14 DAY TRIAL // Just as it did after the Belgium and Paris ISIS attacks, the Anonymous hacker collective has promised to fight back against the Islamic State, even if the group can't really do much except report Twitter and other social media accounts.
Two days ago, a group of ISIS terrorists attacked the Istanbul Atatürk Airport, injuring 239 people and killing 44 by shooting and suicide bombings.
In a video posted online shortly after the attack, Anonymous hackers promised to relaunch attacks against the terrorist group, just as #OpISIS started to die out after the Belgium attacks from this past March.
The group had reacted in a similar manner before, and every time, the hackers went on a rampage, which often consisted mainly of finding and reporting ISIS accounts, and then having them taken down from various social networks.
In most of these cases, ISIS recruiters and supporters created new accounts soon after and continued their online recruitment undisturbed.
Nevertheless, Anonymous has had an impact on the terrorist group's operations, making online recruitment much harder.
Anonymous' campaigns need to deliver more tangible results
While #OpIstanbul looks like another grab for media attention from some of the group's members, we would like to see the organization step it up in its anti-ISIS campaign, and actually do some real hacking for once.
When #OpISIS first launched in early 2015, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the group found, defaced and leaked data from ISIS websites and forums, exposing plans, communications, and even group members previously unknown.
Things continued on a similar note in November 2015, after the Paris attacks, when ISIS was forced to move most of its operations to Telegram channels.
After that, the best thing Anonymous hackers were able to do was to report accounts to Twitter, deface Twitter accounts with soft pornography, or launch social media campaign to ridicule the group.
While technically speaking Anonymous' previous campaigns have reduced the terrorist group's online presence, the continuation of real-world attacks has shown that ISIS hasn't actually been affected internally by Anonymous' actions.
The biggest blow ISIS took in terms of cyber-defense was when one of its own members left the group and leaked the personal details of 22,000 ISIS recruits.
