Hacktivist Anonymous threatens to expose many crimes of US Police departments

International hacktivist group Anonymous, widely known for carrying out cyberattacks against several government agencies/institutions, have returned with a video which pledges to expose Minneapolis Police Department’s ‘many crimes to the world’ following the killing of George Floyd. 

In the video, Anonymous calls for Chauvin to be charged with murder in George Floyd 's death and vows to expose corruption by police across the country.

Anonymous message for the American Spring.

— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) May 31, 2020

The threats seem to have come to life, as with online claims that the website of MPD was taken offline late Saturday (May 30), with problems going on through the night. Users were asked to complete a captcha when they accessed the site today, Sunday, to ensure that they were not automated bots orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack.  

Floyd 's death, killed May 25 while in Minneapolis PD custody, has sparked national protests and riots. On Friday, former police officer Derek Chauvin, who had kneeled on Floyd's neck, was charged with murder and manslaughter in the third degree. The video, which was watched more than 2 million times, features a figure wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and an electronically altered voiceover, which are group hallmarks.

Who is Anonymous? 

Anonymous is a decentralized international hacktivist group widely known for its various cyber attacks against several governments, governmental institutions, government agencies, corporations, and the Church of Scientology. Anonymous is a group of online activists whose main aim is to target hypocrisy and corruption.

We are interventionist.
We are hacktivist.
We are journalist.
We are activist.
We are justice.
We are legion.
Expect us.

We are from the internet.
We are #Anonymous.
We are everywhere.#GeorgeFloydProtests pic.twitter.com/NU3FXG7SCp

— Anonymous (@LatestAnonNews) May 31, 2020

The group may choose to deface a popular Web site by replacing their own messages with graphics and text. Or they may initiate DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks in which hackers overload computer systems, rendering sites and networks unavailable.

Often those tactics work. Anonymous has succeeded for years in attracting worldwide attention for specific causes, or for other times, just for fun.

The group first caught the eye when a copyrighted Scientology video starring Tom Cruise was leaked on YouTube in 2008. In retaliation, the group distributed denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites after the church requested that the video be taken down.

They quickly began using online attacks as a form of non-violent protest and by 2010, regularly distributed denial-of-service attacks were launched in support of copyright against websites.