The Dark Side of Crime-fighting, Security, and Professional Intelligence

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Very interesting speech by Richard Thieme at the 19th annual DEFCON hacker conference about the good, bad, ugly, and simply "what is so" about the security state.

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EFF Files Appeal to Free Hacker "Weev" from Federal Prison

Hanni Fakhoury

EFF

As Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer finishes his third month in a federal penitentiary, we filed ourappeal of the computer researcher's conviction and 41-month prison sentence for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) andidentity theft statute on Monday.

Auernheimer's case is the latest chapter in the ongoing battle over the breadth of the CFAA, the sweeping federal anti-hacking law that has been stretched to cover all sorts of non-hacking behavior. Intended to go after malicious, criminal hacking, the CFAA has been aggressively used to prosecute behavior like creating a fake MySpace page, misusing employer data and, in the case ofAaron Swartz, downloading scholarly articles he was actually entitled to access.

Weev's conviction is a prime example of how the CFAA threatens security researchers with prison sentences for discovering security vulnerabilities.

Hacktivists Show Us the Future of Decentralized Regulation

Image Source

J.G. Vibes

One of the most frustrating paradoxes in the mainstream political discourse is the idea of “regulation”. We are often told that the problems in our economy, and in our society as a whole are the result of “not enough regulation”, but many people fail to actually process the reality and peripheral consequences of said “regulations”. 

Now before I begin I want to make it clear that I am not saying that all kinds of regulation or oversight for important services is a bad thing, but what I am saying is that government regulation is bad. More specifically, the actions that have come to be associated with this word regulation in terms of government policy are extremely harmful to society.

When a government regulates anything, be it the economy, the drug market, the food market, you name it, they are not doing so with the benevolent intention of helping people, as their public relations scheme suggests. Furthermore, they are not using peaceful means to achieve their goals, they always use force and threats to get what they want. It’s important to remember that these politicians are not impartial referees on the sidelines who have no personal interest in the decisions that they are making. 

DNSChanger is False Flag Excuse for FBI to Shut Out Internet Users

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

Today The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will pull the plug on the Domain Name System (DNS) because of DNS Changer malware that has been used as a safety net for servers infected by a virus that redirects users to a bogus DNS server.

On July 9th, Internet users will be able to access the Internet if your computer is not infected.

The FBI wants everyone to check their computer by going to the website for the DNSChanger Working Group. When you visit this site, if your computer is “ok”, you will see a “green square”.

When you go to this website to have your computer checked for DNSChanger, you are essentially giving the FBI the ok to allow your ISP and computer to be surveilled.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists to be Screened Tonight July 7th (Video)

Activist Post

Whether or not the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous is controlled opposition, the story behind the diverse hacktivist movement is a compelling one.  The 4th annual Downtown Film Festival L.A., July 6-13, has announced its programming line-up, which includes a thrilling documentary about the hacktivist movement that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age.

"We Are Legion" explores the historical roots of early hacktivist groups and follows Anonymous from 4chan to a full-blown movement with a global reach.

This riveting film is screening in its Los Angeles premiere during the festival tonight, July 7th, 7:00 pm, at Downtown Independent Theater located at 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA. 

A special 20% discount on tickets (normally $14) is being offered for Activist Post readers. The promotional code for this special presentation is "dffla20." For additional information about the film, please click HERE.

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Researchers Show DHS How Hackers Can Redirect Drones With GPS

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

Researchers at the University of Texas demonstrated to officials at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) how drones could be hacked into through their navigation systems.

Known as “spoofing”, a false signal through the Global Positioning System (GPS) could be used to “trick” the drones into going onto a new course.

Thousands of drones will be released into US skies by the federal government, law enforcement and university research purposes. Todd Humphreys, assistant professor for the Cockrell School of Engineering believes that GPS satellites, which are not encrypted for civilian use, are a weak spot in the surveillance scheme. Humphreys stated: “The dirty fact is it’s an open signal, and easily hacked.”

Humphreys suggests that the GPS needs to be fortified with “electronic watermarks” that would cause signals to be difficult to falsify. This change would cost millions of dollars; however, Humphreys asserts that the encryption of GPS signals is essential to protecting government’s use of drones in US air space. 

Anonymous continues the work of LulzSec, proving they actually didn't disband

M. Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Regardless of what you think about the illegal immigration laws in Arizona, you must take notice of the fact that the group known as Lulz Security or LulzSec has targeted the state more heavily than any previous target.  You might also notice that even though LulzSec allegedly disbanded several days ago, their attacks on government cyber-infrastructure has continued unabated.

Sure, now they are operating under the banner of Anonymous (the same group that they emerged out of), but their activities have not changed a bit. They have continued their "Operation Anti-Sec" unabated, despite the clear warnings that these attacks will be used to justify a draconian crackdown on the Internet freedoms we have all grown to enjoy.

