Anonymous Celebrates Guy Fawkes Day; NBC, Lady Gaga, Australia, PayPal invited to Hacking Party

Anonymous hacked online properties of US broadcaster NBC, music star Lady Gaga, the Australian government, and PayPal as part of their Nov. 5 celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. The defacements, including multiple NBC sites, were dedicated to the man who plotted to blow up the House of Lords in 1605 and whom Anonymous chose as a symbol.

“Vote Guy Fawkes ” The Only Man Ever To Enter Parliament With Honest Intentions,” a member of the movement tweeted on the platform, while another quoted lines from the movie “V for Vendetta,” inspired from Guy Fawkes` story. “Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof!”

Though a list of up to 28,000 passwords was apparently leaked on the Internet, PayPal said it had “no evidence” of a security breach.

Lady Gaga`s website was rapidly restored, but search engines still index the web page with the defacement message.

“My little angels! help is on the way. Haus of Gaga techies will be on it… to the rescue. Calling them now,” Lady Gaga tweeted shortly after the attack.

At the time of writing, Australian website ascensionaustralia.com.au was still compromised.

“The Australian Government continues to push for new legislation and sell off Australian’s rights to privacy, and our sovereignty,” reads the message on the defaced web page.

Anonymous planned to back up their online protest with a march in front of the White House in the US and Parliament in the UK to reenact the revolution scene from the movie “V for Vendetta.”