Anonymous is not taking down the Internet today

Summary: In spite of popular reports, the hacktivist group Anonymous is not hacking, killing, or taking down the Internet today via DDoS attacks on root DNS servers. The Internet will remain completely functional.

The news first broke

Although this has already been debunked last month when the news first broke, many are however asking whether Anonymous will launch a distributed denial of service attack on the Internet today by taking down root Domain Name Servers servers, using a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool. The people want to know if "Operation Global Blackout" is going to stop them from running their business, checking their e-mail, playing video games, browsing porn, when all is said and done on. As many have already said previously, if something does happen today, the hacktivist group Anonymous will not be to blame.

To protest SOPA, Wallstreet, our irresponsible leaders and the belovedbankers who are starving the world for their own selfish needs out ofsheer sadistic fun, On March 31, anonymous will shut the Internet down.

The Internet down

In order to shut the Internet down, one thing is to be done. Down the13 root DNS servers of the Internet. Those servers are as follow:

Since the attack will be using static IP addresses, it will not relyon name server resolution, in doing so enabling us to keep the attack up evenwhile the Internet is down. The very fact that nobody will be able tomake new requests to use the Internet will slow down those who will tryto stop the attack. It may only lasts one hour, like as not more, perhaps evena few days. No matter what, it will be global. It will be known.

Some realized on the spur of the moment that this is not something the hacktivist group would do. To tell the truth, soon afterwards reports came out about it, Anonymous explicitly said it was all nonsense. Just like with the multiple claims of on attack on Facebook, it turns out only a small number of Anonymous members, to put it more exactly individuals claiming they are Anonymous members, want to do this. This is why Anonymous didn't announce such an operation via its usual channels of communication and why the aforementioned video was not of the usual Anonymous computerized voice and visual production quality.

What is this #OperationGlobalBlackout nonsense?

What is this #OperationGlobalBlackout nonsense? I thought we settled this back in February? It won't happen. Stop asking us about it! >.<For the billionth time: #Anonymous will not shut down the Internet on 31 March. #OpGlobalBlackout is just another #OpFacebook failop. #yawnThink for a moment: Why would #Anonymous shut down our playground, the Internet? Actually, how would that help ANY of us? #NextQuestionLet's play Finish the Sentence -> #Anonymous shutting down the Internet is like _____.

Prediction: The Internet will not be shut down by #Anonymous. Reason: Crystal Ball.Sorry, nevertheless what kind of moronic imbeciles would think about an operation that "shuts down the internet" all the same? Oh, Backtrace? Oh wait ;)Dear Netizens, Internet will remain online. And to the death we will defend it. Always. Sail strong and do not get distracted by trolls.

The Internet today

It's of course after all possible that some hackers will attempt to take down the Internet today. They will fail. Moreover, they won't be supported by Anonymous. I can't emphasize this enough: do not believe reports saying Anonymous is attacking the Internet. Some may be trying, nevertheless the larger group has made it clear many times it loves the Internet and would never even attempt to take it down.

To summarize, I would be very surprised if the Internet stopped functioning even for just a few minutes today, and furthermore shocked if Anonymous claimed responsibility. For more information about DDoS attacks on root nameservers, and previous attempts to do so, check Wikipedia.