- Tech
-
-
Tech
The gadgets, platforms, and software that make your digital life possible. If it bleeps, clicks or blinks, you’ll find it here.
-
Devices
-
Categories
-
-
- Internet Culture
-
-
Internet Culture
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Streaming
-
-
Streaming
-
Services
-
Featured
-
-
- IRL
-
-
IRL
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Social
-
-
Social
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Live TV
-
-
Live TV
-
Services
-
Guides
-
-
- More
- Search
See all Editor's Picks →
See all Popular →
Represented by Complex Media, Inc. for advertising sales.
Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Ethics
Latest
- This BTS-Billie Eilish mashup is the most popular tweet of 2019 7 Years Ago
- Michelle Wolf embraces vulgarity in ‘Joke Show’ 7 Years Ago
- Influencer gets 14 years in prison for trying to steal domain name at gunpoint 7 Years Ago
- ‘Three Days of Christmas’ is a delightfully dark holiday alternative to Hallmark Today 3:55 PM
- The way Trump Jr. holds his own book inspires mockery Today 3:47 PM
- Woman facing backlash for no longer wearing hijab in end of the decade photo Today 3:16 PM
- Report: Consulting firm lied about decreasing violence at Rikers Island jail Today 2:36 PM
- TikTok users are sharing things they thought were ‘ghetto’ as kids Today 2:31 PM
- Republicans just blocked a net neutrality vote in the Senate Today 2:24 PM
- ‘Fox & Friends’ host stuck using dad’s account after Twitter suspension Today 1:10 PM
- ‘They’ is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year Today 12:56 PM
- Inside Dolby’s big ‘Star Wars’ retrospective exhibition Today 12:48 PM
- Amazon’s ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ reboot isn’t for you—and that’s fine Today 11:50 AM
- Walmart pulls ‘Let it snow’ cocaine sweater, ruining Christmas Today 11:30 AM
- The way Facebook serves political ads could be driving polarization Today 11:10 AM
White House report accuses hacktivists of “economic espionage”
Attorney General Eric Holder lumped Anonymous and Lulzsec in with Chinese government hackers in a Wednesday press conference on cybersecurity.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder held up hacktivist group Anonymous, as well as LulzSec, WikiLeaks and other similar groups as perpetrators of “economic terrorism” in a press conference Wednesday.
Some of these groups have targeted the websites of American companies in distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks, temporarily knocking the sites offline as a form of protest.
This highlighting of hacking collectives as part of the online threat to America is part of the White House’s “Administrative Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets” (PDF).
Holder told the assembled reporters that “Disgruntled insiders [may leak] information about corporate trade secrets or critical U.S. technology to ‘hacktivist’ groups like WikiLeaks,” who could “develop customized malware or remote-access exploits to steal sensitive U.S. economic or technology information,” according to CNET.
The statement seems to indicate either an ignorance of what these groups have done so far and why, or a desire to make a point on the vaguely sinister implications of the groups’ names in the public mind.
Whether you think it is ethically allowable, politically effective, both or neither, if you’re familiar with these groups’ activities you know that they have yet to hack an American business to steal, or enable the theft, of money or trade secrets.
When Anonymous hacked the bank HSBC, for instance, it did so as a protest for the bank’s role in blocking payments to WikiLeaks, which had published secret military information allegedly lent to it by indicted Army private Bradley Manning.
The administration’s strategy document lists “hacktivists” under the heading of “Game Changers,” alongside “Hackers for hire.”
“Political or social activists also may use the tools of economic espionage against US companies, agencies, or other entities. The selfstyled (sic) whistleblowing group WikiLeaks has already published computer files provided by corporate insiders indicating allegedly illegal or unethical behavior at a Swiss bank, a Netherlands-based commodities company, and an international pharmaceutical trade association. LulzSec—another hacktivist group—has exfiltrated data from several businesses that it posted for public viewing on its website.”
This month, as part of the problematic OpLastResort, Anonymous released “the usernames, passwords, and affiliations of 4,600 banking executives,” as we reported elsewhere. Certainly this qualifies as theft, but of “trade secrets,” which the strategy seeks to address? That is less certain.
The press conference follows the news of large-scale trade and diplomatic hacking enterprises like Red October and the operation allegedly sponsored by China’s People’s Liberation Army, which Holder also directly addressed.
But as the administration steps up efforts to strengthen cybersecurity and protect U.S. businesses against these threats, hacktivist groups and their supporters may also find themselves swept up in the increased hacking investigations and prosecutions Holder called for Wednesday.
Image by AK Rockefeller/Flickr

Curt Hopkins
Curt Hopkins has over two decades of experience as a journalist, editorial strategist, and social media manager. His work has been published by Ars Technica, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. He is the also founding director of the Committee to Protect Bloggers, the first organization devoted to global free speech rights for bloggers