Ghost Squad Hackers or by the abbreviation "GSH" is a politically motivated hacktivist team led by the administrative de facto leader known as "s1ege". The groups prime intent and focus is embedded on anti-governmental/organization cyber protests within current involvements of media speculation and real life happenings in 2016 to present.[1][2] In Jan. 2016, GSH started its very first attacks by the defacing of Ethiopian government websites in response to the killing of nearly 500 students and activists by Ethiopian Security Forces during protests that became extremely violent in the latter part of 2015 and then sparked again in August–October 2016 Ethiopian protests.[3] They then went on to target Donald Trump with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in protest of what they saw as racist comments made towards Mexicans and refugees.[4] The group gained more notoriety after having successfully leaked data of the Israeli Defense Force on April 7, 2016. This was the day #OpIsrael was launched along with Anonymous, leaking the Database of Israel Defense Forceposting thousands of IDF soldiers, boarder patrol, and Israeli Air Forcepersonnel information online.[5] On April 23, 2016 GSH targeted the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan by taking their websites down in the protest of racism while Anonymous vs. KKKprotests were happening in the state of Georgia, U.S.A.[6] Ghost Squad Hackersdid the same however, in a turn of events taking down Black Lives Matter's official website after claiming the organization fueled further racism. After encountering further opposition and confrontation between Anonymous activists and BLMgroup that led to GSH shutting down Black Lives Matter's website over 100 times.[7] Word was quick to spread as GSH and Anonymous were both put in spot light by the TV Series Mr. Robot in an article published online.[8] GSH and Anonymous worked in correlation together when "Operation Icarus" was first launched in February 2016.[9] The op was aimed at attacking the central banking system which the attackers accused the banks with corruption and wanted to raise public awareness. This attack sparked the invitation of more hacking teams and affiliations of Anonymous to focus their attention towards that of the Central Banks in direct regards of further scrutiny and cyber attacks. Ghost Squad Hacker's leader 's1ege' claimed responsibility for the attacks which were carried out on the Bank of England email server and dozens of other banking websites including the New York Stock Exchange, Bank of France, Bank of Greece, Bank of Jordanand the Bank of South Korea, among others. "s1ege" went on to state that they want to "start an online revolution" to retaliate against the "elite banking cartels putting the world in a perpetual state of chaos."[10] Notoriety of the group continued to escalate as the heat was turned up during the month of June, 2016. After censoring of media coverage in regards to OpIsrael, OpSilence was initiated targeting mainstream media outlets such as CNN and Fox News.[11] A data dump was later leaked after hacking the United States Military personnel files and releasing information on close to 2,437 army personnel.[12] The information contained in the link was uploaded to an onion link on the dark web along with a paste-bin link which contained credit card numbers and personal information on U.S. Army personnel. July 19, 2016 the sub domain of Baton Rouge City government website was hacked twice in one day by GSH after previously making news after attack towards both the KKK and BLM.[13]These attacks however were targeting the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in protest against police brutality in which a city native Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers on the 5th earlier that month. The Baton Rouge website was defaced along with a picture of Alton Sterling with a message that read, "Being black is not a crime! This is for the shooting of Alton Sterling, just because he's black does not mean he is a bad guy. You will pay. We are the justice. We are Ghost Squad Hackers. /R.I.P. Alton Sterling." Later in the same month GSH took over the official Twitter account of Afghanistan's Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in an effort to raise awareness against corruption and alleged drug deals between Afghanistanand the U.S.[14] They also targeted the Afghan Public Credit Registry websiteby defacing it which also further allowed them access to several social media accounts including Dr. Abdullah's in which they tweeted, "Afghanistan Gov Hacked by GhostSquadHackers #CheifExecutiveOfficer Can you hear me now? twitter.com/afgexecutive. We found an exploit in the government server and pulled every login we could. We have more also but Dr. Abdullah was not using phone restriction and 2FA was not enabled," a member of GSH stated. The attacks on the Afghan governmentcontinued relentlessly on the first of September after prior targeting of Afghanistan's Chief Executive Twitteraccount, GSH further assaulted the government by defacing twelve websites in one day all of which were affiliated with the Afghan government.[15] This included the Afghanistan's Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, and the Afghan Attorney General's Office. Further assaults continued in hopes of raising awareness for Palestine as part of OpSilence and OpIsrael after shutting down the Israeli Prime Minister and the Bank of Israel. [1] The groups focus in 2017 shifted slightly towards targeting ISIS and removing them off the internet and social mediacompletely. A multitude of accounts from Facebook, Twitter, and Telegramalike were hacked and added to an extensive list of ISIS removed. Further efforts by GSH later revealed bomb instructions and plans to be carried out by ISIS.[16] A guide was also published as an Anonymous move to help enlist the talent of other hackers in hopes to further the attack on ISIS. The influence of Ghost Squad Hacker's achievements have made a large impact on the modern day fine grey line that borders that of activists and hackers alike, helping to raise awareness towards both corporate and governmental injustices.

