Yesterday was a fail day for mainstream media and the blogosphere. It was widely reported that Anonymous had hacked thousands of account details from PayPal, instantly slamming the organisation with a reputational hit. Who wants to send money through an organisation that can’t keep your details secure?
Supposedly the details were leaked as part of the Anonymous “Operation November 5th” that was being reported on Twitter under the hash tag #OpNov5. The security blogs picked up the reports and ran with it, as has now become normal procedure the mainstream media picked up the article and ran with it also.
The problem? No one had verified it. Seczine had the option to report the supposed hack yesterday, but when we investigated it we found no evidence that PayPal had been hacked, so we did not run a story on it.
In the new world, getting news to readers quickly is critical in the success of the new media sites, however a quick story should never replace a story that has been researched and qualified.
What did “Operation November 5th” achieve, a few cold protesters in Anonymous masks in London and a number of defaced websites across the globe. It also looks like a re-release of the VMware source code.