About
Fawkes Security is a group of self-proclaimed ethical hackers established in December 2011 who align themselves with the Anonymous movement. In October 2012, the group took responsibility for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on banking company HSBS before posing a bomb threat set to detonate on November 5th, 2012.
Online History
Fawkes Security launched a Twitter account[1], YouTube channel[2] and private Facebook group[3] in December 2011. According to the group’s first video communique, its objective is to target companies and people they view as oppressing average citizens across the globe.[4]
HSBC Attack
On October 18th, 2012, HSBC Bank revealed that the company came under a large scale DDoS attack,[5] claiming that it only took their online services offline and did not affect any sensitive customer data. The attack was initially thought to be caused by a group named Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters[9], who also took credit for DDoSing other American bank websites including Capital One Bank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo; however, a Pastebin document[6] claiming responsibility for the attack on behalf of Fawkes Security was uploaded later that same day, citing several of their real-time tweets as proof. The group also told British newspaper The Register[7] that they planned on targeting more banks in the future, as the group feels they are at fault for the problems with the world’s economy. The next day, @FawkesSecurity further claimed in a tweet (shown below) that they had collected the details from 20,000 credit card accounts during the DDoS[8], but have not provided any proof.
When HSBC said ‘’user data had not been compromised’’ This isn’t entirely correct. We also managed to log 20,000 debit card details. #OpHSBC
— Anonymous (@FawkesSecurity) October 19, 2012
Bomb Threat
On October 22nd at approximately 9:45pm (ET), during the United States presidential debate, @FawkesSecurity tweeted a link to its latest video message (shown below) claiming that a military grade bomb consisting of 200 kilgrams of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives had been concealed in a government building somewhere in the United States. They also added the information in the form of a Pastebin document[10], warning readers that the bomb is in a tamper-proof box and cannot be disarmed without exploding if found before the detonation date of November 5th. The message was subsequently picked up by other Anonymous-affiliated channels on Twitter, many of which included the hashtag #OpV[15] to cross-promote Operation Vendetta[21], an Anonymous protest set to take place in front of the British House of Parliament on November 5th, 2012, in commemoration of Guy Fawkes Night.[16]
Soon after the video began to circulate, other Anonymous-aligned Twitter accounts including @YourAnonNews[11], @TheAnonNation[12] and @Asher_Wolf[14], and the Anon Central Tumblr[20] began claiming the bomb was a hoax[13] and that @FawkesSecurity was not speaking for the whole community. Despite this, news of the threat was shared on Breitbart[17], Softpedia[18] and TechNewsDaily.[19]
Twitter Feed
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @FawkesSecurity
[2] YouTube – FawkesSecurity’s Channel
[3] Facebook – Fawkes Security
[4] YouTube – A Message To The Internet From Fawkes Security, Anonymous Hack1ng Cr3w
[5] Sky News – HSBC Suffers ‘Large Scale’ Cyber Attack
[6] Pastebin – HSBC DDoS attack
[7] The Register – Anonymous cell: Shove off, credit-hoggers, WE took down HSBC
[8] American Banker – Hacker Group Claims it Stole Debit Card Details from HSBC During Cyberattack
[9] PC World – HSBC Falls in Latest Bank DDoS Attacks, What’s Next?
[10] Pastebin – Anonymous Warning 5th November 2012
[11] Twitter – @YourAnonNews’ Tweet
[12] Twitter – @TheAnonNation’s Tweet
[13] The Daily Dot – Anonymous claims “FawkesSecurity” bomb threat a hoax
[14] Twitter – @Asher_Wolf’s Tweet
[15] Twitter – Search results for #opv
[16] Wikipedia – V For Vendetta (film)
[17] Breitbart – HACKER CLAIMING ASSOCIATION TO ANONYMOUS POSTS BOMB THREAT FOR NOVEMBER 5TH
[18] Softpedia – Anonymous Hackers Claim to Have Planted Bomb in Government Building [Video]
[19] TechNewsDaily – Anonymous Offshoot Group Makes Bomb Threat
[20] Tumblr – AnonCentral | Response to #FawkesSecurity’s threats. Please disseminate it:
[21] Facebook – Operation Vendetta