Five Massive Hacks, Two Email Dumps In 13 Days. Is Legion AKA Anonymous Really In India?

Earlier this month, the official Twitter account of Rahul Gandhi and Indian National Congress, were hacked. The alleged hackers posted several profanities through the compromised accounts, causing India¡¯s Grand Old Party and its blue-eyed poster boy quite an embarrassment. Then last week, the Twitter accounts of Vijay Mallya, NDTV¡¯s Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar were also hacked with unsavoury messages.

Source: Twitter

This begs an essential question. Just who is responsible for all these hacks?

They are Legion

The hacked Twitter accounts dropped some hints on who was behind all of this sensational activity. They call themselves ¡°Legion¡±, and they sound eerily similar to the international hacktivist group called ¡°Anonymous¡±.

According to a report published in The Washington Post, which got access to one of the person responsible for these high-profile Twitter hacks, it¡¯s ¡°a young man¡± (who¡¯s obviously extremely tech savvy) sitting in front of his computer, ¡°smoking copious amounts of marijuana¡± and embarrassing some of the most high-profile names south of the Himalayas.

That¡¯s very little to go by and secrecy is obviously essential to the type of covert action exhibited by Legion -- duh! -- but they seem to be a group of hacktivists less than ten in number, according to The Washington Post, that are based around the world. It¡¯s not known whether all of the Legion are based outside India, but there¡¯s at least one among the group that seems to be stationed in India.

The biggest outreach that Legion has left so far through all the recent high-profile hacks is a single email address. It asked ¡°supporters of their cause¡± to join them by sending them an email at legion_group@sigaint.org.

What¡¯s Sigaint, you wonder? Well, it is a "darknet email service that allows you to send and receive email without revealing your location or identity" through the extremely difficult to surveill and track Tor internet browser. The service claims to help journalists and activists combat the dragnet surveillance that exists on the wider internet, to ensure communication between anyone through Sigaint is largely (or completely) free of digital eavesdropping.

At the time of writing this story, we are yet to hear back from anyone on the Legion¡¯s outreach email address.

Legion = Anonymous?

This is another question that begs answering, and as these things generally go -- cloaked in hyper secrecy and masked identities -- there¡¯s no easy way to tell one way or another. In fact, unless someone claims responsibility for these actions, there¡¯s almost very little to go by for anyone interested in playing Sherlock Holmes.

Anonymous is a group of international hacktivists that operates in a largely decentralized manner, and they¡¯re a 21st century phenomenon. Highly computer savvy and more than knowing their way around digital security, in particular, Anonymous exists in different countries and are well known for their online actions.

The hacktivist group called Anonymous has been behind some of the most sensational hack attacks on the Internet over the past decade or so. No doubt active from much earlier, Anonymous were propelled into infamy when they went after The Church of Scientology in 2008, through their Operation Chanology.

In 2010, when the entertainment industry tried to block out piracy enhancing websites like The Pirate Bay and a few others, Anonymous retaliated through Operation Payback by launching DDoS attacks across a host of websites associated with the MPAA and RIAA, hacking and defacing some of them, too. Then a few years later, in 2011, Anonymous launched Operation Darknet where they uncovered and tried to block out child pornography websites, releasing thousands of account details related to these websites.

Anonymous has also conducted several ¡°Ops¡± (or operations) in India in the past. In retaliation of Information and Technology Act¡¯s Article 66A, which allowed Indian authorities to arrest and imprison anyone who posted controversial or insensitive content online, Anonymous India defaced the BSNL website and hacked the official website of then Minister of Information, Technology and Communication, Mr Kapil Sibal. Later in 2015, to send a loud message to the authorities, Anonymous India also conducted a DDoS attack on TRAI¡¯s website when the issue of Net Neutrality was heating up in the country.

As you can see, whether operating in the country or abroad, Anonymous has been accused of being everything from a gang of digital Robin Hoods to online rabble rousers, from cyber terrorists to pioneers of a new wave of digital activism. And because of the inherent nature of the Internet, pinpointing their location is extremely difficult.

Whatever they may be, an Anonymous Op (or digital operation) by now has a tell-tale sign that¡¯s emblematic of their footprint. The Guy Fawkes mask, and their motto -- which they leave behind wherever they go. ¡°We are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget, expect us.¡±

The first line of the Anonymous motto quickly makes anyone looking for some sort of explanation jump to the hasty conclusion that maybe, just maybe, the Legion hacking into Twitter accounts of India¡¯s who¡¯s who are actually part of the larger Anonymous group. Why couldn¡¯t they be, as they call themselves Legion -- something that Anonymous hacktivists have proclaimed time and again through their past actions?

And what about Legion's affiliation? Going by the string of hacks, it isn't exactly rocket science to speculate whether these attacks are a form of political vendetta. Who knows, right, apart from the hackers themselves?

Whether they are part of the larger Anonymous group or not remains to be seen and whatever their affiliations. I guess we don¡¯t have to wait for too long for them to make their next move (and drop more hints about their motivations, worldview and larger Anonymous affiliation).

Why? Because they¡¯ve already picked their next person of interest: Lalit Modi¡¯s Twitter account.