In an interview with CBR back in February Shulman told us that even though most Anonymous activity is said to be driven by a cause, such as internet freedom and expression, some activity by the group makes him question if that is the real motivation behind Anonymous attacks.
"If you’re looking for freedom of speech go and hack the Chinese government or the Syrian government," said Shulman.
The CTO also pointed out that Anonymous’ retaliation to the Megaupload shutdown "cannot be suspected of supporting freedom of speech."
Anonymous member
He asserted that the string of attacks by Anonymous after the takedown of Megaupload was not for online freedom.
"I don’t think retaliating after the takedown of Megaupload has anything to do with freedom of speech," said Shulman. "Megaupload is a very profitable business based on content piracy."
The interview was carried out just before the publication of Imperva’s 2011 report that analysed the hacking group’s movements over a 25-day period.
The report gave details about an unnamed 2011 attack made by Anonymous and spurred a public warning from the hacktivism group that the security firm will become a future target.
The Anonymous video, which singled out Imperva, was released at the end of March. A video posted on YouTube says that Imperva perceives a majority of the Anonymous group as "a legion of idiots."
The video sends a warning to Imperva. "This is a message to the Imperva security firm. Although we do not see you as any form of threat we have determined that your interests and views may become a mild nuisance in the future therefore you yourself will become a target," an electronically altered voice says.
In February, before the actual release of the report, the CTO of Imperva told CBR that Distrubuted denial of service (DDOS) attacks are actually not Anonymous’ preferred method, despite what most people believe.
"It’s not enough to be protected by DDOS service, which is what most people care about or think, you need to first be up to speed with you application layer defences," said Amichai Shulman.
"Based on what we have seen I think that they’re first choice would usually be application layer attacks," he added. "It’s understandable because you don’t need the volunteers or participation from other people and usually you can make more noticeable damage. "
Shulman went on to say that some people claiming an association with Anonymous were just looking for a reason to hack targets. "What’s Anonymous? There are quite a few groups that operate under the name or the brand Anonymous, which basically seems like an excuse to hack things," he said.
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