Anonymous Is Allegedly Hacking North Carolina Government Websites
A hacker associated with Anonymous allegedly took down several of North Carolina’s government websites on Monday in protest of the state’s controversial “bathroom bill,” which forces individuals to use bathrooms corresponding with their birth sex, regardless of their gender identity.
“It is not only an operation against the bathroom bill–this is an operation against all the laws against LGBT,” the hacker told IBTimes UK. “[The] reason for launching the attacks was making North Carolina aware that we are here to fight and ready to fight to the end.”
Calling their operation OpLGBT, the hacker reportedly launched a distributed-denial-of-service, or DDoS attack, against several domains, including some belonging to North Carolina governor and bill supporter Pat McCrory.
#OpLGBThttps://t.co/nAWainD3bahttps://t.co/LffzPsqCLshttps://t.co/kRVWgqkC1Bhttps://t.co/4pWjqkFZvy#TangoDown pic.twitter.com/cbLlQP8Odn
— #OpLGBT (@OperationLGBT) May 16, 2016
North Carolina’s Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, or HB2, has received rampant criticism for violating civil rights. Bruce Springsteen refuses to play in the state in protest of the bill, while porn site xHamster blocks North Carolina IP addresses. Even Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has taken a stance against it, saying people should use the bathrooms they feel is “appropriate.”
North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Justice are currently embroiled in a lawsuit and countersuit over the bill, with the Justice Department saying the state is violating the Civil Rights Act and North Carolina saying the Justice Department lacks authority to intervene.
The DDoS attacks are the latest in a string of politically motivated attacks affiliated with Anonymous, which has targeted Donald Trump, ISIS, and (retracted) the KKK, to mixed results. Although the affected websites are back up, the attacks are likely to continue.
Source | Esquire
