14 DAY TRIAL // After the hacktivists targeted several Australian government and high-profile organization websites as part of OpAustralia, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has issued a warning to all those involved in such activities.
According to ABC News, authorities are warning Anonymous, and hackers in general, that their activities could land them in prison for up to 10 years.
On the other hand, AFP representatives admit that it’s not an easy task identifying the perpetrators.
“The difficulty is finding this loosely-based group who advertise their activism online but have been notoriously difficult to pin down in person,” an AFP spokesperson stated.
One of the first victims of OpAustralia – meant as a protest against the Internet surveillance bill proposed by Australian officials − was AAPT, an Internet service provider from which the hackers leaked around 40 gigabytes of information.
After Anonymous issued a statement, calling hackers and internauts to arms, the sites of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (AISO) and the Defence Signals Directorate of the Department of Defence were targeted with distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks.
Although the attacks haven't cause much damage to the websites – their representatives have claimed that no sensitive information has been stolen – the fact that they've raised awareness among users has showed some results.
Yesterday, Anonymous celebrated its first victory, when the Attorney General Roxton announced that the controversial bill would be referred to a parliamentary committee, which most likely means that it will be stalled until after the next round of elections.
“#OpAustralia Wins the first battle as Roxon puts web surveillance plans on ice,” Anonymous Australia wrote on Twitter after learning the news.
After the story that the law will be put on ice for a while broke out, the hacktivists have been quiet. It will remain to be seen if OpAustralia will continue after the announcement.