For several days, since 14 in January 2019, the Zimbabweans did not have access to the Internet. A decision taken under rumors of General Chiwenga's instructions and the leadership of the president Emerson Mnangagwa, which decided to threaten and ordered all 4 telecommunications companies in the country to completely shut down the Internet.
With these problems referred to above, the well known Anonymous group that uses Hacktivism as a form of protest, so decided to carry out an attack DDoS in protest to the government websites of that country.
Message from Anoymous group posted in an online forum: “Greetings, Zimbabwe, we are anonymous. We have already seen innocent people being killed in Zimbabwe. We saw oppression and tyranny. We have seen people being oppressed for fighting for freedom. We cannot tolerate this. As we did with the Sudanese government, We have successfully taken down more than 72 Zimbabwe government websites, which is just a start, your banking system will also fall soon. Government of Zimbabwe you have become an enemy of Anonymous, your systems are in danger in the face of oppression, rebellion.
Hacktivism as a form of protest
Included in message announcing #OpZimbabwe is a list of sites that have already been DSoS'd (taken offline / downed) by several Anonymous members. Among the first to be deactivated is the website of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The list of DDoS sites at the time of publication included the following government-related website:
www.agritex.gov.zw
www.archives.gov.zw
www.auditgen.gov.zw www.auditorgeneral.gov.zw
www.dcip.gov.zw
www.dlvs.gov.zw
www.drss.gov.zw
www.energy.gov.zw
www.gisp.gov.zw
www.gov.zw
www.gta.gov.zw
www.housingministry.gov.zw www.ictministry.gov.zw
www.justice.gov.zw
www.lands.gov.zw
www.mepip.gov.zw
www.met.gov.zw
www.mhet.gov.zw
www.mhtestd.gov.zw
www.mic.gov.zw
www.miit.gov.zw
www.mines.gov.zw
www.mlass.gov.zw
www.mlgurd.gov.zw
www.mlgvturd.gov.zw
www.moa.gov.zw
www.mocpa.gov.zw
www.testdomain7.gov.zw
www.theopc.gov.zw
www.tourism.gov.zw
www.transcom.gov.zw www.vpmujuruoffice.gov.zw www.water.gov.zw
www.women.gov.zw
www.zec.gov.zw
www.zim.gov.zw
www.zimbabwe.gov.zw www.zimembassyvienna.gov.zw www.zimfa.gov.zw
www.zimgaborone.gov.zw www.zimgeneva.gov.zw www.zimimmigration.gov.zw www.zimlondon.gov.zw www.zimtreasury.gov.zw
www.zrp.gov.zw
zimtreasury.gov.zw
Although disapproved by some members of the technology sector, hacktivism is often misunderstood. It is a form of protest, often as a last resort, to draw the attention of the international community and call attention to a government that oppresses its people. In the case of Zimbabwe, it is a protest against the government that denies citizens their human rights and freedom of expression when closing the Internet.
