#OpParis Pits Anonymous Against ISIS-and Terrorist Twitter Accounts Are Being

The world’s most infamous group of hackers, Anonymous, is once again using its skill set to bring down ISIS (Islamic State or Iraq & Syria), the group purported to be involved in the horrendous attacks in Paris on November 13. “We cannot fight them with guns and rifles”, an Anonymous spokesperson told the BBC, “stopping their propaganda is an effective way to weaken their manpower and their presence in the Internet”.

The guidelines were distributed through the Khilafah News channel, an unofficial news outlet for ISIS, and using Telegram, an encrypted chatting app.

Anonymous has been shutting down websites and social media accounts linked to ISIS since January, when the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists. However, as of Monday, 900 ISIS-related Twitter accounts had already been suspended after Anonymous posted a list of them online.

ISIS warned its followers not to respond to direct messages on Twitter from people they don’t know.

“This mistake cost many”, it cautioned.

The release mocked Anonymous, calling the group “idiots” and questioned the the anarchist collective’s ability to achieve anything tangible with its cyber crusade.

Three guides were posted to an IRC channel used by Anonymous to share information on #OpParis: a “NoobGuide” for anyone that wants to get involved but doesn’t have the hacking knowledge, a “Reporter” guide detailing the setup of a Twitter bot for uncovering IS accounts, and the “Searcher” guide created to help hacktivists around the world uncover IS websites.

The group appears to have stepped up its tactics for what it called its “biggest operation” ever, in response to the attacks that left 129 dead.

The announcement came via YouTube, though the video itself has since been removed. That effort is reportedly responsible for disrupting a planned attack on a Tunisian marketplace this past summer.

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.