screenshot, 12/8/16.“Olá, Rio de Janeiro.” So began the August 5 Facebook posting of Anonymous Brasil hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. The hacktivist collective then proceeded to take the Brazilian government to task for hiding the city´s widespread poverty, vicious evictions, police violence and the suppression of protesters behind the glitter of the Games.
A wave of denial of service (DDoS) attacks on state and city websites followed immediately after Anonymous delivered their statement. The group boasted taking down at least five sites, including www.brasil2016.gov.br, www.rio2016.com, www.esporte.gov.br, www.cob.org.br and www.rj.gov.br. They broadcast their exploits using the hashtags #OpOlympicHacking, #Leaked and #TangoDown, some of which were set up months ago.
Since then, website take-downs have been coming hard and fast. On August 8, six sites were knocked offline, including Rio de Janeiro’s military police department, the Institute for Public Security, municipal garbage disposal groups and a community Internet program. Anonymous provides updates on who is coming next via its Facebook newsfeed.
