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Have you ever heard the word "hacktivism"?

In the world, various problems such as trade friction between the United States and China, deterioration of political relations between Japan and South Korea, and territorial attribution problems are occurring between nations and organizations.  And cyberattacks that claim against these political and social issues are called "hacktivism."
Let's look at various cases of the reality and future of hacktivism, which is a cyberattack on these political issues.

What is Hacktivism?

People and groups who use hacking techniques to insist on political and social ideas are called "hacktivists," and their actions are called "hacktivism." For example, cyber attacks to assert one's thoughts against the government, or piggybacking on conflicts between nations.

Examples of cyberattacks by hacktivism

Hacktivist cyberattacks for political or social purposes.

1.     WikiLeaks

2.     Anonymous

·        WikiLeaks

Speaking of hacktivism performed for political purposes, "WikiLeaks" is famous.  WikiLeaks is a site created by Australian journalist and former hacker Julian Assange, who publishes confidential information about governments and businesses on the web.

WikiLeaks has released a lot of documents such as confidential documents of the Iraq War, US diplomatic cable, information on important facilities, etc.
That are very problematic for the nation, so secret agreements and emails between nations Assange, the founder of the company, has been chased by investigative agencies in the United States and other countries due to the fact that he has disclosed various confidential information such as exchanges.

·        Anonymous

Many people may know about Anonymous, a famous hacker group, as a hacker group. Anonymous is an international network of hackers who, as a hacktivist, carry out cyber attacks such as DDoS attacks on governments and businesses. Anonymous itself has the aspect of a loosely connected network, and it is not very clear what kind of organization it is, actually made up of several members.
As a concrete example of an attack, it is known that Anonymous also launched a cyberattack on the government in the anti-establishment activity (Arab Spring) that was carried out in Arab society from 2010 to 2011, for example.
Anonymous has hacked the official website and released information as a protest against North Korea's repeated missile tests. Also, regarding WikiLeaks mentioned earlier, as a protest against the oppression of the governments of each country, we are also conducting cyberattacks such as DDoS attacks and hacking against the government period.

The future of Hacktivism

What will happen to hacktivism such as WikiLeaks and Anonymous in the future?

According to information from Mynavi, which analyzes trends in hacktivism, the following trends can be seen in activities with hacktivism.
Activity has been on a downward trend since 2016. It's changing from large ones like Anonymous and WikiLeaks to small groups. Countermeasures are being taken by organizations such as government agencies and financial institutions that are the targets of cyberattacks, and the attacks are no longer as effective as they have been. With this in mind, it is likely that we will shift to activities by a small number of elite groups rather than large groups.

Summary

Cyberattacks that are carried out on governments and financial institutions for the purpose of protesting or asserting political or social problems are called "hacktivism." Hacktivist attackers are called hacktivists, and well-known names include WikiLeaks and Anonymous, as introduced here. Examples of attacks by hacktivism include the disclosure and leakage of confidential government information, and cyberattacks in the sense of protests and claims against government agencies and financial institutions, but their characteristics will change significantly in the future.

In the past, hacktivism tended to be committed by large groups, but in the future, it will shift to crimes by a small group of elite groups due to the fact that measures such as government agencies are in progress. In this way, the content of hacktivism itself is expected to change in the future.