Security13.06.2016

This is how I took down the SABC: Anonymous hacker

Anonymous South Africa

A hacker who goes by Anonymous Africa, or @zim4thewin on Twitter, recently attacked a number of the SABC’s websites and knocked them offline.

Anonymous Africa said they attacked the SABC over the decision by its COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng to ban the filming of violent protests.

The SABC called the hackers cowards, and said they attacked a national key point when they targeted the SABC’s websites.

This is the same group that took down the websites of Independent Online for running an article titled “Mugabe hero of African liberation”, and the ANC for being one of Mugabe’s “biggest enablers”.

MyBroadband spoke to Anonymous Africa about the attacks they have carried out.


You attacked the ANC and IOL websites in June 2013, and the SABC in June 2016 — was this date planned, or is it a coincidence?

Coincidence mostly, we kept our heads down.

At one stage the Times wrote an article about some of our activities, and this article was discussed on a Zimbabwe talk radio station which resulted in Zim intelligence being mobilised against us.

Not all our activities happen online, and in countries like Zimbabwe [offline] battles also happen.

The Times article resulted in the [Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation] knocking a door too close. Some [offline] members nearly got into big trouble.

They are no longer in Zim, so we decided to resume this side.


How did you take down the SABC’s websites?

DNS reflection. Lots and lots and lots and lots of DNS reflection.

Which is why they are going to struggle to find the command and control servers, as none of their IP addresses will show up.


You said you are not done yet – who will you target next?

https://twitter.com/zim4thewin/status/741978844794638336

https://twitter.com/zim4thewin/status/741982056176070656

Right now anything ANC, ZANU-PF, or EFF is fair game to us.

We do have a thing for going after the corrupt and racist. I expect you can see some unjust institutions being targeted.

We have more volunteers now so perhaps we can do something a little bigger next time to bring more attention to the important issues that need to be talked about more.

While it would be nice to give you an exact date and time, predictability gets you into trouble when you play this game.


A message to the people of South Africa from Anonymous Africa 

People of South Africa need to realise we are not the solution.

We are just a loud voice shouting the same concerns they are.

We are not a long-term solution. Only the voting public are the real long-term solution to the country’s problems.

Hopefully our loud voice will give others the confidence to step up and be counted.


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