'Anonymous' hackers declare war on Orlando

Editor's Note:  We are all for protesting against those who were responsible for arresting the good people who fed the homeless in Orlando and were subsequently labeled as "food terrorists," but just like with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, something seems strange about an "anonymous" organization having a spokesperson.  Here is Barrett Brown (a "self-described anarchist"), openly admitting to crimes, but appearing on mainstream TV?  Just another example of controlled opposition? 

Websites to be attacked over arrests of activists handing out food to homeless people

CNBC

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The hacker group Anonymous on Monday declared war against the city of Orlando, Florida, over the arrest of people handing out food to homeless people, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Anonymous: Bernanke Is Next -- June 14th (Video)

Editor's Note: Controlled opposition to justify a false flag ( Flag Day )  to bring down the Net due to "financial terrorism"? Or, just speaking the truth to legitimately expose the crimes of Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Bank?

Courtney Comstock
Business Insider 

Anonymous has set its sights on Ben Bernanke.

The most well-known hacker group, Anonymous, uploaded a video message to youtube yesterday calling for Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to resign, among other things. It's embedded below.

The video begins with Bernanke saying he is 100% confident of his ability to control the income disparity in the U.S. -- the largest of any industrialized country in the world -- on 60 Minutes.
Then it says:

"Democrats have failed us, Republicans have failed us... It is time for us to stand up for ourselves... We must fight back against the organized criminal class... We must launch "operation Empire State rebellion. The operation will commence on June 14th...Operation Empire State Rebellion Engaged."

Anonymous first called for Bernanke to resign on March 12.

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I.M.F. Reports Cyberattack Led to ‘Very Major Breach’

Editor's Note: Is "The Resistance" actually gutting the enemy or is it a false flag to push the cyber-security agenda? Or a little of both?

Image source

David Sanger and John Markoff
New York Times

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund, still struggling to find a new leader after the arrest of its managing director last month in New York, was hit recently by what computer experts describe as a large and sophisticated cyberattack whose dimensions are still unknown.

The fund, which manages financial crises around the world and is the repository of highly confidential information about the fiscal condition of many nations, told its staff and its board of directors about the attack on Wednesday. But it did not make a public announcement.

Several senior officials with knowledge of the attack said it was both sophisticated and serious. “This was a very major breach,” said one official, who said that it had occurred over the last several months, even before Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who ran the fund, was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a chamber maid in a New York hotel.

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Hackers attack FBI partner website

The hackers who call themselves "Lulz Security"
or LulzSec
© AFP/File Joel Saget

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A group of shadowy hackers responsible for a string of recent high-profile cyberattacks has claimed to have stolen email addresses and passwords from associates of an FBI-affiliated security program.

The hackers who call themselves "Lulz Security," or LulzSec, said they had attacked the website of the Atlanta chapter of InfraGard in retaliation for US efforts to classify hacking as an act of war.

Lulz Security published a list online of around 180 email addresses and passwords which the group said were obtained from the InfraGard website.

It's Official, "Anonymous" Hackers are Now Controlled Opposition

A hacking group claiming to be part of "Anonymous" has announced the successful takeover of Iran's servers, which seems like a huge amount of work put into an agenda that seems to stray dramatically far away from their declared war on the Global Banking Cartel.

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Raw Story is reporting today that the shadowy hacktivist group "Anonymous" has proudly announced that it has full control over Iran's servers while releasing thousands of internal government emails.  After their manifesto declaring war on the international banking cartel, this turn against one of the only holdouts to joining that cartel raises speculation of their true intent.  Raw Story reports the motives as follows:

In a chat with Raw Story, members of Anonymous on the #OpIran server said they were leading the charge becausethey want Iranians to know they're not alone in their struggle against the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

...Apart from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the hackers said they were targeting servers containing information about the Kahrizak detention center in Iran, a notorious site human rights campaigners have raised alarms about for years.

Anonymous released a video extolling their fight for the human rights work they're doing for the Iranian people:

One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer'

The FBI and US secret service have used the threat of prison to create an army of informers among online criminals

Ed Pilkington
Guardian

The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established.

Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.

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Wikileaks Hacktivists Heavily Arm Themselves with Spam Cannons

WikiLeaks supporters download ‘Low Orbit Ion Cannon’ software en masse

Associated Press

Security experts see surge in downloads of spam used to attack sites hostile to WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks supporters on Friday downloaded increasing amounts of the spam-shooting software used to attack companies seen as hostile — a development that could challenge even Internet giants such as PayPal and Amazon.com during the crucial Christmas shopping season.

U.S. data security company Imperva says downloads of the attack program used to bombard websites with bogus requests for data have jumped to over 40,000, with thousands of new downloads reported overnight.

