Twitter Suspends Wikileaks Defenders' Profile

Stephen Gutowski | December 8, 2010
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The group responsible for "hacking" several companies which have cut ties with and services to Wikileaks as well as Sarah Palin moments ago had their twitter account suspended. The group, as identified by Scientific American, calls itself "Operation Payback" or Anon_Operation on twitter. Up until just a few minutes ago when you visited the group's twitter profile you would see tweets from the group touting media coverage of themselves and coordinating attacks with their 11,000+ followers. Here is a cache image of the account (click to enlarge):

However, now when you try to visit this account on twitter you instead receive a notice that the account has been suspended. Here's what Anon_Operation looks like now (click to enlarge):

UPDATE: In case you're wondering this group has all the hallmarks of something born out of 4Chan. The use of the term "Anon", short for anonymous, is enough of a clue but the fact that the attacks they are using are DDoS is another clue since that is a 4Chan favorite. It might come as a surprise but this isn't the first time they've gone after Sarah Palin either.

Remember during the campaign when Sarah Palin's email account was "hacked"? That was also 4Chan. Of course that didn't turn out to well for the main guy involved.

However, a post from Michelle Malkin on the matter gives a pretty good glimpse into the standard operating procedure for when 4Chan wants to cause trouble. It should give you some background on what you can expect. Given 4Chan's history it's doubtful that twitter suspending this account will really prevent them from doing more damage.

In fact this move makes me wonder if these 4Channers wont go after Twitter next. They'll attack anybody if they rub them the wrong way or if they think its funny... even 4Chan.

UPDATE: If you needed further proof of 4Chan's connection to "Operation Payback" here it is.

UPDATE: Word to the wise 4Channers involved in these attacks... a Dutch 16 year old was just arrested for his involvement. Don't be surprised if you get that infamous knock at the door. By the way Gizmodo has a great rundown of exactly how 4Channers run their DDoS attacks.

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