Anonymous Declared a 30-Day War on the Big Banks of the World — Here's How It's Going

Anonymous is ramping up its operations in recent months, and now that the loose collective of hacktivists has some new notches in its belt, it's skipping straight to the big targets: the world's biggest banks.

On May 4, Anonymous launched #OpIcarus, a 30-day operation organized to terrorize the central banking systems and financial institutions of the world. The operation is well under way — the group briefly brought down the websites of the central banks of countries such as Greece, Mexico, Montenegro and Bosnia.

In the video announcing the operation, Anonymous rails against the Federal Reserve, the World Bank and the Bilderberg Group and other financial institutions that Anonymous alleges are the true powers behind world governments.

"Like Icarus, the powers that be have flown too close to the sun, and the time has come to set the wings of their empire ablaze, and watch the system their power relies on come to a grinding halt and come crashing down around them," the video says.

Anonymous is continuing to take down the websites of various central banks internationally even as this story is written.

Call in the ghosts: Shortly after the first banks went down, #OpIcarus was joined by Ghost Squad Hackers, a small Anonymous faction that's recently had a number of hacking successes, including a slew of attacks against Brazilian government sites and an extended take-down of a major KKK hub.

Sc0rp10n Gh0s7, the leader of Ghost Squad Hackers, said in a private online message the group has been "waiting for this op for long time." Gh0s7 listed banking fees, high interest rates, foreclosures and bailouts as the principal offenses, harkening back to the lip-service Anonymous paid Occupy Wall Street in 2011.

"Banks have been getting away with legally stealing and ripping of citizens for far too long," Sc0rp10n Gh0s7 said. "And now Anonymous and Ghost Squad Hackers united will intervene and attack the very evil system that has been the cause of so many problems in this world."

What that has to do with Bosnia and Guernsey's financial institutions, so far, is unclear.