Hackers Hit Anonymous Social Network

Just two days after it was revealed to the world, the Anonymous Social Network has been hacked.

Disclaimer: this whole situation could very easily be one big, silly joke. It’s certainly ridiculous enough to merit at least a little bit of disbelief. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned during my life on the internet, it’s that “ridiculous” does not equal “didn’t happen,” and thus I present to you the story of Anon-Plus and the hackers who hacked the hackers.

As you might recall, we found out a couple of days ago that Anonymous, tired of being pushed around by the bullies at Google, launched Anon-Plus, its very own social network, where anything goes except breach of privacy. While still in the very early stages of development when it was unveiled, the creators promised big things for the future, although the focus seemed to be more on sticking it to The Man rather than sharing photos and “likes.”

But two days later, things appear to have taken an interesting and, yes, amusing twist. Those who went to the site at anonplus.com this morning found that it looked a little different than it did the night before, with a modified Anonymous logo, another logo for “Cyber-Warrior Tim” and the following message:

We Are TURKIYE. We Are AKINCILAR.

This logo suits you more..How dare you rise against to the World..Do you really think that you are Ottoman Empire?
We thought you before that you cannot challenge with the world and we teach you cannot be social
Now all of you go to your doghouse..

Akincilar is the name of a town and district in Turkey, and also the handle used by a group of presumably-Turkish hackers who enjoy defacing random websites with militantly pro-Turkish messages. What the group has against Anonymous is a mystery at this point, but it’s a safe bet that Anonymous will not just go to its doghouse as Akincilar suggested.

UPDATE: Anonymous has begun to undo the “damage” caused by Akincilar and while I still think the whole thing may be a lulzy ruse, the colorful comments directed at those responsible do tend to suggest that the attack was legitimate. If so, the fun might just be getting started.