Anonymous Strikes Back, Hacks "Internet Security" Firm

[fulano]

This whole thing kinda makes me remember the words of Gil Scott-Heron.

 

[Beccax]

Whenever I read these stories all that comes to mind is the stand alone event surrounding the Laughing Man case...

 

[Starke]

is...is that an actual thing? They were stupid enough to attack the Government site of a government that doesn't feel like tolerating them?

Without context, and off the top of my head, Anon has attacked the websites affiliated with Zimbabwean, Egyptian, Tunisian, Swiss, British, and American governments. (I might be wrong about the Swiss, I'm not sure.) Well, that's a group of countries you want pissed with you.

The American, British and Swiss aren't too bad, there's a real limit on what they'll do to a cyber attacker and the governments of those countries are under scrutiny by the public.

Zimbabwe I doubt even has the capability to really track attacks within it's borders...but those other two countries really raise my eyebrows! They're the kind of country where there will be few enough individual attackers to track them efficiently and have the kind of governments that would actively want to stop them. It's a bit unwise to apply the presumption of safety to Anon within their borders, the Internet tends to operate on permissive principles so it's easy to forget that what the Internet community takes for granted as inherent rights are actually reflecting the cultural atmosphere of a few countries that make up the bulk of users.

Be more afraid of the British than you are already, they have a fairly well developed intelligence community, a long history of dealing with terroristic threats, a very well developed counterterrorism response, and some, quite frankly horrific laws when it comes to terroristic threatening... and an extradition treaty with the US that is likely to be respected in most cases.

 

[Gunner_Guardian]

Seems like instead of attacking anonymous as a whole, this guy focused on a sect that was defending wiki-leaks and in the end they defeated him because he got too ambitious.

Anonymous as a whole interests me especially as a sociologist student. How many sects there are, what motivates them and how they interact with one another is something I want to find out one day.

 

[AnonOperations]

This was great: http://armthehomeless.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/why-we-need-anonymous-more-than-ever/

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Well, just goes to show that when you try and fuck with the internet, the internet bites back.

 

[AnonOperations]

I am a regular on /b/. I know there are normal people like me who go there for shits and giggles, but ever since moot was featured in Time, the place has been riddled with dumbass kids. So yes, that is what I believe. Granted, I know there is also plenty of good info on /b/ too. Hell, I'm in college to be a network admin, and I can easily say I learned more about computers in 6 months on /b/ than I have in 6 months in class. However, the good threads are far and few between, but thankfully, most of the info stuff has been zipped and put on /r/ so I don't have to look at pictures of dicks and gore all day just to find something worthwhile.

Yeah, you're right, good threads are far and few between, and seeing as you're also a regular, there is nothing more for me to say.

 

[Simriel]

Arresting 40 members of anon

Is forty guys willing to squeal like pigs to get out of what their friends got them into. Except, in Anon, there are of course no friends. -

Every member is by the nature of the group anonymous. How can you rat out someone who you don't know?

If you think that, you've never met any Anons.

There is no one who has the "list"...there is no "list". But plenty of Anons know each other personally. Many joined as subgroups with similar likes. Others discovered one anothers' identities just by socializing AS Anons on various forums or even in gaming venues like TF2.

Example: a friend of mine is a SomethingAwful Goon. He brags about how many Anons he knows from the SA forums. Several of those game in the same circles as my friend, who games in the same circles I do.

There is no such thing, on the Internet, as someone who is truly anonymous. -

But these numbers are still inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention that a list of names is useless unless they can somehow tie these names to the DDoS attacks with prior evidence. It is not a crime to be part of the group. Nor is the word of a scared person in an interrogation room enough to even arrest without some other evidence.

 

[samonix]

Dont this people have anything better to do? If they used all that time and energy on legal things they could make lots of money.

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

Agreed. 'Anonymous' are really just criminals who use ID theft to fund their crimes. Calling themselves 'heroes' is insulting to anybody who works for a living.

lol. they're just kids, dude.

 

[Vohn_exel]

"The personal details of Anonymous 'members' you think you've acquired are, quite simply, nonsense. So why can't you sell this information to the FBI like you intended? Because we're going to give it to them for free."

This is just awesome, lol. I'm not on either side in this, I think both sides have their reasons for what they're doing. But that right there is just awesome, haha

 

[AnonOperations]

This is big news:
As some of you know, some Bank of America leaks are soon to be coming out. Anonymous uncovers proposed systematic attacks on Wikileaks. Bank of America attempts to hire firms to attack Wikileaks.

Anyone want to comment on my post about this on page 19?

 

[Simriel]

Arresting 40 members of anon

Is forty guys willing to squeal like pigs to get out of what their friends got them into. Except, in Anon, there are of course no friends. -

Every member is by the nature of the group anonymous. How can you rat out someone who you don't know?

If you think that, you've never met any Anons.

There is no one who has the "list"...there is no "list". But plenty of Anons know each other personally. Many joined as subgroups with similar likes. Others discovered one anothers' identities just by socializing AS Anons on various forums or even in gaming venues like TF2.

Example: a friend of mine is a SomethingAwful Goon. He brags about how many Anons he knows from the SA forums. Several of those game in the same circles as my friend, who games in the same circles I do.

