Online vulnerability made headlines across the world this week, with the hacker group Anonymous having threatened to shut down the internet on March 31.
Under “Operation Global Blackout,” the hackers vowed to bring down the world wide web by disabling the 13 root Domain Name Servers (DNS) upon which it runs. Given that these 13 top-level systems are in different countries, are managed by different organizations and run on different technologies, this would prove a formidable task.
Anonymous claims its intent is not to destroy the internet, but to protest “SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), Wallstreet (sic), our irresponsible leaders and the beloved bankers who are starving the world for their own selfish needs out of sheer sadistic fun.”
With the operation planned for the day before April 1, some suspect it may just be an elaborate April Fools’ Day hoax.