Ghost Squad Hackers or by the abbreviation "GSH" is a politically motivated hacktivist team led by the administrative de facto leader known as "s1ege". The groups prime intent and focus is embedded on anti-governmental/organization cyber protests within current involvements of media speculation and real life happenings in 2016 to present.^[1][2]

In Jan. 2016, GSH started its very first attacks by the defacing of Ethiopian government websites in response to the killing of nearly 500 students and activists by Ethiopian Security Forces during protests that became extremely violent in the latter part of 2015 and then sparked again in August–October 2016 Ethiopian protests.^[3] They then went on to target Donald Trump with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in protest of what they saw as racist comments made towards Mexicans and refugees.^[4]

The group gained more notoriety after having successfully leaked data of the Israeli Defense Force on April 7, 2016. This was the day #OpIsrael was launched along with Anonymous, leaking the Database of Israel Defense Forceposting thousands of IDF soldiers, boarder patrol, and Israeli Air Forcepersonnel information online.^[5]

On April 23, 2016 GSH targeted the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan by taking their websites down in the protest of racism while Anonymous vs. KKKprotests were happening in the state of Georgia, U.S.A.^[6] Ghost Squad Hackersdid the same however, in a turn of events taking down Black Lives Matter's official website after claiming the organization fueled further racism. After encountering further opposition and confrontation between Anonymous activists and BLMgroup that led to GSH shutting down Black Lives Matter's website over 100 times.^[7] Word was quick to spread as GSH and Anonymous were both put in spot light by the TV Series Mr. Robot in an article published online.^[8]

GSH and Anonymous worked in correlation together when "Operation Icarus" was first launched in February 2016.^[9] The op was aimed at attacking the central banking system which the attackers accused the banks with corruption and wanted to raise public awareness. This attack sparked the invitation of more hacking teams and affiliations of Anonymous to focus their attention towards that of the Central Banks in direct regards of further scrutiny and cyber attacks.

Ghost Squad Hacker's leader 's1ege' claimed responsibility for the attacks which were carried out on the Bank of England email server and dozens of other banking websites including the New York Stock Exchange, Bank of France, Bank of Greece, Bank of Jordanand the Bank of South Korea, among others. "s1ege" went on to state that they want to "start an online revolution" to retaliate against the "elite banking cartels putting the world in a perpetual state of chaos."^[10]

Notoriety of the group continued to escalate as the heat was turned up during the month of June, 2016. After censoring of media coverage in regards to OpIsrael, OpSilence was initiated targeting mainstream media outlets such as CNN and Fox News.^[11] A data dump was later leaked after hacking the United States Military personnel files and releasing information on close to 2,437 army personnel.^[12] The information contained in the link was uploaded to an onion link on the dark web along with a paste-bin link which contained credit card numbers and personal information on U.S. Army personnel.

July 19, 2016 the sub domain of Baton Rouge City government website was hacked twice in one day by GSH after previously making news after attack towards both the KKK and BLM.^[13]These attacks however were targeting the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in protest against police brutality in which a city native Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers on the 5th earlier that month. The Baton Rouge website was defaced along with a picture of Alton Sterling with a message that read, "Being black is not a crime! This is for the shooting of Alton Sterling, just because he's black does not mean he is a bad guy. You will pay. We are the justice. We are Ghost Squad Hackers. /R.I.P. Alton Sterling."

Later in the same month GSH took over the official Twitter account of Afghanistan's Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in an effort to raise awareness against corruption and alleged drug deals between Afghanistanand the U.S.^[14] They also targeted the Afghan Public Credit Registry websiteby defacing it which also further allowed them access to several social media accounts including Dr. Abdullah's in which they tweeted,

"Afghanistan Gov Hacked by GhostSquadHackers #CheifExecutiveOfficer Can you hear me now? twitter.com/afgexecutive. We found an exploit in the government server and pulled every login we could. We have more also but Dr. Abdullah was not using phone restriction and 2FA was not enabled," a member of GSH stated.

The attacks on the Afghan governmentcontinued relentlessly on the first of September after prior targeting of Afghanistan's Chief Executive Twitteraccount, GSH further assaulted the government by defacing twelve websites in one day all of which were affiliated with the Afghan government.^[15] This included the Afghanistan's Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, and the Afghan Attorney General's Office. Further assaults continued in hopes of raising awareness for Palestine as part of OpSilence and OpIsrael after shutting down the Israeli Prime Minister and the Bank of Israel. [1]

The groups focus in 2017 shifted slightly towards targeting ISIS and removing them off the internet and social mediacompletely. A multitude of accounts from Facebook, Twitter, and Telegramalike were hacked and added to an extensive list of ISIS removed.

Further efforts by GSH later revealed bomb instructions and plans to be carried out by ISIS.^[16] A guide was also published as an Anonymous move to help enlist the talent of other hackers in hopes to further the attack on ISIS.

The influence of Ghost Squad Hacker's achievements have made a large impact on the modern day fine grey line that borders that of activists and hackers alike, helping to raise awareness towards both corporate and governmental injustices.