Anonymous Mexico targets Defense Department in support of Zapatistas

July 30, 2016

By Jeb Boone

Embattled Mexico-based hackers associated with the Anonymous collective hacked, defaced and launched DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks against the website belonging to the Mexican Defense Department on Thursday.

Anonymous Mexico also claims to have hacked the ministry’s server, and says it will release the information taken from the network soon. The hail is said to include 60 gigabytes of data, including emails and credit card information.

The Defense Department, however, claimed that no internal networks or information had been affected or compromised during the site’s downtime.

As part of their defacement of the website, Anonymous Mexico posted a statement in support of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), based in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The statement expressed the collective’s grievances with the Mexican army and their exploitation of the indigenous poor in the state of Chiapas.

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The collective also issued videos in support of the EZLN, aligning themselves with the revolutionary organization.

The EZLN declared war “against the Mexican State” in 1994. Opposing globalization and neo-liberalism, the EZLN’s ideology, Zapatismo, synthesizes the indigenous Mayan culture of Chiapas with leftist ideologies like Marxism and libertarian socialism.

“Our struggle is for life, and the bad government offers death as a future. Our fight is for respect and for our right to govern and be governed, and the evil government imposes upon the majority the law of the minority. Our struggle is for freedom of thought and action, and the evil government makes prisons and tombs,” Anonymous Mexico wrote on the defaced website.

The statement made by Anonymous is an excerpt from the writings of EZLN head Subcomandante Marcos.

According to the Associated Press, the defense ministry issued a statement regarding the cyber-attack, saying the website was “momentarily out of service.”

The statement did not elaborate on the reasons why the site was temporarily unavailable. During the attack against the Ministry of Defense, the website belonging to the Mexican Department of the Navy was brought down for a period of 30 minutes.

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Anonymous Mexico first attracted attention in late 2011 after pledging to "dox" — meaning release the personal information of — individuals inside Mexico believed to be collaborating with the Zeta drug cartel. Anonymous ceased the operation after determining that the dox may have lead to violence or the murder of those involved.

The operation against the Zetas prompted a passionate online debate regarding the reach and abilities of the hacker collective. While the group had previously focused their actions against governments and corporations, targeting a deadly and nebulous drug cartel was an issue that split the group.