9 ways you can join Anonymous hackavists and fight ISIS
As the international community gears up to stop the ISIS, a group of "Anonymous" hackers, widely known as "hackavists" have announced to stop the expansion of the ISIS activities online, by disabling thousands of Twitter accounts. According to the group's website, more than 5,000 Twitter accounts have already been suspended while claiming the ISIS as their "biggest enemy". But who are these anonymous hackers? How do they get trained? How can one join them? While the world applauds the unknown group for their war against the ISIS, the group of these hackavists continues to grow, by taking on several terrorist organisations online.
According to the group, there are no direct ways to join them. If one is keen on helping the group, here are a few suggestions which could help one to come on board:
1. Alternative movements: Get involved with alternative movements the group is associated with. Join publicly and legally-known movements like Courage Foundation, WWW Defense League, Fight for the Future, Anonymous Free Anons, Occupy Wall Street, WikiLeaks and many other to get in touch with the group members directly.
2. Before you start: According to the group, it might take one to three years for the person to get trained. No matter how tech-savy you are, the group believes the person needs to have an extensive training in coding and various operating systems other than Windows and Mac.
3. Open Source Software: You need to know how to navigate through open source softwares (OSS). An OSS is a computer software whose source code is available to the copyright holder along with a license to study, edit and distribute the software to anyone for anyone's purpose. This allows the group to work in a collaborative manner while keeping the privacy at par.
4. Different operating system: While many are familiar working with Windows and Mac, the group extensively works with Ubuntu, a Debian-based Linux operating system. Ubuntu is relatively safer from the viruses which are common on Windows and also allow the user to run its own server networks.
5. Choosing a web browser: According to the group, all browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari, have experienced severe security flaws in the recent past. Before a user starts working with the group, one needs to learn how to disable third-party cookies, clear them on exit, disable Flash, Java, change default search engines (go for duckduckgo.com) and avoid installing extensions.
6. Using email: Don't worry, if you don't have a Gmail or a Yahoo account. The group uses encrypted emails, which is difficult to crack in the first glance. The user needs to install a third-party software like Thunderbird and then configure his mail account with the software. It allows the user to write a normal text mail and later, it encrypts the content.
7. Instant messaging service: The group uses Off the Record (OTR), a protocol that allows the users to chat with other users under complete confidentiality. The users need to use the OTR with an open source instant messaging service client, like Pidgin, to start a conversation with other group members.
8. Don't use Skype: Though Skype denies this, but according to the Anonymous, a group of Canadian human rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain internet text conversations which include politically charged words. The system tracks text messages sent by customers of Tom-Skype, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and eBay (the Web auctioneer that owns Skype), an online phone and text messaging service.
9. Forget your real identity: Just like the group name, the person has to don a complete new face on the internet. That means, the user must avoid using his real name, address, email accounts, the websites he has registered to and instant messaging service accounts with registered phone numbers. The group also uses Tor, a free software system that enables its users to communicate anonymously on the internet.
But that's not it.
The group claims that it might take five-ten years before a person becomes ready to join the "Anonymous" group. And that includes learning hardcore coding and hacking.