“Toronto Stock Exchange, expect us,” says a non-descript computerized voice over a YouTube video.
The voice is unthreatening, but this is certainly a threat. The legendary hacker group Anonymous is planning to take down the website of the Toronto Stock Exchange on November 7, it announced this week.
UPDATE: Anonymous now claims the attacks are off. Read about it here.
This would’ve been the group’s first major operation in Canada since the Occupy Toronto started on October 15, and mimes the online offensive against the New York Stock Exchange in the Occupy Wall Street protests.
“The one per cent has been putting their wealth in the Toronto Stock Exchange. This is why we choose to declare war against it,” says the literally anonymous Anonymous voice. “On November 7, 2011, TSX shall be erased from the internet. And this is just the beginning.”
The plan was to take down the web operations of TMX, which owns and operates the TSX, using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
There’s obviously no way to know if this was credible, but it has the same modus operandi of past actions. By publicising the attack on YouTube, Anonymous is recruiting hackers to participate. A DDoS relies on overwhelming a site with requests to its server, so the more requests sent the more effective the attack.
On October 10, Anonymous launched Invade Wall Street, and very briefly – for almost two minutes – hacked NYSE.com, the website of the New York Stock Exchange. No trading or other business was disrupted.
The Toronto project is called Operation #TMX. Confusingly, though, the YouTube video announcing it is titled Operation #TMX HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.
“TMX Group doesn’t comment on security matters,” a spokesperson for the company says.
This is a turnaround from the beginning of the Occupy movement in Canada. Anonymous originally promised no attacks on Canadian sites, unless the police roughed up Occupy protesters at St. James Park.
“If we see any violence against the peaceful protesters or any unlawful acts like the G20 summit protests or any sort of interruption, we will get involved!” it promised.
This is also similar to the New York City Anonymous. It waffled on attacking NYSE.com, first saying it wouldn’t, then promising it would, then announcing it would, but not on Columbus Day (not sure why?). Perhaps the same in-fighting is happening here?
The American Anonymous offers a kit to hit the NYSE.com with the DDoS attack and urges hackers to “spread the fucking word.” So far, there is no such outreach at Anonymous Canada.
Anonymous was most recently in Canada for Operation Green Rights/Project Tarmaggedon, an offensive against the Alberta tar sands and the oil companies working in it.
The American Anonymous have rumoured operations against the New York Police Association, Sotheby’s, some billionaires and a handful of other corporations. So if the pattern of attacks are followed, look for the Toronto Police, union-busting companies and billionaires to be the next targets.
Anonymous has also been antagonizing the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and other Rupert Murdoch-owned media. The Canadian Anonymous, by contrast, lists the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest media company, as one of its “Likes” on Facebook.
However muddled the organization of the hacking collective is, the threat has a very clear objective.
“On November 7, expect a day that will never, ever be forgotten.”