"It's definitely increasing," Imperva Web researcher Tal Be'ery said in a telephone interview from Israel.

The freely available software is a critical part of the campaign by "hacktivists" seeking to take revenge on sites they believe have betrayed WikiLeaks, the group that has outraged American officials by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables and military intelligence reports.

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RELATED ARTICLE:
Wikileaks defended by anonymous hacktivists


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Dutch Police Arrest Suspect in Pro-WikiLeaks Hacking

Image/Reuters

Cassell Bryan-Low and Jeannie Whalen
The Wall Street Journal

Dutch authorities said they arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of being involved in attacks on the websites of MasterCard and Visa that were allegedly mounted by sympathizers of document-leaking website WikiLeaks.

Police arrested the suspect at his home in The Hague late Wednesday night and said he had acknowledged being involved in the attacks on the websites of the two credit-card companies, according to Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch prosecution office.

Police also seized computers and data-storage devices.


The boy, whom authorities didn't name but confirmed is Dutch, remains in custody and is due to appear before a judge on Friday. A lawyer for the boy couldn't be reached.

Dutch police believe he is part of a larger group of WikiLeaks sympathizers behind the so-called denial-of-service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page, Mr. de Bruin said. Dutch authorities say the group conducting the attacks are doing so under an effort called Operation Payback. The police are continuing their investigation, including exploring the potential involvement of others in the Netherlands.

MasterCard Inc. and Visa Europe, which both recently suspended payments to WikiLeaks, are among a growing list of organizations and individuals that have suffered online attacks in recent days, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.

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RELATED ARTICLE:
WikiLeaks Being Used to Justify "Patriot Act" Legislation For Internet

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WikiLeaks Starting an All-out Cyber War?

Newsy

Online hackers are extracting revenge against financial websites supporting a crackdown on Wikileaks. The hacks are forcing the websites to crash.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Related Video:

Hacktivist Operation Payback: Cyber War is revenge for WikiLeaks (VIDEO)

RELATED ARTICLE:
WikiLeaks Being Used to Justify "Patriot Act" Legislation For Internet

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Hacktivist Operation Payback: Cyber War is revenge for WikiLeaks (VIDEO)

Youtube -RTV
A group of activist hackers have begun attacking MasterCard.com, Amazon.com, PostFinace, Paypal.com and others in retaliation for cutting of the WikiLeaks organization. The targeted companies, after receiving pressure from the US government, opted to sever their relationships with WikiLeaks, preventing the organization from hosting its site, halting the flow of donations and freezing the organization's Swiss bank accounts. The group of hackers is leaderless and operates anonymously.

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RELATED ARTICLE:
WikiLeaks: Used to Justify "Patriot Act" Legislation for Internet

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WikiLeaks battle: a new amateur face of cyber war?

Peter Apps
Reuters

LONDON – The website attacks launched by supporters of WikiLeaks show 21st-century cyber warfare evolving into a more amateur and anarchic affair than many predicted.

While most countries have plowed much more attention and resources into cyber security in recent years, most of the debate has focused on the threat from militant groups such as al Qaeda or mainstream state on state conflict.

But attempts to silence WikiLeaks after the leaking of some 250,000 classified State Department cables seem to have produced something rather different -- something of a popular rebellion amongst hundreds or thousands of tech-savvy activists.


"The first serious infowar is now engaged," former Grateful Dead lyricist, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation John Perry Barlow told his followers on Twitter last week. "The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops."

Some of the more militant elements on the Internet clearly took him at his word. A group calling itself Anonymous put the quote at the top of a webpage entitled "Operation Avenge Assange," referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Online collective Anonymous appears to be using social networking site Twitter to coordinate attacks on websites belonging to entities it views as trying to silence WikiLeaks.

Targets have included MasterCard, Visa and a Swiss bank. All blocked payments to Wikileaks on apparent U.S. pressure.

Swedish prosecutors behind Assange's arrest in London for extradition and questioning over sex charges were also hit. Some Wikileaks supporters view the charges are politically motivated.

It looks to have surprised even Barlow, whose "declaration of independence for cyberspace" has been increasingly shared over Twitter by Anonymous supporters. He says he himself opposes distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aimed at knocking down sites, viewing them as anti-free-speech.

"I support freedom of expression, no matter whose, so I oppose DDoS attacks regardless of their target," he told Reuters in an email. "They're the poison gas of cyberspace.... All that said, I suspect the attacks may continue until Assange is free and WikiLeaks is not under continuous assault."

The exchange suggests cyber warfare could also become the preserve of small groups attacking each other as state actors.

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RELATED ARTICLE:
Wikileaks Being Used to Justify "Patriot Act" Legislation for Internet

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