Anonymous Strikes Back, Hacks "Internet Security" Firm

[Danpascooch]

Does anyone else feel a movie adaptation coming up?

In all honesty, I think the FBI should just hire Anonymous.

You can't hire an idea. Anon aren't all hackers. Anon is a collection of like-minded people tied solely around an ideology. Even then its loosely based. Some are hackers, many are not.

I know that. Doesn't mean they couldn't come to an agreement with the part of Anonymous that is hacker.

Isn't the whole point of this news story the fact that they can't find Anon? Or the Anon who are hacking? =P

Besides, this isn't an example of hacking, honestly. Aside from the entry, its mostly just social engineering.

Well let's see, they broke into their website, replaced it with their own, and infiltrated and published all of the private emails of the company.

What part of this is "not hacking"?

Most of it. Hacking was getting and spoofing the initial e-mail. The rest was social engineering and childs play. Any middle-schooler can make a web page or a torrent.

I'm not saying they didn't do a lot, I'm saying that calling it hacking is downplaying the other skills at work here.

They didn't make a webpage, they replaced GaryHB's.

Honestly, what IS hacking if this isn't it? I understand something like DDOS involves running a premade program, that's not hacking. But they got into the site, edited it, and stole over 60000 emails, what would you consider hacking? Is anything less than the Skynet takeover considered hacking by you?

Remember, before they got the password from the admin, they had to GET INTO THE EMAIL SERVER to make it look like it was from them. Also, they hacked his Twitter.

 

[tunderball]

Im willing to bet that somebody will make this into a film one day. It will be called 'Anonymous' and be all sexed up where the people in anonymous are young sexy freedom fighters and will probably star Angelina Jolie.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I wish I had seen the look on the FBI investigator in charge of this investigation's face when he walked into the office this morning.

This, a thousand times this.
some guy at the office: "Sir, it seems Anon hacked us and kinda sorta....well.....I really shouldn't say."
The boss: "What!?! spit it out you fool!"
same guy at the office: "They hacked your twitter account and posted your social security number"
The boss: "fffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" *rageface*

keep up the good work Anon.

they didn't hack the FBI, they hacked a computer security firm that was working with the FBI. the FBI investigator in charge of this' face would have been more like
"Anon hacked HBGary? Ok fire them and find a new one. AND they put the data we were going to pay millions for on the internet for free? Start that download. *smiling coffee sip* It's a good day."

didn't fully read the post I quoted. Sorry, my bad

 

[Danpascooch]

wow anonymous really needs to be taken out there too dangerous and too good at what they do

Can't be done, specifically because they have no command structure or officials of any kind, they are a group in the same way that we Escapist posters are a group.

For all you know I could be Anon.

 

[Simalacrum]

Haha, I'm gona have to laugh about this one XD

To be fair, I agree with certain aspects of Anonymous - specifically, the whole 'rights to internet free speech' bit. However, I have to point out one thing that confuses me...

On the letter, Anonymous claims to seize the website under section 14 of the rules of the Internet.

Now, the most popular rules of the Internet [http://asset.soup.io/asset/0850/2687_e0ac.jpeg] clearly states that section 14 is "do not argue with trolls - it means that they win", which really doesn't make sense under the context... XD

 

[The Hairminator]

Honestly, what IS hacking if this isn't it? I understand something like DDOS involves running a premade program, that's not hacking.

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service, and basically works in the way that you have a botnet (a network of computers that do your command- the owners may or may not know they're a part of it- watch out for malware people!) that ping and spam the site you dislike to the degree where it simply goes down.

It's not hacking, just a way to be annoying. The guy you quoted probably meant it would only be 'real' hacking if they cracked the password in some electronic way, and without phishing.

 

[Dice Warwick]

Anonymous is the grate equalizer of the information age. If the get an inch, they will go miles until they get board.

 

[Harbinger_]

Should be interesting to see what the backlash for this is. It's hard to fight back against something that doesn't have a structure. It would be ironic if some of the people 'hunting down' Anonymous were actually members misleading them.

 

[Lord_Panzer]

So, I have a question - if Anonymous is this amorphous blob with no organization...who decides what to put in the open letter?

Hivemind.

This is fantastic. Attacking the guys attempting to track you down and completely destroying their credibility, then stealing all the information they gathered on you and posting it online FOR FREE. If there ever was an Epic Win, this would be in contention for it.

 

[Desert Tiger]

I still love this presumption of "all of Anonymous are super hackers". I'm about as computer literate as the next guy. I wore a Guy Fawkes mask in Manchester protesting against the Church of Scientology. For those five hours, I was Anonymous. Am I now? No. Next raid? Hell yeah. People need to sit down and figure out that Anonymous isn't a structured organisation.

Any one of you who picks up a cause against a higher power that's sole power is that they can demonise or criminalise (granted, yes, these are criminal activities this particular cell are partaking in) you on an individual basis can fall back on the Anonymous banner to protect you. It's not a group or faction, it's a tactic. And anyone can tell you that with the triumphant examples of Guerilla warfare and Terrorism - you can kill a group, but you can't kill a strategy.

