Anonymous is a group of computer hackers that exploit government, religious, and corporate websites that are not easily accessible by the general public.

Anonymous was once a small group that flew under the radar. Established in 2003, this group has now made a name for themelseves through various publicity stunts. According to the website thestar.com,  Anonymous has had cyberattacks on:

1. Iran: During the 2009 Iranian elections, Anonymous joined forces with torrent site The Pirate Bay to launch attacks on pro-government websites.

2. Australia: In September 2009, Anonymous managed to take down Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s website. The attacks were provoked by government plans to filter offensive websites.

3. China: One of a number of attacks on Chinese government websites took place in April 2012. This one was allegedly accompanied by The Who’s hit song “Baba O’Riley”

These are just four examples of many. Because of this, Anonymous has a lot of power and instills fear into countries. They can hack into any website that belongs to a CEO, a company or even government sites. They can find secret hidden info that the owner might not want the world to see. Anonymous could take down a country if they wanted to.

Yet they do not do anything to hurt their enemies. Do you know why they do not immediately show the secrets of others to the world? They know how to use their powers responsibly. They do not want to hurt innocent people like other cyber hackers. Anonymous aims to punish those who are corrupt and abuse their power on the innocent. They demonstrate their power to the vile and corrupt to keep them in line.

It has been reported that “Anonymous” once stopped the New York Stock Exchange by hacking it. The government denied it though and said it was just an “internal technical issue.” Anonymous is one of the major players in the world today. Right now, they are revealing secrets of people who we thought were good, but are really just criminals in disguises.

When will Anonymous strike next, who knows?