Hackers Threaten to Take Down Facebook

 Hacker group that claims to be Anonymous posted a YouTube video proclaiming it planned to attack Facebook on November 5. The video has since been removed, but analysts believe the video could be a scare tactic being used by the group, or even the work of an imposter.


Facebook is a likely target for Anonymous because the social network has often been at the center of privacy concerns regarding its user's information.Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook, regardless of your privacy settings, and deleting your account is impossible," said a decoded voice in the YouTube video. "Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more private is a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family."
  The official websites and Twitter accounts of Anonymous have not confirmed the attack, making it a distinct possibility the plan is a hoax. However, the reaction the threat has garnered speaks to the growing prevalence of hackers, especially politically motivated groups with an agenda to advance, particular when it concerns free speech and privacy.
 Hacktivist groups like Anonymous and LulzSec have proven over the past year they have the resources and might to threaten large corporate and government systems. The initial hacks of Sony's PlayStation Network were reportedly the work of Anonymous and LulzSec, and the two groups have also been blamed for the breaching of several government websites.
Anonymous also lead the charge against San Francisco's BART transit system, which shut down mobile connectivity during protests earlier this year.
Most recently, Anonymous scheduled and later called off an attack against Mexico's Zetas drug cartel for murdering online dissenters. The group called off the attack after the cartel began hiring their own hackers to hunt down Anonymous members.Despite the failure of the attack on the drug cartel, Anonymous' announcement that it planned to target the group invited a real fear that it would happen. The same is true for the Facebook hacks, and the group may have the abilities to make a shutdown on the powerful social network happen.