London: The hacktivists group Anonymous has threatened to take down Facebook on November 5 (today) if social gaming company Zynga doesn’t reverse plans to lay off 1,000 employees and outsource work to India.
The group has also threatened it would release Zynga’s games for free download, even as the company announced the closure of its offices across the United States.
With chants of ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November’ echoing with supporters, the hackers have taken the British holiday of Guy Fawkes Day to cheer for the ‘underdogs’ globally, emirates 247 reports.
The seriousness of the threat can be determined with the press arm for Anonymous already claiming it has commenced with its hacking spree today, amidst claims of leaking user and employee account information on accounts from PayPal, Symantec, and various Australian government web sites – a country where the group is most active currently.
The hackers have also laid claim to defacing sits of ImageShack, NBC.com and Lady Gaga’s fan site, Saturday Night Live’s web site, amongst others.
In a blog post, the hacktivists relayed plans on their latest threat, writing: “Zynga customers and Facebook users, We are anonymous. During the last few days anonymous has been targeting Zynga for the outrageous treatment of their employees and their actions against many developers.
“We have come to believe that this actions of Zynga will result in massive layoff of a thousand people and legal actions against everyone that speaks to the public about this plan….
“With a billion dollars cash sitting in a bank we do believe that such actions are an insult to the population and the behaviour of corporations like Zynga must change.
“Anonymous could not allow this to happen so it’s starting to release confidential documents we have leaked on this plan.
“As we speak we are planning to release also all the games we’ve taken from their servers for free.”
In a press statement on Pastebin, Anonymous is rallying the public for an in-person V For Vendetta protest at The Houses of Parliament, at 8 pm in London, UK tonight.
Security experts Sophos mocked the threat, writing in a blog post: “It’s the day Brits celebrate Guy Fawkes’s attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the failed Gunpowder plot of 1605. And – of course – it was the sinister Guy Fawkes mask in the movie ‘V for Vendetta’ that Anonymous adopted as its symbol.
“But there may be another reason why Facebook, November 5th and Anonymous might ring a bell in your memory.
“Oh yes, there were threats that Anonymous would bring down Facebook on November 5th last year.
“Do you remember what happened then? Of course, you don’t. Because nothing happened. Nothing at all.
“Facebook just carried on working, ticketyboo.”
The world still awaits for events to unfold today.
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