More Anonymous Controversy

(Posted on 16/03/12)

In early March, law enforcement agencies throughout the UK, U.S. and Republic Ireland announced they had captured several hackers allegedly as part of the Anonymous hacking group that they said have affected more than one million victims.

One of those captured is believed to have been involved in various cyber attacks against Sony Pictures, Fox Broadcasting and others. Today, though, the plot thickened.

It's believed more than 25,000 people have downloaded a new operating system they believed members of the Anonymous group made. Unfortunately, these folks might not have downloaded what they think they have.

Soon after the Linux-related system was released, the official group then said it had nothing to do with the system and warned people not to download it as it was "riddled with viruses".

The 1.5 GB download is based on one of the more popular versions of Linus, Ubuntu. Again, the official Anonymous group warned that it was "wrapped in trojans" and encouraged users to not trust it.

The group, controversial it is, faces international legal repercussions and has been accused of many crimes in many countries.

One security analyst downloaded the OS and said he had yet to find any viruses or trojans, but that it did offer a functional system though it came with many pre-installed apps that could be used for breaking passwords and other unethical activities. The analysts said he was also beginning to investigate whether there were any "surprises" that had been installed that could present problems for the users at later dates.

Users are also being encouraged to not download it by security professionals.

The U.S. and UK both are considering what legal charges can be brought against those arrested this month. It's unsure whether there will be any solicitors in the UK representing those arrested.