Anonymous The international hacking collective Anonymous has begun posting alleged personal information of suspected ISIS extremists. 
 
 This comes just a few days after Anonymous declared "war" on ISIS, after the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks in Paris last weekend. 
 
 Anonymous has already collected lists of Twitter accounts and websites belonging to ISIS in order to take them down, and the group claims to have already successfully taken some of those sites and accounts down. 
 
 The group also leaked alleged personal information about suspected ISIS members. In one instance, an Anonymous Twitter account on Monday evening shared a bunch of names found from an alleged "jihadist site," preceding that list with a message: "ISIS we are coming for you." 
 
 Anonymous has been busy shutting down social media accounts and websites linked to ISIS since January, when the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists. Shortly after that event, Anonymous claimed to have taken down nearly 800 Twitter accounts and 50 email addresses associated with ISIS. 
 
 However, Anonymous has wrongly identified people, including alleged extremists from ISIS and Al Qaeda, in the past. So, it's important to not begin a witch hunt for these people based on this information alone. 
 
 Anonymous operates almost exclusively online and does most of its "activist" work through hacking and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which basically overload servers with tons of bogus requests. Anonymous has also been known to inundate phone networks with spammy phone calls, among other things, in order to disrupt communications. ||||| The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) released a statement on Monday responding to Anonymous’s declaration of “total war,” calling the hacker group “idiots” and offering guidance to pro-ISIS supporters to protect against cyber attacks. 
 
 Anonymous threatened that it would launch its “biggest operation ever” against ISIS in response to the wave of shooting and suicide bomb attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead. 
 
 The “Islamic Cyber Army” posted a response to Anonymous’s video release on its purported official channel on the privacy app Telegram, giving a series of tips to ISIS supporters. The post was shared by Anonymous-affiliated accounts on social media, such as the group’s Venezuelan arm. Jihadi monitoring network SITE Intelligence also confirmed the post. 
 
 “The Anonymous hackers threatened in new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic State (idiots),” ISIS’s post read. “What they gonna hack...all they can do is hacking twitter accounts, emails etc…” 
 
 The militant group then listed a series of steps that its supporters should follow online, including not opening suspicious links, changing their locations using workaround technology on their phones and computers, avoiding contact with unknown people on their phone and computers and to renaming their email addresses. 
 
 The post says: “Do not talk to to people u don’t know on telegram and block them if u have to cause there are many glitches in telegram and they can hack you by it. Don’t talk to people on twitter DM cause they can hack u too. 
 
 “Do not make your email same as your username on twitter this mistake cost many Ansar (helpers) their accounts and the kuffar published their IP so be careful.” 
 
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 Anonymous’s two-minute video threatening ISIS has amassed more than five millions views since it launched on Saturday. "War is declared. Get prepared," a masked figure warned the group in the video. 
 
 "The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger,” the figure added. “Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go.” 
 
 The hacker said that the infamous group will use its cyber skills to "unite humanity" and said that terrorists should "expect massive cyber attacks." 
 
 Anonymous has targeted ISIS for a number of months following the attacks on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and its hack of U.S. CENTCOM's Twitter account. The group has uncovered the Twitter accounts of ISIS members and hacked a number of the group's sites. 
 
 The hacktivist group has dismantled at least 149 of ISIS’s affiliated websites, flagged approximately 101,000 Twitter accounts and nearly 6,000 propaganda videos, U.S. magazine Foreign Policy estimates. 
 
 This story has been updated to clarify that the targeting of ISIS by Anonymous followed ISIS's attacks on Charlie Hebdo and U.S. CENTCOM's Twitter account. ||||| The hacker collective Anonymous on Sunday released a list of more than 1,000 Twitter accounts that it claims Islamic State supporters use to spread propaganda. That was just the first salvo of an intensified campaign against the terror group following last Friday's Paris attacks. 
 
 The question, however, is whether Anonymous' effort and that of a growing number of like-minded digital vigilantes in recent months will have any impact on the militants' digital networks, or are they only hindering government efforts to disrupt the jihadi group. 
 
 In a YouTube video Monday, an individual wearing the collective's trademark Guy Fawkes mask promised that Anonymous activists from around the world would hunt down the Islamic State. "We are going to launch the biggest ever operation against you," the masked individual warned. "Expect very many cyberattacks." (A slightly different English language version of the video is available here.) 
 
 Following the deadly attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo earlier this year, Anonymous launched a campaign dubbed #OpISIS to expose and destroy websites, social media accounts, and e-mail addresses of those it considered as affiliated with the terror group. Since then, it has claimed credit for shutting down several websites, and exposing e-mails, private networks, Internet addresses, and more than 9,000 Twitter accounts allegedly being used by Islamic State (ISIS) activists. 
 
