Lately, the term cyberwarfare has been thrown around a lot recently and while most of the conversation is dealing with nation vs nation conflicts, they have yet to mention the 300 ton elephant in the room which is the group Anonymous.
now while the group (or idea depending on who you ask) is primarily focused on activism/entertainment by hacking websites and the mobilization of people to form peaceful protests and not purely military, i see the foundations with in the group of near perfection of the application of guerrilla warfare.
the first thing i mention of the lack of any higher up organization beyond the IRC chat rooms which they form when they proceed with an operation. this means there is little or no control over how a member is supposed to act and is completely free to abort the operation or use his own tools and ideas on how to do so.
the second is the tools themselves. when Anonymous does an operation, older members supply the tools (which are completely free) of which younger member hide their IPs and Mac addresses, effectively making them Anonymous.
the third thing is the ideology it's self. Anonymous is based on the idea that when people are able to hide behind masks or their proxy networks, they become empowered to fight those who would keep them down. the nebulous nature of this ideology means anyone can join it simply by hiding themselves behind a mask/ proxy and calling themselves Anonymous, effectively making them guerrillas.
now, we have seen Anonymous effect on the Arab Spring (which they hacked/DDoS government websites, and taught the people how to bypass the government firewalls) and they are continuing to have an effect on it.
now after saying all this, is Anonymous a model for the next generation of guerrilla warfare or simply a quark of the internet?
now while the group (or idea depending on who you ask) is primarily focused on activism/entertainment by hacking websites and the mobilization of people to form peaceful protests and not purely military, i see the foundations with in the group of near perfection of the application of guerrilla warfare.
the first thing i mention of the lack of any higher up organization beyond the IRC chat rooms which they form when they proceed with an operation. this means there is little or no control over how a member is supposed to act and is completely free to abort the operation or use his own tools and ideas on how to do so.
the second is the tools themselves. when Anonymous does an operation, older members supply the tools (which are completely free) of which younger member hide their IPs and Mac addresses, effectively making them Anonymous.
the third thing is the ideology it's self. Anonymous is based on the idea that when people are able to hide behind masks or their proxy networks, they become empowered to fight those who would keep them down. the nebulous nature of this ideology means anyone can join it simply by hiding themselves behind a mask/ proxy and calling themselves Anonymous, effectively making them guerrillas.
now, we have seen Anonymous effect on the Arab Spring (which they hacked/DDoS government websites, and taught the people how to bypass the government firewalls) and they are continuing to have an effect on it.
now after saying all this, is Anonymous a model for the next generation of guerrilla warfare or simply a quark of the internet?