Anonymous, a hacker group best known for its anti-government crusades, has apparently set its sights on tonight's State of the Union address.
In a Feb. 12 release titled "Operation SOTU," the group states a clear intent to obstruct Internet broadcasts of the president's State of the Union address -- an action the group justifies by pointing to renewed interest in Congress to pass the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a measure Anonymous has long opposed.
"We reject the State of the Union," the statement reads. "We reject the authority of the President to sign arbitrary orders and bring irresponsible and damaging controls to the Internet... We will form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet."
A Twitter account associated with Anonymous also hinted at rabble-rousing surrounding the State of the Union Address. One tweet featured the hashtag "OpLastResort," a label more commonly associated with the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide after years of fighting federal hacking charges.
Whether or not the group will follow through is anyone's guess. After all, Anonymous has pledged to take action many times in the past with mixed results.
In early February, the group took credit for a security breach at the Federal Reserve, claiming to have obtained the credentials of 4,000 U.S. bank executives. A Federal Reserve representative confirmed a breach to The Huffington Post but said the group's claims had been "overstated."
Yet not all of Anonymous' claims see even limited success. In 2011, the group promised to hack Facebook to no avail, ZDNet reports.
The group has also threatened to target Fox News and the Zetas (a Mexican drug cartel), but according to Gawker, none of those supposed attacks panned out.