The group Anonymous, whose members are sometimes called “hactavists” for using cyber attacks to promote causes, has said it is targeting Mexican government agencies and bus companies for failing to protect citizens traveling on the country's dangerous highways.

Drug cartel members or other outlaws taking advantage of the lack of security brought on by the Mexican government's war against the cartels have taken to hijack motorists and assaulting commercial bus passengers.

The group says it will launch attacks on the agencies' and companies' websites Saturday if they do not meet demands laid out by one of the Anonymous factions. The group demands all commercial buses to use toll roads, often considered safer than other highways; that commercial buses have GPS locator systems and real-time camera and alarm systems installed; that security be provided on buses and that unarmed civilians be treated as noncombatants in a declared war between the government and the cartels.

“Why should we have to be making demands on both the bus companies and the Mexican government, are their huge salaries and bulky Christmas bonuses not enough for them to protect the people?” the group posted on a Web page dedicated to the operation, called “Safe Roads.”

The Saturday deadline coincides with the beginning of “ paisanos ” season, a time when hundreds of thousands of Mexican nationals living in the U.S. travel home to visit their families for the holidays.

It's not the first time Anonymous has weighed in on the security situation in Mexico.

During the fall, members of the group said they would release the names of government employees and private citizens associated with the Zetas cartel after an Anonymous member was kidnapped in the Mexican city of Veracruz.

That never happened, and some media outlets reported the Anonymous member had been released while others reported the operation was abandoned because it would put lives at risk.