Anonymous Mexico has officially started “Operation Safe Roads.”
Roughly 11 days ago, Anonymous Mexico announced the new operation, #Opcarreterasseguras in Spanish, via social media and video. The hackivists seek to highlight “the thousands of kidnappings, murders and rapes that bus passengers fall prey to by organized crime elements on Mexican highways,” according to a press release.
Anonymous Mexico listed its demands in an accompanying video, which focused on security concerns like GPS tracking and silent alarms that would alert authorities when a bus was in the process of being hijacked. The deadline for those demands to be met was Dec. 10.
As the clock struck at midnight, Anonymous Mexico followed through with its promised cyber attacks on three bus companies: Transpais, Estrella Blanca, and Autobuses Del Oriente.
The press release announcing the cyber strike stated those involved were “also attacking several insurance companies as well as government websites, but we will allow the press to do their investigative reporting in order to report on it.”
At time of publication, the website for bus company Autobuses Del Oriente was the only site down, possibly due to a DDoS attack.
Update:
“We did not expect them to meet our demands so quick. It will take time but I feel they didn’t believe us” wrote a spokesperson for the operation, in a private Twitter message to the Daily Dot. The spokesperson went on to write the attack would continue for “24 hours straight.”
“For example ADO operates in 13 Mexican states. Right now you can’t buy a ticket online because we downed them. They are losing money right now. We believe these actions repeatedly will teach them that safety is profitable,” added the spokesperson, before linking to their blogspot.
Photo by Eneas De Troya
