Anonymous
Attribution profile
- Type
- Activist
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Known incidents
- 16 incidents
- Sources
- 1 source
- First seen
- 2014-08-24
- Last seen
- 2022-04-14
- Updated
- 2026-10-13 06:04
- Aliases
- 2 aliases
STIX characteristics
Threat actor characteristics are available to members.
Profile narrative
Anonymous, also known as Anonymous Protection, is a decentralized hacktivist collective based in the United Kingdom. The group has targeted government institutions, energy and oil‑and‑gas firms, political parties, financial organizations, extremist propaganda channels and prison systems across regions including Russia, the United States, Thailand and Guernsey. Its strategic objectives are disruption and exposure—conducting DDoS attacks, website defacements, data exfiltration and leaks, and hijacking social‑media accounts to undermine adversaries’ online presence. Observed tactics include volumetric denial‑of‑service operations, exploitation of platform vulnerabilities to seize and repurpose Twitter accounts (including deployment of automated pornbot accounts), and the public release of stolen data via outlets such as DDoSecrets. No state sponsorship or criminal‑consortium affiliation is publicly documented; the actor operates as a loose affinity of individuals acting under the Anonymous banner. Notable campaigns include the 2022 OpRussia operations against Russian government and critical‑infrastructure targets, the 2016 Op Icarus DDoS campaign against global banks and the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the 2016 Operation Porn Daesh hijacking of ISIS‑linked Twitter accounts, and the 2021 defacement of the Texas Republican Party website in protest of abortion legislation.
Incidents
Attributed incidents are available to members.
16 incidentsSources
Sources available to members: 1 source.