Via @Anonsj
Tuesday, on the anniversary of the Korean War, the South Korean branch of Anonymous attacked North Korean websites, attempting to deface or knock offline as many as possible. But as analysts have since noted, the attacks ended up also targeting South Korean sites, and at one point actually took down the Anonymous South Korea site.
Martyn Williams at North Korea Tech has followed the story most closely, and writes that Tuesday's attacks started off pretty well, with the majority of North Korean websites displaying typical DDoS behavior, and Anonymous members claiming to have acquired North Korean military documents, although the existence of the latter has yet to be confirmed.
Major Websites are being #TANGODOWN by #AnonymousKorea List of Damage under #OpNorthKorea will tell you more - http://t.co/PgEiljlqAR
— Hackers NewsBulletin (@HNBulletin) June 25, 2013
Korean Central News Agency - North Korea State News Agency - Established Dec. 5, 1946 - http://t.co/XLyeyX9fRa - #TANGODOWN
— Anonymous Jaye (@AnonymousJaye) June 25, 2013
TARGET: North Korea STATUS: Tango Down
— Anonymous (@Anonsj) June 25, 2013
But then the attack shifted towards South Korea, with the South Korean president's official website taken down:
Blue House website down 'check back later' currently reads a message, hacked this morning: #OpNorthKorea pic.twitter.com/GXsJ34tomd
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) June 25, 2013
The South Korean Anonymous account leading the charge denied having anything to do with it:
I Heard that http://t.co/Xdo3xKa5Il is #HACKED WTF
— Anonymous (@Anonsj) June 25, 2013
@sangwonyoon no :(
— Anonymous (@Anonsj) June 25, 2013
I Didn't hack any South Korea websites. #Anonymous
— Anonymous (@Anonsj) June 25, 2013
And then at some point the Anonymous South Korea site went down:
WTF 503 Service Unavailable : http://t.co/f3fnKoU9sR
— Anonymous (@Anonsj) June 24, 2013
Williams has a screenshot of a tweet from @Anonsj (since deleted) writing "Attacker apologized to me that he thought we are misrepresentation website," which makes it pretty clear that it was taken down with accidental friendly fire.
Max Fisher at the Washington Post has good analysis of the history of Anonymous trying to hack North Korea, but the short version is that North Korea's heavily isolated internet and surprisingly robust tech capabilities have made it a tough cookie to crack.
But the efficacy aside, the attack is indicative of the state of Anonymous in 2013. There's no denying that Anonymous represents a ton of hacking skill. But the group's years of fame combined with its commitment to remaining leaderless (although some people, like @Anonsj, can clearly call shots), has left the group fairly rudderless.
As C. Custer at Tech in Asia asks, is the defacing of websites the end game for Anonymous? Digital graffiti and the hampering of access to key websites is certainly a form of political expression. But these North Korean attacks show what happens when the main goal is for a bunch of anonymous people to take down websites with no clear direction: the wrong sites get hit, competitors can jump in, and the message gets lost.