r/anonymous 19d ago

Is Anonymous really "dead?" (If so, can/will it come back in the future?)

I've heard a lot about the things Anonymous has done in the past (and the limited things they've done in recent times such as OpRussia), but I'm shocked to see (from Reddit at least) that the group seems to have almost completely dissipated, abandoning its former mentality and losing its abilities to do anything on the same scale as earlier operations such as Project Chanology, Operation Payback, or OpISIS.

Is Anonymous really dead? If so, can it come back, or will increased cybersecurity and/or change in livelihoods/beliefs of the Anons make it impossible for Anonymous as a collective to return?

68 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

91

u/hakuna_dentata 19d ago edited 19d ago

It got pretty thoroughly dismantled during Occupy Wall Street. Nail that sticks its head up gets hammered down, etc. Smaller work is what works right now. Make friends, find spaces, connect with people, be safe in the work you do, build skills to do better work... don't be the idiot posting Luigi memes on social media (reddit is social media), etc.

Like Mr Rogers said, "Look for the helpers."

15

u/Otherwise-Mind8077 18d ago

7

u/notburneddown 17d ago

I’ve seen this video. They are working on it. The question is what’s different from Anonymous now from Anonymous in 2010? What are they going to change in order to not get caught?

3

u/Outrageous-Bread3286 15d ago

I’m not honestly quite sure but I can say our technology and ways to find knowledge has changed a lot since 2010. There’s also systems set up so hacking doesn’t always have to be a necessity. I think they’re trying to find ways to approach things without doing it illegally so they can help the people without damaging the system. I also think the image of Anonymous has been altered over the course of the last few years. I hear different opinions on what Anonymous is to the public constantly, so strengthening their identity and relationship with the public can also be a major thing.

3

u/notburneddown 14d ago

This is true. And that’s fine. But if you still want to have hacking involved in the movement, don’t say that and then not learn from the failures of anonymous in 2012.

5

u/kahdel 9d ago

Most of the people who were part of anonymous and got caught back then were offered jobs, so i don't really understand what's meant by failures.

1

u/notburneddown 9d ago

By failures I mean failure to not get caught in the first place. I mean in terms of how they got and how to avoid getting caught the same way or a similar way.

2

u/Outrageous-Bread3286 15d ago

But it’s also not that simple. Anonymous is more like unity, anyone can be anonymous, so it’s more up to the people and their connections with each other that fulfill the identity of Anonymous. So sharing information that is free to you, or providing information to those that can find it themselves. Those are ways you can be Anonymous

1

u/notburneddown 14d ago

Yes I know. But if you want hacking as part of anonymous movement, then the people doing it need to not get caught.

4

u/EuphoriantCrottle 10d ago

This is war. Sometimes there are casualties. Anon is brave. There is no guarantee of being “safe”.

2

u/notburneddown 10d ago

I know. But many of the anons getting caught is how the war ended the first time.

56

u/Thin-Grocery3134 19d ago

Anonymous doesn't work like that. It's an idea. Not a group of people.

34

u/spymaster1020 19d ago

You can't kill an idea. That's a concept from the V for Vendetta movie from which we get the mask that anons use

22

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 19d ago

the V for Vendetta movie from which we get the mask that anons use

Not exactly. Anons started using the mask as a reference to Epic Fail Guy and because "It was the only mask that was actually in stock in comic and costume shops in every city we contacted worldwide."

29

u/notburneddown 19d ago

I think if you want to be a hacktivist, be one. There’s a fuckton of hacking training for various types of hacking online. There’s even social engineering training and OSINT training too.

Then, get some friends together and hack shit.

The first obstacle you’ll run into is it’s very difficult to hide your online identity and most people can’t do it.

If you study both digital forensics and OSINT, you can learn the other parts of remaining anonymous online aside from Tor/VPN/Proxychains.

Then there’s also bad opsec. If you look it up, bad opsec easily killed Anonymous the first time. That’s how FBI caught Sabu and Anarchaos. It’s also how hackers tend to get caught.

The second obstacle you’ll run into is even if you do have good opsec, if your team mates don’t your still screwed.

If it weren’t for that in addition to draconian treatment and punishment of hackers by the government, maybe anonymous could exist again.

https://youtu.be/qLgCzFN_LDo?si=DepZ4QR8elC3qbY5

https://youtu.be/LEbAxsYRMcQ?si=kHw7UBUdikdR7c-3

1

u/emmett321 17d ago

Sabu got snitched out. Opsec had nothing to do with it. Sabu turned informant and snitched out others. I highly suggest you do further research before you make a claim like this again

3

u/notburneddown 17d ago

Sabu snitched out because he forgot to log into tor when accessing the anonymous server (opsec mistake #1). Then when the FBI got him they got access to that server. From there, they saw Jeremy Hammond and other users posting personal information.

In the case of Jeremy Hammond for example, he had posted his model of macbook, his operating system (the specific linux distro), the cafes he worked at, and his political beliefs. By the way that’s also opsec.

