"Muslims are not terrorist" is AnonCoders' message

May 27, 2015 15:34 GMT  ·  By

An international group of hackers operating under the name AnonCoders defaced the main website of the Republican Party of Kentucky to raise awareness that Muslims are not terrorists.

The message pasted on the homepage of rpk.org showed the logo of group, the famous Guy Fawkes mask used by Anonymous hacktivists, and the names of those claiming the deed.

Despite displaying the Guy Fawkes mask, the outfit separates itself from the Anonymous movement and said that they refused collaboration with its members when asked.

Website showed hacker's message for almost 3 days

Defacing websites is regarded as an act of vandalism and consists in changing the appearance of the main page of the website to something the attacker chooses. It is often used to spread messages, and more recently, as a means for less skilled hackers to prove themselves in their community.

AnonCoders’s change on the Kentucky Republican Party’s website remained visible from Saturday afternoon until mid-Tuesday.

No sensitive information was available for taking because the site was used only to deliver news updates.

Talking to The State Journal, the group said that amusement was not their goal, but to send to governments from all countries the message that “it is a misconception that Muslims are spreading terrorism, when in all reality, the governments are killing innocents and they are the true terrorist.”

Group claims attack on TV5Monde

They also told the news publication that they were the ones behind the devastating attack against TV5Monde in April, which paralyzed the activity of the television network by taking away the ability to emit its programs for a significant period.

However, the attack on Kentucky GOP’s site cannot compare to the one on the French broadcaster neither in complexity nor in the messages delivered.

AnonCoders are not at their first website defacement attempt. One of their latest victims is the Nashville Turf, a company making synthetic turf. Some of their other victims, and the messages left on their websites, can be viewed at Zone-h, an archive with website defacements.