14 DAY TRIAL // With the entire Western world terrorized with fear, one of Anonymous' smaller divisions has published a statement in which it warns of imminent ISIS (Daesh, ISIL, Islamic State) attacks, planned for tomorrow, Sunday, November 22.
This warning was broadcasted via social media by one of the group's smaller divisions. In the meantime, the @YourAnonNews Twitter account, Anonymous' most known source for officials stories has disavowed any knowledge of the attacks, leading anyone to believe that the smaller group that "claims to be part of Anonymous," may be an impersonator.
The source of the "threats" is questionable
The news of the attacks comes from a Twitter account set up yesterday at @OpParisIntel. According to a statement posted on Pastebin, this so-called Anonymous sub-division is warning of eight new attacks. Three of them are in Paris, and the group says that they've confirmed threats at:
● The "Collectif du droit des femmes" demonstration (Group for women's rights) ● Cigales Electroniques with Vocodecks, RE-Play & Rawtor at Le Bizen ● Concrete Invites Drumcode: Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joel Mull at Concrete
The OpParisIntel group also says that they've "received/found threats for, but [the targets] weren't 100% confirmed," for:
● WWE Survival Series (Atlanta/US) ● Feast of Christ the King celebrations (Rome/Worldwide) ● Al-Jihad, 1 Day Juz (Indonesia) ● Five Finger Death Punch (Milan, Italy) ● University Pastoral Day (Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon)
Quick after the news about impending attacks broke, the FBI issued a statement saying that they've been warned beforehand and took the appropriate security measures, in spite of the fact that the intelligence they received was not deemed credible.
The OpParisIntel group did say that "'Threats' aren't the same as 'plans,'" admitting that they might be wrong.
The group justified its actions of releasing such sensitive information by saying that they've warned multiple law enforcement agencies, but "because they have not done anything with it yet and it's almost the 22nd, [they] have taken matters into [thei]r hands."
The team felt that the information they acquired from ISIS accounts was accurate because terrorists were not issuing threats at random or unspecified dates, but were all focusing on the November 22 date alone as if it was part of a preconceived plan.
Events like these were bound to happen since the Anonymous hacking collective is known to function without a leader and is made up of hundreds of smaller groups. Miscommunication or the lack of official communication channels might make credible information look false but may also be an avenue for fearmongering if exploited by a malicious party (like ISIS).
This account did not tweet about possible future ISIS attacks, this is the original post: https://t.co/ZBRy3rPlfA
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 21, 2015
We did not spread any rumors about possible future ISIS attacks, and frankly, we do not know where the rumors come from.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 21, 2015
No doubt in my mind #Anonymous viral abilities are being completely manipulated.
— Anonymous (@Anonycast) November 21, 2015