Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2016 | Page 31

Anonymous Versus ISIS: The Role of Non-state Actors in Self-defense
“Hisba” has been using such technologies to counter the use of the Internet’s anonymity
in protesting the on-going brutality (March and Revkin 2015).
To accomplish the above attacks requires only moderate computer expertise
when combined with existing hacking tools available throughout the World Wide Web.
On the basis of these reports, it would be easy to conclude that ISIS does not appear
to have the required computer skills to pose a serious threat to those outside their
geographic domain. However, given this base of knowledge and the resources to recruit
and employ more sophisticated tools and people, one must not disregard the potential
for ISIS to become a clear and present danger in cyberspace. There are many anarchists,
mercenaries, and states with the skills needed to do great harm in cyberspace. Given
the condition that their interests align or worse that their ideological foundations find
common ground, the prospect of ISIS fully utilizing cyberspace to commit widespread
harm is very real. Therefore, the outstanding prevailing issues would be:
• What is the learning curve for existing ISIS supporters in the cyber domain
and how long would it be before their capacity to harm individuals and
infrastructures reaches a tipping point?
• To what degree can ISIS leverage its occupied geography to identify and
conscript those with cyber capabilities?
• What is the possibility that state actors provide training and support to
further cyber conflict?
We agree that there is significant concern over ISIS’ use of the Internet to
disseminate its mission and promote global recruitment. More importantly, as
it consolidates more and more of its regional position, it will have the ability to put
resources into accelerating its cyber capabilities. This will likely result in the recruitment
of cyber-savvy “foreign fighters” to provide the skills with which to launch large-scale
distributed attacks on infrastructures throughout the world (Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty 2015).
Anonymous Cyber Capabilities
Largely composed of users from numerous Internet forums and chat rooms,
Anonymous is currently the most well-known “hactivist” group. Utilizing its
“do-ocratic” membership approach to identify what it believes to be just causes,
its members employ a wide-range of attacks on a wide range of targets, from official
government websites to corporate email servers belonging to low-profile criminal
organizations, high-profile groups, and individuals. Most research suggests that the
group was first established in the mid-2000s, bringing together the first “hackers” of the
1980s with those of the twenty-first century generation (Singer and Friedman 2014, 83).
Anonymous’ anonymity and notoriety have also, paradoxically, increased its profile. The
efforts of Anonymous since 2007 to right–wrongs and to bring misdeeds to light have
evolved exponentially.
In August 2011, a group of local Mexican Anonymous hackers launched Operation
PAPERSTORM, an effort to “out” those members of the local Veracruz government that
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