Anonymous: what is it and how serious are its threats?

The international hacktivist groupAnonymousis making headlines in B.C.aftervowing to avenge a masked manwhowas shot and killed by RCMP inDawson Creek last Thursday.

Shortly after the shooting,Anonymousannouncedthe launch of Operation Anon Downto achieve "justice(and vengeance if necessary) for [their]fallen comrade in Dawson Creek."

On Sunday, someB.C. and Dawson CreekRCMPwebsitescrashed, though those events have not beenofficially linked to Anonymous.

Gabriella Colemanis a security expert and author of Hacker, hoaxer, whistleblower spy: The many faces of Anonymous. She alsoholdstheWolfeChair in Scientific and Technological Literacy atMcGillUniversity. Here are her insights on Anonymous and how the collective is evolving.

Who are the members?

"Anonymous is a little bit hard to define, because it's a collective name that anyone around the world can take," said Coleman.

Much of what we know about the group's demographics comes from cyberattack arrests made in 2011 and 2012.

Coleman said theorganization is associated particularly with youth ages 15 to 35.Besides their affinity for the internet, there are very few other traits that all group members share,most likely becausethe appeal of anonymity tends to attract very different profiles, she added.

2. Their causes

In the past, Anonymous wasmainly involved ininternet pranking. Since 2008, however,the group has engaged in more direct and risky forms of activism, Colemansaid.

The group does not have a single mandate, but their "bread and butter issues" include fighting censorship, fighting surveillance and free speech issues, she said.

More recently, the group has also added police brutality to their list, most notably withOperation Ferguson, the campaign to support citizens protesting the shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri.

Since then, anumber of their operations have targeted law enforcementofficers, especially whencitizenshave been harmed, shot or killed by police,Colemansaid.

3. Their modus operandi

The group frequently uses what is called a "distributed denial of service attack," or DDOS, to target its victims, Colemansaid.

This occurs when hackers drive overwhelming traffic to a site, causing the server to shut down and become inaccessible. This form of attack, though unlikely to cause serious damage, usually attracts a large amount ofmedia attention.

Anonymous has also claimed credit for publicizing confidential documentsand intruding into secure computer systems to exfiltrate sensitive data.

• Anonymoussays it cyberattacked federal government to protest Bill C-51
• Anonymous takes credit for hacking Montreal police website

One of the more controversial techniques that is gaining tractionwithin the collective is doxing, Colemansaid.

This is used most often against police officers and involves the release of private personal information such as full name, home address or phone number, said Coleman.

4. The credibility of their threats

Colemansaid it is "very likely" that Anonymous will make good on their threats to the RCMP.

"They don't usually make a call and then do nothing," Colemansaid.

However, Colemansaidit is difficult to predict how severe or vengeful Anonymous' action will be.

"Many times they will exaggerate what they will do."

In the case of the Dawson Creek shooting, Colemansaid she would not be surprised if the organization resorted to doxing the police officers involved.

"That's the most credible and real threat that may occur."

Tohear the full interview with Gabriella Coleman, listen to the audio labelled: Anonymous - what is this international hacktivist group all about?