Anonymous, the infamous hacker collective, was once a regularly featured on news channels throughout the world.
Known for various injustice cyberattacks and leaks made against governments. the group is known to sport the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol, taking inspiration from the graphic novel ‘V for Vendetta,’ in which an anarchist revolutionary topples a fascist government.
The group remained rather quiet.
But following the death of George Floyd that sparked anger throughout many places in the U.S., as well as some other parts of the world, Anonymous has released a video declaring war against the U.S. police.
In the message, Anonymous criticizes the U.S. police system and stated that they do not trust the police to deliver justice.
"Police brutality and murder is a widespread problem in the United States, which has undoubtedly infected nearly every jurisdiction in the country. But, the Minneapolis police department is among the worst and has a horrible track record of violence and corruption."
"This week’s brutal killing of George Floyd, which has sparked protests and national outrage, is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of high profile cases of wrongful deaths at the hands of officers in your state."
The message ends with the usual warning, “We are legion. Expect us.”
Awaken from its slumber, the Anonymous promises to expose the Minneapolis Police Department’s "many crimes to the world," by attacking the police department's website by overwhelming it with automated requests until it stopped responding.
A page on the website of a minor United Nations agency has been defaced to show a memorial for Floyd, replacing its contents with the message "Rest in Power, George Floyd", along with an Anonymous logo.
The group has also released email addresses and passwords of the department’s website.
The return of the Anonymous has sparked a increased interest to the group.
This can be seen as millions of Twitter accounts have began retweeting the longstanding Anonymous posters, helping boost the group into Twitter’s Trending column for greater attention.
Many of the boosted tweets include posts that oppose police actions, defended Black Lives Matter, or faulted President Donald Trump.
However, it should be noted that Anonymous is literally a group consisting of anonymous individuals.
What this means, anyone can literally call themselves a member of Anonymous, use the Guy Fawkes mask, share the group's imagery and slogan, including the "we are legion" tagline. Decentralized, the group has no leader and no command structure.
But still, the group that tends to take aim at those accused of misusing power, have had collectively launched many successful hacks in the past.
A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had seen no evidence of "substantial coordinated activity" among longstanding Anonymous accounts. Twitter however deleted one spammy new account that it found earlier.
“We have seen a few accounts change their profile names, photos, etc. in an attempt to visibly associate with the group and gain followers,” said Liz Kelley, a Twitter spokeswoman.