 It's unclear how exactly Anonymous plans on escalating that effort with it new #OpParis campaign launched over the weekend. According to Anonymous, it has already taken down more than 3,800 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts following the Paris attacks. Members of the collective are now apparently working on setting up teams for intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis and dissemination as part of a broader, more organized effort to hit ISIS capabilities online. 
 
 Supporters and sympathizers of ISIS have used social media channels and the Internet extensively to communicate, to recruit, and to coordinate supporters across continents. By going after the online accounts used by members and supporters of the group, Anonymous hopes to degrade and diminish the ability for ISIS to communicate and proselytize using the Internet. 
 
 But its penchant for doling out vigilante style justice replete with hyperbolic messages of vengeance and retribution may not be quite what’s needed now, say analysts. For one thing, regardless of how successful Anonymous might prove in exposing Twitter accounts and shutting down websites, it's simple for ISIS supporters to reestablish new ones. 
 
 In fact, many ISIS supporters are likely using the same tactics that members of Anonymous and other hacktivist groups use to stay ahead of those following them, says Joe Gallop head of the hacktivism intelligence practice at iSight Partners. The group behind the Paris attacks, for instance, may have used encrypted chat technology to communicate with each other, a tactic that hacktivists have long used to stay under the law enforcement radar, Mr. Gallop said. 
 
 "Terrorist organizations are just taking a page out of the hacktivist playbook," he says. In the same way that it's hard to take down Twitter accounts belonging to groups such as Anonymous, it's hard to completely curtail the ability to terror groups to communicate simply by shutting down Twitter accounts and taking down websites. "What they are doing is more of simple harassment. In the end it is not going to help law enforcement to prevent an actual physical attack like what happened in Paris," Gallop said. 
 
 There's also the question of whether efforts by Anonymous and others to take down sites and channels that terrorist supporters might be using to communicate could actually disrupt law enforcement investigations. 
 
 When such activities are not undertaken in coordination with counterterrorism practitioners from within government, the actions of groups such as Anonymous can become counterproductive, says Michael Smith II, principal and chief operating officer at Kronos Advisory, a strategic advisory firm. 
 
 "Unless these activities are being coordinated with investigators who possess the authority to disrupt terrorists’ activities, there is a good chance these activities will prove disruptive in relation to ongoing investigations," Mr. Smith warns. 
 
 Smith currently acts as an intermediary in funneling ISIS-related data, collected by a group called Ghost Security Group, to government counter-terrorism officials. The focus is on passing along information gathered by the group related to ISIS attack plots and recruitment efforts. 
 
 Members of Ghost Security Group previously belonged to GhostSec, a group of hacktivists that like Anonymous has been working to disrupt the online activities of Islamic terror groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and Al Shabab. In fact, GhostSec was one of two hacktivist groups that worked with Anonymous to expose the Twitter accounts of ISIS supporters, following the Charlie Hebdo attacks earlier this year. 
 
 By setting up Ghost Security Group, some members of GhostSec have deliberately distanced themselves from Anonymous and its legacy of hooded figures and Guy Fawkes masks. The goal in shedding the outlaw image is to get government counter terrorism officials to pay more attention to the data they are collecting on ISIS and other terror groups. 
 
 The effort is paying off, Smith claimed. In July 2015, Ghost Security Group handed over information to federal authorities that was used to disrupt a plan to attack Jews and British citizens in Tunisia. 
 
 Since September, Smith has acted as an intermediary between Ghost Security and the government, supplying official with information on the Islamic State’s use of certain communications platforms that are more difficult to monitor than Twitter or Facebook. 
 
 "Data collected by Ghost Security Group and passed to law enforcement and intelligence professionals by me has added value to counterterrorism operations," Smith said, pointing to an article in Foreign Policy before the Paris terror attacks in which former Gen. David Petraeus is quoted as saying information provided by organizations like Ghost Security Group could be of value to government. 
 
 Governments have been overwhelmed by the Islamic State's prolific use of Internet technologies to coordinate jihadist activities, in the West in the Middle East and North Africa. So there's plenty of room for outside support, Smith said. 
 
 "However, any activities which are not coordinated with government officials who possess the authority to go out and make arrests, or direct other actions against the Islamic State can inadvertently serve to benefit the enemy." ||||| Nashir An ISIS militant. 
 
 A propaganda account affiliated with ISIS has released another statement related to the hacking collective Anonymous’ declaration of “war” on the terrorists, proclaiming themselves the “owners of the virtual world.” 
 
