Hacker group Anonymous begins releasing personal information on Donald Trump

Anonymous attacks through the years

The loosely affiliated hacking collective Anonymous is well known for their "ops" and "raids" on government, corporate and religious websites. Some believe them to be malicious trolls and others call them digital Robin Hoods. See some of the notable attacks Anonymous has conducted over the years. less Anonymous attacks through the years

The loosely affiliated hacking collective Anonymous is well known for their "ops" and "raids" on government, corporate and religious websites. Some believe them to be ... more Photo: DANIEL ROLAND Photo: DANIEL ROLAND Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Hacker group Anonymous begins releasing personal information on Donald Trump 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

Hacker group Anonymous declared war on Donald Trump this week. On Thursday, they started releasing personal information on the Republican front-runner for president.

The group allegedly has posted Trump’s Social Security number and his phone number on the site Pastebin. The cyber-attack also claims to have published the phone numbers his agent and attorney. They also published the full names of his family members, although most of those names have already been made public.

READ THIS: PostSecret, the web's anonymous tell-all site

Anonymous is calling the hacking tactic #OpWhiteRose in a reference to a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. When the hackers announced the operation, they said the purpose was “to unite to fight fascim.”

The group would have to find something really spectacular to do any damage to Trump’s presidential campaign. Attacks on the Republican candidate – including comparisons between Trump’s rhetoric and that of Adolf Hitler – have fallen by the wayside.

UPDATE: NBC News reports that all of the information released by the hackers had been "floating around online for awhile." Even the Social Security number for Trump had been online since at least 2013, though it was not possible confirm the number was actually Trump's own.

Wrote NBC News: "It is a common tactic among online pranksters to publish information that is already available on the Internet and act as though it is new."

See the gallery above for Anonymous attacks through the years.