What is hacktivism? We explain it - with examples

The online world has countless facets and has long served as a playing field for political activism. It is in this context that the term hacktivism has emerged, which we explain in more detail below.

World improvement on the PC: Hacktivism has clear political goals.

The hacker per se is often portrayed very stereotypically in movies. In reality, however, things are a bit more complex, and hacktivism is a good example of this.

Hacktivism in practice: these methods exist

The term hacktivism is a neologism composed of hacking and activism, which is almost enough to understand it:

• In hacktivism, skills from the hacker spectrum are used to support political or ideological ideas to support or make clear.
• In practice, this can look very different. A classic example is hacking government websites to spread a message there. This falls under the umbrella term "defacement".
• Spam actions are also often (depending on their objective) a means of hacktivism.
• Also very common are DDoS attacks, which you can find explained in more detail in this article.

In general summary, any hacking activity can be considered hacktivism if the goal of the action has a political character. In today's world, there are numerous examples of this, as the world becomes more and more digital and the social mood more and more heated. Among the most famous names is the Anonymous collective, whose actions are not limited to the cyber world, but are deeply rooted there.