever.
These splinter groups have also managed to accomplish amazing feats of hacking; for example, they possess stolen data from a drug giant named "Pfitzer" and Wal-Mart.Meanwhile, Sabu was also busy "working" for the FBI, while actually aiding his fellow Anons tie up a few loose ends. At the same time, Topiary was also offering assistance to his fans, who appreciated his work and requested help for some operations they were currently doing.
Eventually, the media also caught up with Topiary and requested him to "appear" in their BBC and TV news shows via voice interviews, but regarding his safety concerns, he declined each and every one. He couldn't risk compromising his name with so much at stake. In fact, his pals decided to prank one of the world's largest people related to the media, who, in this case, was a man named Rupert Murdoch. The hackers hacked the company's website he worked for (theSun.co.uk) and made a joke about him. This way, the hackers just made a joke out of one of the world's most famous media men.
So that's the end of Part 2, everybody. LulzSec disbanded, but their influence there to stay forever. Now we are left with this question; will the smaller, splinter groups do a decent job upholding LulzSec's name, if not as good? Or will they not really live up to the expectations LulzSec die-hard fans? Well, the only way to find out is to see the next chapter, which will come out in a few days! Goodbye for now!
It shocked the public (and probably you guys too) to know that Lulzsec wasn't actually a massive group of talented hackers that were working in unison to bring down famous websites and pull off difficult operations; it was a tiny group of six people. Imagine that! Six people working together and managing to bring down Fox, various corporations and governments.
In LulzSec's case, you didn't need an overcrowded organization of hackers in order to pull off phenomenal feats of hacking. LulzSec had something worth at least a few hundred peoples' hacking skills compiled into 6 people. Topiary even had a thought that Anonymous was like the more intelligent caveman, who would grief his enemies' houses at the dead of night. This caveman represented Anonymous; the superior people who had more brains than the average caveman at the time.
And anyway, don't think that just because LulzSec has been disbanded meant that it was their ultimate destruction. There were still some people in the world who were encouraged by the outstanding bravery and skill of our LulzSec hackers. These were the people who decided to split up into "splinter groups" which were basically smaller hacking groups avenging the downfall of LulzSec. They were a lot like the Anons and LulzSec, establishing their own ops, often in the name of Antisec (that anti-LulzSec group represented by the graffiti on a wall showing a crudely drawn guy in a top hat, remember?) and web activism. So although LulzSec was gone, its influence stayed forever.
These splinter groups have also managed to accomplish amazing feats of hacking; for example, they possess stolen data from a drug giant named "Pfitzer" and Wal-Mart.Meanwhile, Sabu was also busy "working" for the FBI, while actually aiding his fellow Anons tie up a few loose ends. At the same time, Topiary was also offering assistance to his fans, who appreciated his work and requested help for some operations they were currently doing.
Eventually, the media also caught up with Topiary and requested him to "appear" in their BBC and TV news shows via voice interviews, but regarding his safety concerns, he declined each and every one. He couldn't risk compromising his name with so much at stake. In fact, his pals decided to prank one of the world's largest people related to the media, who, in this case, was a man named Rupert Murdoch. The hackers hacked the company's website he worked for (theSun.co.uk) and made a joke about him. This way, the hackers just made a joke out of one of the world's most famous media men.
So that's the end of Part 2, everybody. LulzSec disbanded, but their influence there to stay forever. Now we are left with this question; will the smaller, splinter groups do a decent job upholding LulzSec's name, if not as good? Or will they not really live up to the expectations LulzSec die-hard fans? Well, the only way to find out is to see the next chapter, which will come out in a few days! Goodbye for now!
Monday, May 5, 2014
We Are Anonymous Chapter 23
Hey guys, and welcome to another summary of We Are Anonymous. Today, We are going to learn the fate of LulzSec. Last time, we saw Sabu get arrested and sent to prison and was reported to be working with the FBI. Despite this, LulzSec kept on hacking and pulled off great feats of hacking. Now you may be wondering, what'll happen next? Well, let's find out!
As a result of LulzSec's last assault, The hackers encountered more enemies. And more enemies meant more trouble for the hackers. These new hostiles were people from 4chan, who were jealous of LulzSec's amazing hacking raids. Plus, a few LulzSec fans went a bit too far by giving out Topiary's account details to the public. People everywhere used these account details to hack tons of website accounts everywhere. However, Topiary looked at the bright side, seeing this as an opportunity to get more fame from the public. Thanks to Topiary's optimistic point of view, LulzSec managed to get more control over their followers. So this was actually an opportunity for LulzSec!
