Just Google it: Anyone could have 'hacked' and doxxed Trump like Anonymous
Shortly after hacking into Donald Trump's voicemails and leaking messages, Anonymous declared all-out war on the presidential candidate. Earlier this week, the hacktivist group launched #OpWhiteRose and doxxed the republican candidate.
Personal information about Trump -- his cell phone number, social security number and other details -- were released last week, with the group saying they were provided on the understanding that "you alone are responsible for your actions, as always". But rather than being the fruit of an elaborate hacking operation, anyone with the nous to use Google and Wikipedia could have gathered exactly the same information for themselves.
While some are impressed by the activities of Anonymous, others are not blown away. The BBC decided to see how easy it was to obtain the same information about Donald Trump as Anonymous, and found that it was child's play. It was so simple, in fact, that there was no need to even do any digging for his cell phone number, as Trump had already shared it with everyone on Twitter -- although it's hard to imagine there isn't another number in use by now.
Information such as the contact details for Trump's 'secret' business HQ is readily available on The Trump Organization website -- little more than a Google search for 'Trump' takes you there. Trump's date of birth? Look no further than his Wikipedia page for this info. Ditto details about his kids, place of birth and parents.
The BBC takes great delight in knocking Anonymous down a peg or two by pointing out the ease with which Anonymous' info can be obtained:
It also includes a link to the page for Mar-a-lago, Palm Beach in Florida -- which is the address listed in the Anonymous 'leak'.
The GPS co-ordinates were also 'leaked' but that can be found by typing the address into Google Maps.
GPS co-ordinates do make you feel like a spy, though.
We can tell when Anonymous looked up Trump on Wikipedia - because they list the area of his estate as 7,400 sq metres. The wiki page was updated on 25 February to 10,000 sq metres.
Actually, it's not strictly true to say that all of the information leaked by Anonymous is available through Google and Wikipedia; there's the question of Trump's social security number. This is a piece of data that is difficult to verify for starters. It would be possible to publish any old number and call it Trump's social security number -- there's no easy way to check, and even Donald Trump is not stupid enough to confirm or deny validity.
This is not what Anonymous has done.
Instead the group has simply republished the same social security number released back in November by the Hydra Hacking Team. Again, there's no way to verify the number, so it's not clear if Hydra Hacking Team gained access to the real thing or just made it up. Either way, none of the glory -- if indeed there is any -- belongs to Anonymous.
The group is really going to have to try a little harder if it wants to impress anyone with its '1337 skillz'.
Photo credit: Marietjie / Shutterstock