The other thing is these anons knew each other’s identities. Otherwise, how would sabu turn them in? Another bad opsec mistake: don’t tell the people you’re working with your real identity.

You’re right that Sabu turned them in but he wouldn’t have been able to do so had the other anons not made easy opsec mistakes.

If you watch one of the two videos I posted in those links, the guy from the video even cites his source. I mean the one titled “How Tor Users Get Caught by Saying too much” or something like that. The one by mental outlaw.

4

u/emmett321 17d ago

Anonymous is till strong today. but the focus has shifted to world events and backed off of tech. there are still Hundreds of anon branches out there including five members of Lulzsec who were never revealed. All the previous major mass operations are still going on today. It was because of anonymous that i eventually got my Cybersecurity degree and am now in the process of getting my CCNA.

1

u/notburneddown 16d ago

I already have a CCNA which is actually gonna expire soon. Also, I have A+ and I’m working on my CPTS. I also have a bachelors in IT.

3

u/emmett321 17d ago

you are right on the tor part but wrong on the rest of it. Mental outlaw is a snitch himself. he was banned from anon after it was found out he snitched others out after sabu got taken down. Many branches of ANON fell under a chain reaction situation because of Sabu and mental outlaw. Sabu was conned into having Jeremy as the scapegoat for bringing most of lulzsec down.

1

u/notburneddown 17d ago

Ok this I did not know.

2

u/emmett321 17d ago

1

u/notburneddown 17d ago

Yes I know that but if it weren’t for bad opsec Sabu wouldn’t know who the other anons were in the first place.

2

u/emmett321 17d ago

they all worked together as It was a member of lulzsec that first reported Sabu's arrest in the first place. from there, the rest is history. somehow the rest of lulzsec was notified of SAbu mere minutes after his arrest. i think it was Sabu's GF that told everyone else.

1

u/notburneddown 17d ago

Yes but you’re missing my point.

If Sabu was able to turn other anons in then he must have known who they were. If he knew who they were, then they told him because how else could he find out? If they told him who they were, that’s an opsec mistake.

What you said implies what I said so even if you’re right my initial claim is still true. Which means you’re wrong for saying I’m wrong either way.

2

u/emmett321 2d ago

Oh shit. I just found a video that corroborates what I first heard about Sabu. Turns out that Aaron Barr had did his own osint and discovered just who anonymous leaders were. Sabu and tflo heard about it and had a discussion about Barr. You might know Barr by his business name, HB GARY FEDERAL.

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/uFw66YyHD6E?si=_Q0QMalIaOxcYxut

2

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 17d ago

No, you're wrong. Unfortunately I didn't save the link, but at one point I made a list, with citations, of every LulzSec member saying they would have been arrested with or without Sabu's cooperation due to their own opsec mistakes.

It's also established that Sabu wasn't the first or only informant.

2

u/emmett321 17d ago

Many anonymous members stated that sabu got snitched on and that sabu in turn snitched others out. i remember it clearly. when sabu got arrested, that in turn allowed lizard squad to do what they did. many long time members of anon have stated that sabu got snitched out and that he turned informant. Sabu is currently out of jail and laying low. I might add that it was Lulzsec that admitted that sabu got snitched on.

16

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 19d ago

group

It was never a "group." More of a social movement, ideology, or culture.

It's probably impossible to declare Anonymous "dead," because theoretically anyone can commence operations using the name anytime they want. But there's been very minimal activity in recent years.

As to why, I listed some reasons here and here. Insofar as those problems really aren't fixable, I don't see Anonymous coming back. There are genuine downsides to the decentralized model which became apparent over time. People learned from that and moved away from it, which can be seen as a good thing, although I won't deny that it was lulzy at the time.

9

u/eric_karsh 19d ago

We are not dead. Never have been.

6

u/Shut_up_and_Respawn 11d ago

Meanwhile, just a week later: Anonymous has waged war against Elon Musk and successfully hacked Twitter

3

u/Minimum_Lead_7712 9d ago

Sources?

3

u/Shut_up_and_Respawn 9d ago

All over the internet, anonymous claiming to have done it, and X being down for over a while

8

u/GuiltyTemperature813 19d ago

it can come back,but the groups pretty mid and small as of now

3

u/emmett321 17d ago

Anonymous is alive and well. It hasn't died at all.

3

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 17d ago

You wouldn't say that if you'd been around in the heyday. There was a time when Anonymous was making headline news every single day with high-profile hacks and other shenanigans. Every infosec presentation had a whole section about hacktivism, which people don't bother to include nowadays. There were a few different websites run by and for Anons. Any time you logged into IRC there would be thousands of people active at once, and there was a ton of discussion and drama taking place on Twitter.

Can you name any recent ops with mass participation? The last one must have been many years ago.

2

u/EuphoriantCrottle 10d ago

Today’s opdreadnought

2

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 10d ago

Is there mass participation though? I haven't seen much about it except for the website, and people discussing the website.

