Posts Tagged ‘Anonymous’
Hackers Hacking the Hackable, FBI?
With all of the technology and the heightened amount of security consciousness in the world you would think that the FBI as a whole would rank at the top of the secure list of agencies, of course you would be wrong.
“A law enforcement agency using unencrypted, unsecure communications is a major fumble,” said Marcus Carey who apparently spent a number of years securing communications for the U.S. National Security Agency before joining security-risk assessment firm Rapid7.
Anonymous hackers uploaded an audio file of roughly 15-minutes that contained a recording of a phone conversation of FBI agents discussing how they were going to take down Anonymous. Anonymous then tweeted “the FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.”
After the conversation was recorded and uploaded the FBI did not seem amused saying the communication “was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained,” but added that no FBI systems were breached. It said that “a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.”
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this story pans out as the cyber-war rages on!
Anonymous – Message to the American People
Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes!
In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.
The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn’t apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans “if we want it to.
Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 — 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for.
This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a “battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.
Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:
Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial
…the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn’t limited to foreigners. It’s confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas’ Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — “U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority.”
The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the “legitimate assassination” of U.S. citizens right here on American soil!
If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we’ve been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America. — no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.
The US senate does not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?
Cruelty and injustice…intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told…if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now President in command Barack Obama. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.
More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness. Justice, and freedom are more than words – they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek…then I ask you to stand beside one another, one year from November 5th, 2011, outside the gates of every court house of every city DEMANDING our rights!!
Together we stand against the injustice of our own Government.
We are anonymous.
We are Legion.
United as ONE.
Divided by zero.
We do not forgive Censorship.
We do not forget Oppression.
US SENATE…
Expect us!!
DHS Doubts Anonymous Skills
DHS Doubts Anonymous Skills
The Department of Homeland Security has released a bulletin that accused Anonymous hackers of “expressing interest” in hacking industrial systems that control critical infrastructures. We are talking about hacking systems that control such things as gas and oil pipelines, chemical plans, water and sewage treatment facilities, and random system including power grids and air traffic controls towers.
If you want to read more on this claim you will find it HERE.
Terrorists or Hacktivists?
There was a time when being a hacker wasn’t a bad thing. Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, John Carmack were all hackers. From building the first Apple computer to staying up all night to design the first fluid side scrolling game on PC (Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement). This was hacking at its finest.
Then came the hackers who broke into computers merely out of curiosity. Adrian Lamo, Kevin Mitnick and Richard Czubinski. For these hackers, hacking was “a crime of curiosity.” They wanted to know what made this server, or that phone system tick. With no real intention of hurting anybody or anything, no desire to bring a company to it’s knees, these hackers went out looking for knowledge. Isn’t it enough to defeat your opponent? Do you really need to seize his kingdom?
Now, it’s 2011, and hacking is “retribution”, “kewl”, and is “just for the lulz”. You’ve got Anonymous taking down Sony for their treatment of George Hotz, LulzSec hacking PBS in retaliation for talking bad about WikiLeaks. It’s no longer fun. It sure the hell isn’t out of curiosity. It’s outright ignorant.
GamersRevenge was on the receiving end of a hack back in 2010. It destroyed us. We almost went under, but we rose from the ashes. These so called “hackers” deleted our web pages and video game assets. My bad for picking a hosting company that didn’t back anything up. We had this site back then, and it is dedicated to all things hacker related. Hackronomicon.com is definitely pro-hacker, even after we got hacked. Why hack sites that are obviously pro-hacker? But hacked, we were. They didn’t try to learn anything about us, our sites, or how we do what we do. They did this just to be malicious. There was no reason for it.
Now we’ve seen Nintendo, Epic Games and Bethesda Softworks joining the list of hacking victims. Seriously, what was the justification for hacking Nintendo? Really? What did Mario ever do to you? Oh, and the Bethesda hack? “We did it because they couldn’t stop us,” and “Bethesda, add an official LulzSec top hat to Skyrim and we’ll remove your admin configurations from our incoming leak. Deal?” (this last one has since been deleted) LulzSec hacks PBS in retaliation for their comments on WikiLeaks, but then turns around and hacks Bethesda because “they can.” Where is the nobility in this? This was done purely for personal gain and glory, nothing more.
At what point did hacking lose it’s mystique? When it was fun to see, watch or hear about? Hey, LulzSec & Anonymous, do you think you’re gaining any fans? Gamers have very long memories and we are a tighter family than you criminals. Remember Dylan Hays in Hawaii? Criminals tried taking his DS and they learned the definition of nerd rage real quick. Do you think that there aren’t gamers who are also hackers? And we all know you so called hackers have no loyalty, One in four of you are informants. Shimomura, I’m looking at you.
This “hacktivism” isn’t noble; it isn’t anywhere near it. You are thugs, internet gangsters, and criminals. Point blank. You aren’t doing it for anyone else other than yourselves. You know who else thought he was acting out of nobility? Hitler. Think about it.
Sony Bitter About Hacks – Asks for Legislation to Help.
Kaz Hirai, Sony’s deputy president has come out to comment more on the hacks that plagued Sony, but has gone on to say that hacking is a threat to the very fabric of society. On the surface it appears that he might just be mad about all the problems that Sony has recently had, but when you look at the fact that the FBI, Nintendo, Eidos, and others have all been hacked recently you start to see a bigger picture.
He’s asking for governments to step in along with law enforcement agencies, and for there to be legislation to help with this sort of criminal activity. He said that it needs to be a worldwide effort to prevent this from happening. In response to the week of waiting to hear from Sony about what happened he stated that they had to gather enough information about the attack before they could release a statement to their consumers. He claims that there was no waiting to release the information, but that they were aggressively searching for all the pieces before they could, in some states, legally release a formal statement.
I understand where Sony is coming from, but I think that by and large most of the hacking we have seen or heard about hasn’t actually compromised people enough to worry about any legislation, especially on a worldwide level. Remember, when we put laws into action there’s no going back. Think rationally before jumping, especially when hacks are so prominent in the news right now.
Hackers Either Roll With or Over Each Other
Where once DefCon was a place to join up with other hackers and talk openly about hacking while trying to oust the Feds from the group to keep yourselves safe from prying eyes, that is no longer the case. The once coveted shirts for spotting the Feds are losing their luster, and Feds have even begun ousting themselves at the convention to get the shirt saying “I am the Fed.” Over the years FBI agents have gotten the look and lingo down to an art form, and can blend in with the community.
Turning hackers on each other has been an easy thing to do historically. Like many drug charges you hear about on television, hackers are turned to informants to reduce sentences and often times they are easier to turn than drug dealers or mafia wise guys. Hackers are often reclusive and aren’t as organized together as other sub-cultures and so allegiances crumble when face to face with Law enforcement agencies. Hmmm. I wonder if the members of Anonymous, LulzSec or other hacker groups would turn against one another as easily.
Remember, you can talk tough when you are alone behind a keyboard all you want, but sticking together when in a room with the FBI is where we really test a man. Mitnick never caved, and more people should be like him if they think hacking is actually something to be proud of. Either hackers are a noble breed or they are scum like the drug peddlers on the street. Only you can decide folks.