Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Peace History Society, Pennsylvania, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 26 - 28 Ekim 2023, ss.18-19
To date, hacktivism has been conceptually delineated from cyberwar by specifying that hacktivism is politically motivated computer hacking (e.g., DDOS attacks against a website), while cyberwar involves using computers to attack or damage physical infrastructure (e.g., causing a power grid to fail). Hacktivists claim their actions consist of non-violent symbolic acts of protest analogous to traditional forms of civil disobedience. But since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been an unprecedented rise in both hacktivism and cyberwar in this conflict. Hacktivists from Belarus (“the cyberpartisans”) and around the world have been not only digitally disrupting websites and government agencies in Russia, but also working to sabotage physical infrastructure, such as shutting down railroads to stop the transportation of Russian military equipment. Moreover, Ukraine's besieged government has formed its own specialized cyberwar hacker unit and called on hacktivists around the world to join them in what might be thought of as the first crowdsourcing of cyberwarfare. Could this spell a new era for hacktivism, in which the line is becoming more blurred between non-violence and violence? Through a historical analysis of cases of hacktivism, this study identifies four major phases of change: (1) Emergence (late 1980s-early 2000s, “Cult of the Dead Cow”); (2) Popularization (early 2000s-2012, “Anonymous”); (3) Cooptation (2010s-2020s, “Gucifer 2.0”); and (4) Evolution (2022-present, “Ukrainian cyberwar”). By mapping the historical development and trajectory of hacktivism as a sociopolitical phenomenon, this study seeks to bring attention to where it is headed and its implications for society.