Anonymous takes on the Dark Web and shuts down child pornography sites

Anonymous is a hacktivist organization that sends shivers down the spines of top executives and government officials all over the world.  Known for attacking service providers and institutions that violate human rights, it’s no wonder they set their sights on Dark Web, the underbelly of the internet where the worst atrocities are committed. 

According to harkcread.com, Anonymous has taken down the Freedom Hosting II servers that affect more than 10,000 websites.  Freedom Hosting II is one of the largest hosting services on the Dark Web and hosts about 20% of all underground websites. 

Is that all?  No.  They also have stolen the identities of more than 380,000 users, who received this message the last time they logged on:

 “Hello, Freedom Hosting II, you have been hacked.  We are disappointed.  This is an excerpt of your page, ‘We have a zero tolerance policy to child pornography.’ But what we found while searching through your server is more than 50% child porn…Moreover you host many scam sites, some of which are evidently run by yourself to cover hosting expenses.  All your files have been copied and your database has been dumped. (74GB of files and 2.3GB of database).  Up to January 31^st, you were hosting 10613 sites.  Private keys are included in the dump.  We are Anonymous.  We do not forgive.  We do not forget.  You should have expected us.  Thanks for your patience, you don’t have to buy data ;) we made a torrent of the database dump.  Here is another torrent with all system files (excluding data).  You may still donate BTC to …….. and support us.  If you need to get in contact with us, our email is ……  We repeatedly get asked how we get into the system.  It was surprisingly easy.  Here is how we did it……”

The databases were stolen, and the websites being hosted by the service were defaced.  Small amounts of this data has begun to leak onto the main web.  Anonymous posted a message that said all the data had been copied and dumped online.  74GB of files and 2.3GB of database were dumped into plain text emails that included private keys-in other words, usernames and hashed passwords.

Anonymous has vowed to always fight child pornography.  They will not stop.  If you are involved in any form of child exploitation, it’s just a matter of time before your information is scooped up by them and dumped for all the world to see.  They are coming for you.  You should be expecting them.