 A channel for ISIS hackers on the messaging app Telegram — which is popular with ISIS (also known as the Islamic State) and other terrorist groups — sent out a message notifying its members to “unite [their] profile pictures on Twitter” with an image of a black shoe print on the French flag. 
 
 The message came days after Anonymous threatened to launch its “biggest operation ever” against the group, which apparently includes trying to shut down thousands of pro-ISIS Twitter accounts. 
 
 Following the message advising ISIS hackers to change their profile pictures on Twitter, the Telegram channel sent a message in Arabic that promised a further response to Anonymous. 
 
 Rachel Bryson, a researcher at the Quilliam Foundation who studies ISIS propaganda, read the message and described its contents to Business Insider. 
 
 The post “states that there will be something coming and that we should stay tuned and watch out as [ISIS] declares themselves as the owners of the virtual world,” Bryson said in an email. 
 
 “I don’t know if it is literally declaring virtual war on Anonymous, but it is promising a response — which can easily be declared ‘war.’ They are definitely trying to taunt Anonymous with this … but writing a post is easy, it’s doing a strong response that will be the thing to watch for.” 
 
 This is the second statement the ISIS hacker channel has released on Telegram. The first statement was released in both English and Arabic, but the second message was released only in Arabic. 
 
 The first message called Anonymous hackers “idiots” and went on to provide “instructions” on how to avoid potential hacks: Don’t open any links unless sure of the source. Change IP addresses “constantly.” And “do not talk to people [you] don’t know on Telegram” or through Twitter direct messaging. 
 
 Since then Telegram has released a statement saying that it has blocked 78 ISIS-related channels that the terrorist group used to spread propaganda and communicate with other members. 
 
 “We were disturbed to learn that Telegram’s public channels were being used by ISIS to spread their propaganda,” the statement read. “… As a result, this week alone we blocked 78 ISIS-related channels across 12 languages.” Read the full statement here. 
 
 The app’s creators, the Russian brothers who founded the social network VKontake, have previously acknowledged that terrorists use the app and said that privacy takes precedent over preventing terrorism. 
 
 Anonymous started targeting extremists in January after the terrorist attacks on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The hackers worked to identify ISIS-linked social-media accounts and take down extremist websites. 
 
 After the terror attacks in Paris last week, Anonymous declared “war” on ISIS, warning the group to “expect massive cyberattacks.” 
 
 Despite Anonymous’ efforts many are worried they are doing more harm than good. 
 
 One of Anonymous activists’ “victories” this week has been the release of thousands of Twitter accounts and personal details of people it claims are affiliated with ISIS. The hacktivists have claimed responsibility for the deletion of more than 5,000 Twitter accounts. 
 
 But The Independent reported on Wednesday that these efforts have backfired: Some innocent people are apparently being falsely accused of being associated with ISIS. 
 
 Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Image: Screenshot 
 
 Eight terrorists took hostages, detonated suicide vests, and shot people in attacks across Paris last Friday night. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which left 129 people dead and hundreds more injured. 
 
 There have also been unconfirmed reports today that the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, has been killed in a predawn raid by French police. 
 
 Citing information provided by two senior European officials, The Washington Post is reporting that more than 100 police officers and soldiers stormed an apartment building in Saint-Denis during a seven-hour siege that left at least two dead, including the ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud. 
 
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– Anonymous is following through with its promise to target ISIS in a cyber war after the Paris terror attacks. Operating under the hashtags #opISIS and #opParis, the group has begun leaking the personal details of alleged ISIS recruiters, reports the Independent. Anonymous also has compiled lists of social media accounts linked to extremists in an attempt to have them removed, and at least one post reveals the physical address of a suspected recruiter in Europe. Another list, spotted by Tech Insider, includes more than 80 names, though the site notes that Anonymous has wrongly identified extremists before. The group is also working to take down ISIS-affiliated websites using denial-of-service attacks to overload servers. ISIS, however, seems unperturbed. "All they can do is hacking (sic) Twitter accounts, emails etc.," the terrorist group said in a statement Monday, calling Anonymous a bunch of "idiots." Still, ISIS shared tips with supporters about how to avoid cyberattacks, including altering email addresses, changing a computer's shared location, and ignoring suspicious links, per Newsweek. While Anonymous' attacks could hinder communications between ISIS supporters, analysts tell the Christian Science Monitor that they're unlikely to do much good. "What they are doing is more of simple harassment," one says. "In the end it is not going to help law enforcement to prevent an actual physical attack like what happened in Paris." (ISIS has a 24-hour help desk for jihadis having tech trouble.)