Hactivists from TheEliteSociety and Anonymous have launched a joint operation to hack Botswana government and parastatals’ websites as part of their protest, named Operation FuckAfrica, aimed against African countries which have anti-gay policies.
The group this week hacked the website and database of Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA), accessing the parastatals system administrator password which gave them absolute control over the BEDIA system. The hactivists then went on to publish confidential BEDIA database, which included the user name and password of the BEDIA information technology department first names, surnames email addresses, user names and passwords of key BEDIA administration personnel at the Gaborone and United Kingdom offices. The hackers also published a mailing list of 87 BEDIA contacts complete with their names, surnames and email addresses.
The groups, which state that “Botswana is another African country in which being LGBT is illegal and punishable by imprisonment”, promise more websites will be hacked as part of the OperationFuckAfrica. Other Botswana websites and databases believed to be targeted by the hactivists are the Office of the President and the Ministry of Justice, Defence and Security in line with their emerging pattern of attacks throughout Africa.
Anonymous is a loosely associated group of ‘hactivists’ which originated in 2003, which strongly opposes any form of oppression and censorship, and has been recently started to target governments which have anti-gay polices. Some of its members sometimes appear in public wearing Guy Fawkes masks.
TheEliteSociety, on the other hand, was founded by hacktivist known as @Dramasett3r and is a gray hat hacktivist group, which may technically commit crimes during the course of their technological exploits but without malicious intent or for personal gain. The group also opposes any form of oppression and censorship.
In a statement warning African governments, the group charged: “‘you want to put people to death, and support the beliefs of the killings of the LGBT people only because they have different likings than you do, how f…..ng disgusting.
“Let me take you back to the 1800s, when the Americans would infiltrate Africa and take people to work as slaves only because they were black. Your stereotypes are pathetic, and so are you and your security.
“This will continue, until you change your ways and beliefs [against] LGBT. There is no need to put people to death for this, and we will not tolerate it.
“Put this to a stop now, or else it all [website databases] will be leaked worldwide. We are #EliteSociety.”
The group, which has launched its campaign throughout Africa, now controls the website of the office of the Prime Minister of Uganda and the database of the Uganda Justice Law and Order Sector in retaliation for anti-gay policies. Uganda was particularly singled out for hacks. Those which have been taken down or had their websites databases leaked include: Parliament of Uganda (taken down for a short while); Uganda Stock Exchange was hacked along with part of its database; Uganda Law Society, Uganda National TV; Redpeper, a daily newspaper which ran homophobic articles in 2009. The website of the American anti-gay evangelist Scott Lively who is linked to Uganda’s anti-gay bill was also taken down.
Anonymous also recently hacked the Sudanese stock exchange in Khartoum, Sudan ÔÇô leaking its database. The group this week claimed to have taken down 73 Sudanese government sites, including the president’s for two hours as they demand gay rights in Africa.
Sudan has one of the most severe laws regarding homosexuality. The judicial system is based on Shari’a law and, according to Article 148, capital punishment applies should the offense be committed either by a man or a woman.
