Science & Tech

Britain's security minister has actually thanked Anonymous for taking on Isis

The minister of state for security has expressed his gratitude towards the loose collective of hackers known as Anonymous for their efforts in fighting Isis online.

John Hayes was asked for his view on online activist groups by Labour's Keith Vaz during a home affairs committee meeting on Tuesday.

The Conservative MP said that the amount of jihadi radicalisation that takes place online is "immense", continuing:

I am grateful for any of those who are engaged in the battle against this kind of wickedness.

The challenge of fighting online extremism "grows all the time", Hayes added.

Anonymous declared war on Isis more than a year ago, but stepped up efforts with the new campaign #OpIsis in the wake of the Paris terror attacks earlier this month.

Hayes also told MPs he had been compared to James Bond in the past, adding:

This is my message. Both as minister and as government. We are certain, we are determined, we are committed and we are fearless.


Isis doesn't stand a chance, then.

While Anonymous has claimed to have spammed and disabled up to 20,000 social media accounts affiliated with Isis, reports are emerging that many of the group's efforts are misplaced, shutting down unrelated Arabic-language accounts or targeting already defunct profiles.

OpIsis is the biggest collective campaign undertaken by Anonymous to date. The group plans to share personal details of suspected Isis members, including real names and home addresses.

HT: Huffington Post

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