Meanwhile, Ryan was getting even more annoying with his desperate pleas for attention in LulzSec while there was an organization named Antisec, a group ultimately dedicated to shutting down LulzSec once and for all. And Antisec wasn't an organization that worked for the good of the authorities, either. Antisec represented a renegade organization that was only made for destroying LulzSec. This was represented in black graffiti on a wall; a crudely drawn man in a top hat and a moustache.
Meanwhile, Ryan was also being suspected by the authorities for being a LulzSec hacker. He was at risk of being compromised by the government, who even arrived at Ryan's house and questioned his family about Ryan's potential habits as a hacker. In fact, the authorities even searched Ryan's room, which contained (other than multiple bags of potato chips, a bed and a window designed for blocking out the sunlight) about $11,340 in cash in a drawer on his desk. Topiary said that Ryan was absolutely #^(%=].
Meanwhile, LulzSec was back to their typical business. Clients were sending requests on more targets to hit. The requests contained mischievous details as well. For example, some details about a safe-driving campaign, ;) home addresses of Arizona police officers, and many more mischievous material that LulzSec can do serious damage with. However, LulzSec turned down the requests to bully the cops, mainly because it wasn't LulzSec's "style". They were vigilante hackers, not wannabe criminals.
Meanwhile, the FBI continued their ongoing pursuit to locate LulzSec, with no success. however, the hackers were also taking extra precautions now that the authorities have stepped up their game a bit. Sabu was secretly communicating with his LulzSec friends under the FBI's nose. He helpfully hinted that despite his current condition, he wanted the team to hold up even without him. It took a while for the team to let go of their captured friend, but he made it out eventually.
Sabu still gone, and not much has been happening in LulzSec lately. Will they eventually crush under the pressure? Or will they somehow, with some miracle, endure their current state and get a move on with their hacking life? Well, we'll find out in the next summary! Goodbye for now!
As a result of LulzSec's last assault, The hackers encountered more enemies. And more enemies meant more trouble for the hackers. These new hostiles were people from 4chan, who were jealous of LulzSec's amazing hacking raids. Plus, a few LulzSec fans went a bit too far by giving out Topiary's account details to the public. People everywhere used these account details to hack tons of website accounts everywhere. However, Topiary looked at the bright side, seeing this as an opportunity to get more fame from the public. Thanks to Topiary's optimistic point of view, LulzSec managed to get more control over their followers. So this was actually an opportunity for LulzSec!
Meanwhile, Ryan was getting even more annoying with his desperate pleas for attention in LulzSec while there was an organization named Antisec, a group ultimately dedicated to shutting down LulzSec once and for all. And Antisec wasn't an organization that worked for the good of the authorities, either. Antisec represented a renegade organization that was only made for destroying LulzSec. This was represented in black graffiti on a wall; a crudely drawn man in a top hat and a moustache.
Meanwhile, Ryan was also being suspected by the authorities for being a LulzSec hacker. He was at risk of being compromised by the government, who even arrived at Ryan's house and questioned his family about Ryan's potential habits as a hacker. In fact, the authorities even searched Ryan's room, which contained (other than multiple bags of potato chips, a bed and a window designed for blocking out the sunlight) about $11,340 in cash in a drawer on his desk. Topiary said that Ryan was absolutely #^(%=].
Meanwhile, LulzSec was back to their typical business. Clients were sending requests on more targets to hit. The requests contained mischievous details as well. For example, some details about a safe-driving campaign, ;) home addresses of Arizona police officers, and many more mischievous material that LulzSec can do serious damage with. However, LulzSec turned down the requests to bully the cops, mainly because it wasn't LulzSec's "style". They were vigilante hackers, not wannabe criminals.
Meanwhile, the FBI continued their ongoing pursuit to locate LulzSec, with no success. however, the hackers were also taking extra precautions now that the authorities have stepped up their game a bit. Sabu was secretly communicating with his LulzSec friends under the FBI's nose. He helpfully hinted that despite his current condition, he wanted the team to hold up even without him. It took a while for the team to let go of their captured friend, but he made it out eventually.
Sabu still gone, and not much has been happening in LulzSec lately. Will they eventually crush under the pressure? Or will they somehow, with some miracle, endure their current state and get a move on with their hacking life? Well, we'll find out in the next summary! Goodbye for now!
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