Anonymous Threatens Robin Hood Attacks Against Banks

Hacktivist group says it will steal credit card data from commercial banks and use the information to donate to charities and protest groups.

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Just in time for the holidays, the hacktivist collective Anonymous has announced that it has teamed up with like-minded group TeaMp0isoN to donate to charity. The catch: theyre using stolen credit data from big banks to make their donations, in a campaign theyre calling Operation Robin Hood (#OpRobinHood).
In regards to the recent demonstrations and protests across the globe, we are going to turn the tables on the banks, according to a
YouTube video
uploaded on Saturday, which formally announced #OpRobinHood.
Operation Robin Hood is going to return the money to those who have been cheated by our system and most importantly to those hurt by our banks, it said. Operation Robin Hood will take credit cards and donate to the 99% as well as various charities around the globe. The banks will be forced to reimburse the people there (sic) money back.
The video also claimed that the group had already used credit card data stolen from Bank of America, Chase, and CitiBank. We have donated thousands to many protests around the world. We have donated thousands to the homeless and other charities. Our government has fallen short in many ways, it said. The video also urged people to move their money out of commercial banks and into credit unions.
[ Some hackers want to help the poor. Others just want a job. Read
Marriott Hackers Blackmail Goal: An IT Job
. ]
Interestingly, Anonymous had already been advocating practical, everyday techniques--not just
hacks
--for removing money from big banks. In particular, last month the group announced
Operation Cash Back
(#OpCashBack)--an op fully dedicated to moving your money from commercial banks to local credit unions. Coming up, its also designated December 11 as balance transfer day, which is the groups campaign to get people with interest rate debt to take advantage of credit card accounts with 0% interest rates.
But is the OpRobinHood campaign for real, or like previous threats against
Wall Street
and
Facebook
, just another hoax? Aesthetically, at least, the OpRobinHood video ticks all of the
traditional Anonymous aesthetic requirements
: a mashed-up p0isoaNoN logo (green on black), a liberal dose of swelling choral music (via that movie trailer staple
Europa,
by Globus), together with selected clips of Kevin Costner as
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
.
Likewise, the video ends with a punchy threat: We have come to take the 99%s money back. We are not asking permission.
But aside from the campaign to get people to embrace credit unions, if OpRobinHood is for real, could a group such as Anonymous really hit banks hard by using stolen credit card data to make untold numbers of donations? Or might not the transactions largely get spotted by banks fraud departments, and rolled back?
Bank spokespeople were not immediately available for comment on the feasibility of an OpRobinHood-style campaign.
Sensitive customer and business data is scattered in hidden corners of your infrastructure. Find and protect it before it winds up in the wrong hands. Also in the new issue of Dark Reading: The practical side of data defense.
Download the issue now
. (Free registration required.)

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Anonymous Threatens Robin Hood Attacks Against Banks