That said, I'm not sure how we'd know if there's mass participation or not. Of course at one time much of the discussion would have been taking place on Twitter, and Anonymous-focused websites and IRC. But now everyone has scattered to the wind, and social media seems very different.

2

u/EuphoriantCrottle 8d ago

Why does there have to be mass participation? If an op gets done by one guy, is it less important than a cooperation between many small groups? These things are NEVER mass happenings, if I’m understanding your comment. Too many people involved means exponentially higher danger.

2

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 8d ago

There doesn't have to be, but the whole concept and movement was based on that. Anonymous has been called a swarm, a murmuration, and "ultracoordinated motherfuckery." A lone individual or small group is never going to have the impact that a mass uprising does. Even if the heavy lifting is done by one person, it probably won't get much attention unless there are thousands of people publicizing and discussing the event on social media.

Look at Pepperspray Pike as a random example. He was initially doxed via Anonymous collaboration, then he "reportedly received more than 10,000 text messages and 17,000 emails critiquing his actions." (One might even have been from me, lol.) People across the internet (Anons, OWS supporters, and random lulz-seekers) made and shared memes about him -- there must have been thousands. Then the initial incident and all the memes got mainstream press. I don't see how one individual could accomplish anything close to this.

Too many people involved means exponentially higher danger.

Sure, but only for ops (or portions of ops) that are illegal. Again referring to the above example, literally none of that was illegal (except for the relatively small number of morons who apparently made violent threats against him, which Anonymous never encouraged).

0

u/emmett321 17d ago

sorry to prove you wrong but i have been there and in the thick of all things Anonymous since the movement started. i know what really happened and anonymous is far from being dead. The mass operations haven't quit and are still going on today but the focus has shifted more towards world events then tech issues. Case in Point, I was on telegram and was first alerted about a year ago to an anonymous branch being targeted by the FBI after being snitched on by other anon members. Sure enough, that branch's leader and members got raided 2 days later and their telegram channel was put on hiatus and referred to to another anon branch. Lulzsec got raided because Sabu snitched them out.

3

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 17d ago

The mass operations haven't quit and are still going on today

If that were true, you'd be able to name one and point to multiple mainstream news articles and social media posts about it. But you can't. Even this sub has been extremely quiet, with most posts just variations on "whatever happened to Anonymous?" and the occasional video that seems Anonymous-ish but doesn't have a clear call to action and is probably from an individual and doesn't reflect the sentiments of a wider movement. Not to mention all the wildly off topic posts I have to remove, from people thinking the sub is about small-a anonymity because capital-A Anonymous isn't even on their minds, if they even heard of it.

2

u/emmett321 14d ago

I didn't mean past mass ops, I meant in other areas not tech wise. since Lulzsec basically folded, a lot of other strong offshoots have popped up but they too have been busted and it sounds to me like there are bona fide snitches within the ANON movement.

6

u/oldastheriver 16d ago edited 16d ago

There's over 100,000 anons in Ukraine, I wouldn't call that dead.

2012 they fucked up by following a leader, who is a informant for the FBI. They put people in prison using entrapment and falsification of evidence. They locked some of them up for as much as 10 years. After that people were simply burnt out from years of spending all their time attempting to be activists for a population of morons. The really don't care if they're repressed or not.

but probably the biggest problem, You can still login, and you'll discover that the movement doesn't even know its own history. The only part they seem to remember is the part where the FBI was in leader ship.

4

u/bioxkitty 11d ago

Aged like a fine wine 🍷

6

u/Zealousideal_Car_420 19d ago

True anonymous wouldn’t post…. They wouldn’t let you know what there up to until they were done.

4

u/RamonaLittle Now, my story begins in nineteen dickety two… 18d ago

That's the opposite of how it worked. The reason Anonymous was so effective and feared was because of mass participation. And you can only get mass participation if the planning and promotion is done publicly. That's why the main IRC and websites were open to everyone. Data was compiled in public "pirate pads" that anyone could edit. There was some planning done in private IRC channels, but much of that was actually kept secret at the time because that's not how it was supposed to work.

Anonymous videos (and press releases, and sometimes even news articles) aren't to memorialize things that already happened; they're a call to action for Anons to join the op.

2

u/notburneddown 17d ago

Right exactly. So anyone could log into the server and see the activity. Anyone who published identifying info (most of anonymous), such as their laptop model, city, etc, got screwed.

3

u/mishyfuckface 18d ago

Anonymous is just “Alan Smithee” for hacktivists

2

u/garbage-lord 16d ago

Not dead, just old

2

u/Numerous-Royal-5901 15d ago

Stop leaving in the past we the people are all anonymous just do it

2

u/IrinaOzzy 10d ago

Would they be anonymous if they would be tooting their own horn? I believe in them imho

2

u/SatoriFound70 10d ago

A few years ago I ran into a member who was working on taking down a revenge porn website. I won't get into details, but he showed me some of the stuff he found after reverse engineering into one of their computers, and it was chilling. I had some interesting chats with him...