There is no such thing, on the Internet, as someone who is truly anonymous. -

But these numbers are still inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention that a list of names is useless unless they can somehow tie these names to the DDoS attacks with prior evidence. It is not a crime to be part of the group. Nor is the word of a scared person in an interrogation room enough to even arrest without some other evidence.

i believe what they will do is declare AnonOps a criminal organisation, that way they could both arrest anyone thats even a member of it with no evidence of a crime and B attack the group and its assets with impunity, thats what i would do if I were the FBI not sure if it would work legaly though.

Trust me, if they can't arrest someone for being in the KKK till they commit a crime, they can't arrest people for being an Anon. And what assets? Anonymous doesn't HAVE assets.

 

[Jeffro Tull]

Anonymous... Are they still focused on protesting Scientology or have the branched out into other issues?

There are still people doing what they can with Scientology.

A big focus of the AnonOps side of Anonymous is now with Wikileaks and helping out with censorship in countries like Tunasia, Egypt, Italy etc.

I will be doing what I can to have an AnonOps (group) page created on wikipedia or have the Anonymous (group) page updated. Sure there is a bleed over but these are largely separate groups.

A lot of people research Anonymous on Wikipedia, just understand that is an Ok place to start your research, but its not really an OK place to draw conclusions from.

Here is an Anonymous manifesto: http://truthisrevolutionary.org/news/message-anonymous

These pages may be of interest if you are interested in wikileaks:
Operation Cablewiki: http://cablewiki.net/index.php?title=Main_Page
Leakspin Sauce: http://leakspinsauce.ownu.net/

Yeah, I believe it's common knowledge that wikipedia blows as far as accuracy. I'm aware of what their movement stands for, I just wasn't sure if they were still actively protesting Scientology. Thanks for the info.

 

[Warped_Ghost]

A good enemy keeps you strong. A bad enemy just plain kills you.

 

[Calbeck]

But these numbers are still inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Who cares? Anons are Anons because it's entertainment, not a mission.

All that needs happen is a number of Anons have the FBI show up on their doorstep. At that point, it stops being fun and becomes a hassle. More Anons go back to trolling and fewer decide to hook up with the activism side, because trolling has less legal baggage attached.

It doesn't even require a particular Anon getting "that visit". One guy gets investigated, and suddenly everyone who knows him goes paranoid about when it's going to be their turn...and start wondering about what they should be covering up that they might actually get indicted for if they DO get "that visit".

Big shallow pond, wide ripples. It's worth it.

 

[AnonOperations]

It doesn't even require a particular Anon getting "that visit". One guy gets investigated, and suddenly everyone who knows him goes paranoid about when it's going to be their turn...and start wondering about what they should be covering up that they might actually get indicted for if they DO get "that visit".

More like: One guy gets investigated (already happened) - Then people wise up, they check out who is connecting on IRC, they ban Feds, they use secure aliases. They cover their IP and they watch what they admit or talk about if they think it could lead to legal action.

It might be hard for you to believe but some people strongly believe in supporting wikileaks and taking action against censorship. They are not going to give up so easily.

 

[Simriel]

But these numbers are still inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Who cares? Anons are Anons because it's entertainment, not a mission.

All that needs happen is a number of Anons have the FBI show up on their doorstep. At that point, it stops being fun and becomes a hassle. More Anons go back to trolling and fewer decide to hook up with the activism side, because trolling has less legal baggage attached.

It doesn't even require a particular Anon getting "that visit". One guy gets investigated, and suddenly everyone who knows him goes paranoid about when it's going to be their turn...and start wondering about what they should be covering up that they might actually get indicted for if they DO get "that visit".

Big shallow pond, wide ripples. It's worth it.

But for many the Wikileaks and the protection of freedom of speech IS a mission. FoS is something people have always been willing to stand up for, you would be surprised how many Anons would be willing to do jail time to do their bit to protect it.

 

[Simriel]

News article on HBGary: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...m-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price.ars

The situation got so bad for the security company that HBGary, the company which partially owns HBGary Federal, sent its president Penny Leavy into the Anonymous IRC chat rooms to swim with the sharks?and to beg them to leave her company alone. (Read the bizarre chat log.) Instead, Anonymous suggested that, to avoid more problems, Leavy should fire Barr and "take your investment in aaron's company and donate it to BRADLEY MANNINGS DEFENCE FUND."

From the IRC log:

Penny: in all seriousness, i would really like it if your employee or someone residing on your network stopped trying to attack one of my servers

Penny: I have log-files/proof of a host residing on your network attacking one of my boxes

pawned101 and mib_dp5tx8 as well as I know that the infosecisland's main security researcher == the jester

When this arrogant "security expert" Arron is openly saying he infiltrated anonymous and gained intel of their leaders. Then planned to sell the information to the FBI at the tax payers expense. I think that is grounds for being taught a lesson. I mean, just check his internal emails:

Aaah... Inner circle, key players, high level lieutenants. This made me lol. This company obviously misunderstands the nature of the beast they are fighting.

 

[SimuLord]

I just have four words for you, Mr. Tito (and the entire Escapist news staff

Don't feed the trolls.

 

[Kair]

Dont this people have anything better to do? If they used all that time and energy on legal things they could make lots of money.

Money is opium for the ignorant. Far more intelligent people do far more for much less.