Hacker group Anonymous to target Facebook on Jan 28th

In a plea to have Americans join in the Anonymous cause, the hacker group has requested that computer users show solidarity with them by participating in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack upon Facebook.com on the 28th.

The attack requires that anyone that wants to participate install a specific malevolent tool and aim them at the social networking site precisely at a certain time on the 28h.

Facebook is firmly against SOPA/PIPA – the legislation Anonymous is seeking to protest with this attack.  It would seem that Anonymous is striking at the largest targets just because they can – with the help of millions of Americans willing to commit federal crimes.

What Anonymous does not let their less-knowledgeable public know is that anyone participating in this will be guilty of a felony, subject to civil suits from Facebook and ISP’s and risk losing the ability to use the internet for a decade or more depending upon the decision by the courts. North Carolina State University reports that, “There is a hefty penalty for getting caught disrupting someone else’s services by a DoS attack.Someone found guilty of engaging in a DoS attack will suffer a penalty of 6 months to 5 years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine.”

This attack appears to be part of the January 19th threat to target banks, the U.N. and multiple social networking sites in retribution for the shutdown of file-sharing site MegaUpload.com.