 

[Wargamer]

One cannot help but wonder if Anonymous work for ubisoft; their general outlook when they do "big" things (like attack Scientology) is one of freedom. That is freedom as in true freedom (ie: you're free to say what you want), not 'freedom' (as in you're free to say what you want as long as blacks / gays / Muslims / Jews / Christians / every other dumbass on the planet will like what you say).

Anonymous rarely harm normal people, because they have nothing to gain from harming their own. They are a personification of our desire to bitchslap the people who are defended by laws; laws that are meant to serve US, not them.

I personally look forward to the day Anonymous takes out the Pentagon, purely for how hillarious it'll be to see them ruling America.

 

[Shadow_Bunnies]

*snip*
As if Pay Pal is any better then anonymous. Go tell that To India or various other people they rob and steal from. Like for instance, Notch the creator of Minecraft. How much did they steal from him you ask? 600 thousand euros.

Fuck paypal if their site got shut down and lost millions in dollars because of it, it still wouldn't be near from what they've out right stolen from their users. I personally lost 300 bucks to paypal, my account has been "under observation" for the last 4 years.

There is an error in your evidence none of Notch's money was taken from him, it was just locked for a few days due to massive increase in activity (By massive mean going from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of Euro) It was unlocked and all money returned to Notch. Get your facts straight before claiming a company makes it's profits by stealing over half a mil from a user.

 

[Danpascooch]

Honestly, what IS hacking if this isn't it? I understand something like DDOS involves running a premade program, that's not hacking.

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service, and basically works in the way that you have a botnet (a network of computers that do your command- the owners may or may not know they're a part of it- watch out for malware people!) that ping and spam the site you dislike to the degree where it simply goes down.

It's not hacking, just a way to be annoying.

I know what DDoS is. And I JUST SAID I don't consider it hacking.

Why did you quote me?

 

[Anton P. Nym]

What crimes, pray tell? Protesting against Scientology? Defending Wikileaks? Revealing a sham of a security company that is taking peoples private information and selling it to the FBI? What?

I just found out that a friend of mine lost his business's server to a drive-by... not a targeted attack, just a random swipe with a zero-day flaw to burn anyone who could be burned. He's got a long, hard week of reconstruction ahead of him.

Today is not the day to convince me that this sort of shit is either justified or harmless fun.

-- Steve

 

[vrbtny]

I sort of see this as a huge troll wars. I have both respects for both sides, but it is a bit like that.

On a side note -- a challenge for "Anonymous."

'Hey guys? How about putting all your amazing haxoring ability into cracking some terrorists sites? Or China's?

I'm sure the FBI would be your best buds then.

Yes, but where are the luls in that?

I'm pretty sure China's Secret Services report on, say, the superbowl, would be funny.

Anymous!! New Challenge. Go get that^

 

[Tron Paul]

Honestly Anonymous is a loosely collect group of shitheads going after another bigger group of shitheads (some of the time). I think some of the reason why people keep acting out against the US is because the US always tries to regulate the world. Not just militarily, but policy wise as well. Domain names have been seized under ICE, even domains that have been proven legal in a court of law. America needs to give up its perceived stranglehold on the world.

Looking to expatriate.

 

[dududf]

*snip*
As if Pay Pal is any better then anonymous. Go tell that To India or various other people they rob and steal from. Like for instance, Notch the creator of Minecraft. How much did they steal from him you ask? 600 thousand euros.

Fuck paypal if their site got shut down and lost millions in dollars because of it, it still wouldn't be near from what they've out right stolen from their users. I personally lost 300 bucks to paypal, my account has been "under observation" for the last 4 years.

There is an error in your evidence none of Notch's money was taken from him, it was just locked for a few days due to massive increase in activity (By massive mean going from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of Euro) It was unlocked and all money returned to Notch. Get your facts straight before claiming a company makes it's profits by stealing over half a mil from a user.

Thank you for informing me of that tid bit, I was not informed on that aspect. How ever the point still stands. How ever your negative tone is uncalled for.

I did not say that they make all of their profits on stealing either.

They're criminals in my eyes they've stolen money from me and many more.

Go to google and type this "paypal sto" and look at all the suggestions that pop up.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

This whole thing is like: Punching a police officer, then hiding in a bush and when more police come to track you down, kicking the tracker dog in the face, throwing your passport and drivers license at the police and waving your dick in their general direction before high-tailing it out of there.

If you'll excuse the analogy.

Not to mention spray painting a huge penis on the officer's car on the way, and still managing to escape without a trace. Good analogy...

I really don't understand why there are people who oppose Anon's actions. Granted, they aren't always nice, but their goals tend to be quite noble (as with defending Wikileaks, and retaliation against Visa/MC). I would rather them be the dominant force of the internet than a country such as China or the US. At least they fight for the ultimate form of net neutrality. And lulz. Actually, mostly lulz, the freedom is a by-product...

 

[The Hairminator]

I know what DDoS is. And I JUST SAID I don't consider it hacking.

Why did you quote me?

Sorry, I suppose I misread. I shall disappear from this conversation at once!

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Once this is all over I'm going to organise a whole pack of information on this newly dubbed 'Freedom of information war'. I can't wait to see this through to the end. As s guy studying A-level history, I hope this is remembered and actually has repercussions to be assessed.