Is Anonymous the New Internet Police? Be Careful Not to Offend!

In the World Wide Web, there really is no governing body that tells us what we can and cannot do. Words can be thrown around and no one can really say or do anything about it. People can do what they want (for the most part) and not have to worry about paying any repercussions – until now. It seems that the World of the Web is changing. It seems that the hacker group Anonymous is taking on the role of an enforcement authority of sorts. Anonymous, however, is not your average enforcement group. Perhaps they are best described as today’s modern-day version of Robin Hood. It appears that NISD officials were the latest group to receive the message Anonymous seems to be sending – don’t mess with the Web, or people’s rights in general.

NISD Website Goes Down

Anonymous used our favorite service, Twitter, to tweet a message to NISD officials. What did the message say? “@NISD Your website down, guess why? #Anonymous #Remain #TangoDown.”

So why would Anonymous be interested in the site of the NISD? Well, as we saw last week Anonymous doesn’t like it when people mess with the rights of others or access to the Internet. It appears they don’t like organizations using technology to infringe on people’s rights either.

What Has Anonymous in an Uproar?

The Northside Independent School District of San Antonio implemented a program called Smart IDs that track students’ movements while they are on school property. Students have to wear a microchip ID that tracks their whereabouts. Parents are in an uproar and students aren’t happy about it either. Neither is hacker group Anonymous, who took the district’s website down last week.

According to Anonymous, students have rights too and those rights are being violated. Anonymous seems intent on protecting the rights of others through technology and by bringing down websites when they see fit.

Safeguard Your Site – And Watch Your Step!

While your site probably isn’t at risk of offending Anonymous, there is always the chance that it might. Even if your site is completely innocent and your company doesn’t draw the attention of Anonymous, there are other hackers out there – hackers whose intentions aren’t as noble. You need to make sure your site is safeguarded against DDoS attacks and other malicious attacks that may cause harm to your site, put your customer information at risk, and may even cause your site to go down completely.

If you want to avoid unnecessary downtime, protect your site from hackers. While Anonymous probably has no reason to bring your site down, any downtime caused by any hackers, regardless of who they may be, is money lost and damage control needed.