Anonymous is the name of an association of international hackers who have been characterized by some as cyberterrorists and by others as modern day Robin Hoods.  Since 2003 they have hacked into websites and social media accounts of their adversaries, a group that includes major corporations, such as PayPal and MasterCard and Sony; government agencies of the United States and other countries as well as ISIS and child pornography sites.

Now, through a recently released  video which you can view here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tibphZYyODo  they have targeted Kanye West as “a direct message to our brother, Mr. West to teach him a lesson on humility, and responsibility, over his out of control hypocritical and impulsive actions.”  They went on to cite numerous examples of West’s behavior including his recent actions at the Grammy awards when he stormed the stage once again to interrupt Beck’s acceptance speech as he had done at a previous Grammy awards where Taylor Swift received an award West deemed inappropriate.  The 7 minute Anonymous video ended with “Our tolerance with your arrogant and distasteful behavior to gain attention online has reached its end.”

TIPS

In many instances for all of us, our vulnerability to having our electronic lives hacked is beyond our control because so much information that can be used to gain access to our various online accounts as well as to make us victims of identity theft is available in data banks that are accessible either legally or illegally through hacking, however, we do not have to make it easy for hackers and identity thieves.  Using strong passwords, strong security questions, dual factor authentication when possible and limiting the places as much as possible that hold our personal information can help considerably in keeping us safe.  If the celebrities whose nude photographs had used dual factor authentication, their photos would have remained secure.  Also, it is important to keep all of your electronic devices up to date with the latest anti-malware and anti-virus software.