The Ku Klux Klan learned an important lesson this past weekend: When hacker-activist group Anonymous makes a threat, it’s best to take heed. The KKK drew the wrath of Anonymous when a chapter of its racist terrorist organization, based 75 miles south of Ferguson, Missouri, threatened to use “lethal force” against Ferguson protesters in the wake of the grand jury handing down an indictment against police officer Darren Wilson.
The Missouri KKK group, Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, distributed flyers that read: “Attention: To the terrorists masquerading as ‘peaceful protesters’! We will use lethal force as provided under Missouri law to defend ourselves.”
On Friday, Anonymous began outing KKK members by publicly releasing their identities and personal information. Then, the hacker group released a video waging cyberwar against the KKK, using the hashtags #OpKKK and #HoodsOff. However, the KKK didn’t take their threats seriously, tweeting from @KuKluxKlanUSA that they found Anonymous’ threats amusing:
We are continuing to read Anonymous threats with much amusement. Still no action taken. #Cowards #HoodsON
— Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 16, 2014
That tweet went out around 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. By 9 p.m. Anonymous revealed that it had hacked the account, and could confirm that the account had been managed by a Ku Klux Klan member based on direct messages sent to and received from the account.
16 NOV 2014 09:11:47 You should’ve expected us. #OpKKK continues to be a success. Freedom will prevail. pic.twitter.com/FUrNzBpVOa — Ku Klux Klan (@KuKluxKlanUSA) November 16, 2014
[Image: Shutterstock]
Anonymous has also reportedly hacked @YourKKKCentral’s Twitter account. The hacker-activists have also knocked the website belonging to Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan offline. And according to an unconfirmed ZDNet source, Anonymous has compromised the email accounts of Klan members and is conducting a harassment campaign via phone against Klan members.
So why is Anonymous so intent on harassing the Ku Klux Klan? Simply put, Anonymous doesn’t tolerate racism.
#OPKKK: “You do not tolerate blacks? We do not tolerate racism.” All servers that host websites related to KKK is under attack. #Anonymous
— Anonymous (@AnonymousGlobo) November 16, 2014
Tweeting from @KuKluxKlanUSA, Anonymous announced that it will release a statement regarding the hacking from that account tomorrow.
The grand jury’s decision whether to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown is expected in the next few days.