Anonymous Hacks SunTrust & BlackRock: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

According to sources close to the attack who spoke exclusively with Heavy, Anonymous is hacking SunTrust Banks and may be planning an attack on BlackRock investment management group.

A source tipped us off on a developing attack on SunTrust Banks. Why is Anonymous targeting SunTrust? Here’s the source’s reason:

1. SunTrust Threw Away Perfectly Good Food In Augusta, Georgia

According to multiple articles, SunTrust engaged in some morally ambiguous behavior down in Augusta, Georgia (where the Masters are later this week). According to multiple reports, that SunTrust foreclosed a supermarket, and ordered that the food be emptied from the market, loaded into dumpsters, and sent to a landfill, instead of being distributed to the poor and needy. There was a gathering of people nearby that had to be restrained by the police as they watched perfectly fine food getting thrown away. The Thompson Building and Wrecking company, the organization hired to dispose of the “trash,” actually donated the non-perishable food to the Golden Harvest Food Bank. Currently, Golden Harvest Food Bank is inspecting the food and seeing if anything can be saved and given to the poor and needy.

Anonymous Hacks Sun Trust: What's the Story?Hacktivism enters the mainstream once again. See more details here: http://www.heavy.com/tech/2013/04/anonymous-suntrust-hack-cyberattack-blackrock-t-rowe-price/ What's the Story is an in-depth pictorial news series that gives viewers a more conversational exploration and explanation of a story. We pride ourselves on getting you the biggest stories of the moment, but also the more weird, interesting news that isn't as popular. See heavy.com for more info.2013-04-09T20:57:59.000Z

UPDATE: Here’s what a SunTrust spokesperson said about the incident: “We obviously regret the situation. We were told that arraignments were made by a charity, but people crowded the area to pick up merchandise and the police said it became a public safety issue. It’s important to note that the company [The Thompson Building and Wrecking Company] did donate the non-perishables.”

2. Anonymous is Attacking SunTrust to Teach Them a Lesson

A source tipped Heavy.com off about a developing attack on SunTrust Banks. Why is Anonymous targeting SunTrust? Here’s the source’s reason:
“While William H. Rogers, Jr., CEO of Suntrust, is making almost $4 mil. a year in compensation and insider equity and owns a G550, “but does not fly it to his 26-acre ranch outside of NYC” (sic), he is mandating they throw away the groceries of the local community in Augusta and paying for a hauling company, while claiming they do not have the resources to hand it out to the needy.”

3. It Will Be a Three-Step Attack

According to my source, the steps of the attack are as follows:

The first phase is a Dox attack on all the Board Members of Suntrust. The second phase is probably going to be takedown attack and the final phase is a Dox attack on BlackRock and T. Rowe.

A “Dox” attack is when various information of members of a group. Usually the information includes Social Security numbers, address, home and cell phone numbers, and other key data, including financial information. A “takedown” attack is similar to a DDoS attack, where a group’s website is flooded with huge amounts of traffic. Most recently, the Stophaus group launched a massive DDoS attack on Spamhaus, an email spam-filtering organization. According to my source, attacking banks is tricky because “…of the amount of people it affects.”

4. Blackrock and T. Rowe Price Will be Targeted as Well

In addition to SunTrust, Blackrock and T. Rowe Price will be targeted as well, according to sources. The reason? Both companies are substantial shareholders in SunTrust. According to financials obtained by the group behind the attack, Blackrock owns over 5 percent and is SunTrust’s largest shareholder. Similarly, T. Rowe Price owns 4.42 percent of the total number of shares of SunTrust.

5. These Are the Same Hacktivists Behind the “Largest Cyberattack Ever”

The concept of the hack was started by the Stophaus movement — a subsection of Anonymous — who caught wind of SunTrust dumping food in landfills instead of donating it. They pitched it other members, and other Anonymous members joined the endeavor.

UPDATE: A SunTrust spokesperson said that the company doesn’t discuss security issues.
UPDATE 2: A spokeperson for BlackRock gave a similar response, saying they don’t comment on speculation.