Manuel herrera | Argentina | KDF and Ruto twitter accounts hacked

On July 21, a group calling itself
‘Anonymous Kenya’ hacked into the
Twitter accounts of Kenya Defence
Forces (KDF) and that of the military
spokesman, Major Emmanuel
Chirchir.
Since October 2011, when KDF troops
crossed the border into Somalia,
Chirchir has effectively used his
Twitter account to pass information
on the happenings in the battlefield
against Al-Shabaab.
The faceless group posted
unpleasant tweets, mocking KDF for
carrying out a failed operation in
parts of Somalia where Al-Shabaab
holds sway. The group accused
Chirchir of spreading war
propaganda.
A week earlier, Anonymous Kenya
had penetrated Deputy President
William Ruto’s Twitter account and
also defaced three government
websites; Integrated Financial
Management Information System of
Kenya, Immigration Ministry and
Reforms Kenya.
Intelligence agencies have said
Anonymous Kenya is a branch of
worldwide anonymous hackers
network established in June 2012
under the camouflage identity
Anon_0x03.
Chirchir told The Nairobian he
believes there must be someone in
Kenya who is working with the South
American hackers. Described as
prolific hackers, the group is
operated by five hackers from Latin
America and mainly target
governments, the military and police.
It is suspected that one of its
members is a 17-year-old boy
identified as Manuel Herrera, who
lives in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
“Another element is the possibility
of Argentinean origin, seeing that
the group has tweeted a photo of
the Argentinean flag. In addition,
some linguistic indications of
Argentinean and Spanish were
evident in some posts,” says an
intelligence brief.
The group’s ideology is an anti-
institutionalism agenda. Anonymous
Kenya is the Kenyan branch of the
worldwide hacking network. Other
possible affiliations include
Venezuelan Hackers, Voldem0rt and
Le Chiffre. Kenya is targeted because
of her involvement in the
pacification of Somalia, close ties
with the West and preference of a
capitalist economy.
“Since the group’s Twitter account
stated that it used to be part of a
group titled Venezuelan Hackers, it
is likely that at least one member
within the group is of Venezuelan
origin.
Moreover, the group used to publish
a lot of Venezuelan related content
and was mentioned in many tweets
with Anonymous Venezuela,” reads
the security alert shared between
local and some foreign intelligence
networks. Cyber-crime intelligence
officers say the attack on Kenya is
the first of its kind, claiming that no
activity has been detected in Africa
before.