Thus said Josh Corman, director of security intelligence at Akamai, speaking at a panel debate on Anonymous at RSA 2012 and reported by TechWeekEurope. His view is that DDoS has failed as a weapon, and, says the article, “may have done the opposite by helping pour money into the pockets of vendors flogging DDoS protection and giant corporations making money from security.”
While not denying that companies like Akamai may have benefitted by selling DDoS mitigation services, Anonymous refutes many of Cormon’s comments. In a statement to Infosecurity, it questions the dismissal of DDoS as a weapon. “On packet volumes alone, the world leaders in DDoS are governments such as China, US and Israel who are quietly engaged in commercially motivated cyber-terrorism”, it claims. Then it questioned Cormon’s motives. “The reason why Akamai representative Josh Corman does not mention this at RSA 2012 is that it would be both career and business limiting for him to do so.”
Anonymous says that the attribution of the term ‘angst’ is also wrong. This view may have its roots in an earlier TechWeekEurope article, in which “A UK-based splinter cell recently told TechWeekEurope the group as a whole was destroying itself, thanks to a large amount of infighting.” This was based on an interview with anon Winston Smith. Smith has now told Infosecurity this phase is over. “I Winston Smith will admit for the first time I went through a rough ride with Anonymous,” he told Infosecurity, “because I did not understand the importance of collectivism. It was a mistake on my part which resulted in discord between me and parts of Anonymous.” This discord no longer exists, he said.
The Anonymous statement went on to explain that “Anonymous works because there is no control, because it’s in a constant fight for ideas and direction and that is a great leveller. It keeps us all on the same plane, so while politicians will often talk about fairness and equality as an ideology for all, Anonymous actually practices it. So Anonymous will always be struggling and fighting because that is how collective consciousness works.” That constant fight for ideas and direction is what Anonymous believes has been misinterpreted as ‘angst’.
It’s not angst, says Anonymous – it’s rage. “Within that high impact environment are hackers, crackers, phreakers, skiddies, doxers and ground fags whose dominant personality trait is not ‘angst’, it’s rage. Rage at the wars that our countries wage in our name, rage at the lack of fairness in society, rage at the way governments seek to hide the truth, rage at the way corporations manipulate the press and anger at the erosion of our human rights.”
Basically, Anonymous simply dismisses Corman’s comments as just another “misrepresentation of its culture and beliefs because of the financial motivation of security companies and governments through their network of corporations.” Meanwhile, it claims, Anonymous remains united in its disunity.