Only weeks ago we reported that Anonymous had declared war on Presidential hopeful and Republican front-runner Donald Trump. The hacker collective announced their intention to take down the controversial figure in #OpTrump this April Fools’ Day – and now the day has come for them to launch their attack.
In a new video posted online last night, Anonymous made reference to their existing attacks on Trump (and controversially, on his family members). It goes on to say, “as you all know, April Fools’ Day is the day we will humiliate Donald Trump’s cyber assets and lower the morale of his supporters. This long-awaited date is nearly upon us. This declaration of war is no April Fools’ joke”.
The video – fronted by the familiar Anonymous masked figure – claims that Trump’s website www.TrumpChicago.com has been shut down, in addition to the official website for the Trump Organisation. It appears that if Anonymous was successful in taking down both websites, however, their success was only short lived – both websites were accessible to Dazed at the time of writing, although you’re kept at a holding page before accessing the site.
This isn’t the first time that Anonymous has targeted Trump. Earlier this month, they published Trump’s social security details and mobile phone number online, causing a furious response from Trump’s camp, which demanded that the people responsible be arrested and prosecuted by the US authorities. Neither are Anonymous the only group declaring war on the divisive real estate tycoon. The Black Lives Matter campaign have been a constant force in the campaign against Trump, shutting down rallies and holding anti-Trump demonstrations across the USA.
The video ends with a warning from Anonymous that ‘this is just the beginning – we warned you and you should have expected us”. Although many tech experts speculate that Anonymous is no longer the formidable force it once was, it is likely that further attacks on Trump will be imminent from the group – although whether any of them will have a substantive impact on Trump, who’s currently cruising his way towards securing the Republican nomination, remains to be seen.
