Update: The Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account @Operation_KKK on Monday published a tweet disclaiming the group’s participation in the release of any information thus far (information that itself has been called into question):

Anonymous’ news-oriented Twitter account, @YourAnonNews, chimed in around the same time Monday to clarify its relationship to @Operation_KKK and to verify the latter account as the go-to source for KKK-related information sanctioned by the hactivist organization:

The Washington Post published an update to this rather circuitous story here.

* * *

Editor’s note: The original report below was posted on Monday, Nov. 02, 2015, at 12:37 p.m. PST.

“Hacktivist” group Anonymous has begun publishing the personal details of alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan as its campaign of cyberwar against the white supremacist group escalates.

From The Hill:

The anarchist hacking collective warned last week that it was planning to eventually release personal details of 1,000 alleged Klan members as part of its cyber war against the white supremacist group.

On Sunday and Monday, Anonymous gave a preview, releasing some initial data through the text-sharing site Pastebin. The details — including several dozen emails and phone numbers — have not been independently verified or confirmed by the KKK.

Anonymous said Sunday it had also gone after KKK-affiliated websites ahead of a full day of protests it has dubbed “HoodsOff 2015.”

“Today we have shut down servers, gotten personal information on members of the KKK, and infiltrated your twitters and websites,” Anonymous said in a Sunday release. “And this is just the beginning. On November the 4th we will be having a twitter storm, spreading awareness about the operation. And on the 5th we shall release more than 1000 Ku Klux Klan members Names and websites, new and old.”

A prominent KKK-affiliated Twitter account suggested a possible “anti-Anonymous” march for Nov. 5 to counteract the hackers’ actions.

Anonymous has been digitally sparring with the KKK since the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., last year sparked by the police killing of an unarmed black teen.

In the protests surrounding the shooting death Michael Brown, a local KKK chapter threatened to use “lethal force” to defend itself from the “terrorists masquerading as ‘peaceful protesters’.”

The protesters, the Klan warned, had “awakened a sleeping giant.”

In response, Anonymous-led hackers infiltrated the Klan-affiliated Twitter accounts and forced several KKK websites offline.

–Posted by Roisin Davis

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