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Data Intelligence Firms hacked by Anonymous

Feb 9, 2011#1

Dave

Why you might ask? Because these three firms were going to (if in fact they did not) attack WikiLeaks on behalf of Bank of America using such tactics as DDoS attacks, outright lying (which they called "disinformation") and attempting to drive a wedge between WikiLeaks and those who support them and their volunteers.

Think this is a whacko conspiracy theory? How's about I attach a copy of the pdf document outlining the attack plan?

You know, the more I hear/read/learn about WikiLeaks and the more I know about those who oppose them, the more I find myself siding with them. Do I think everything they do is morally right? No. I still think they have put people in danger through the lessening of trust through diplomatic means.

But I'll be damned if I side with the banks and their underhanded and illegal tactics on this, only so they can prevent potentially damaging documents about them from being leaked.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/data-intelligence-firms-proposed-attack-wikileaks/

Feb 10, 2011#2

@Li3n

Oh c'mon Dave... no one trusts diplomats... people are just pissed about hose cables because now everyone can see them... it's like providing proof about something everyone already knows... makes the guilty want to show off for some reason.

Feb 10, 2011#3

SpecialKO

Why is there a whole slide on Glenn Greenwald? And why do they seem to think that he, a man who has made his career on writing hypercritical liberaltarian screeds on a liberal website, would be somehow convinced to pursue "professional preservation" instead of "cause"? They're kind of the same thing to him.

Feb 16, 2011#4

Iaculus

Let's step back a bit in the timeline, shall we, and look at the guy Anonymous stole these plans from, Aaron Barr? Want to know why they got tipped off about him? Because he had theorised that Anonymous was not, in fact, the amorphous, headless social phenomenon/semi-sentient meme that we all know it as, but rather a small group of elite hackers with lots and lots of sockpuppets, and set out to prove his theory armed with poor research, monumental hubris, and a desperate desire for acknowledgement at any cost.

Here's what happened as a result.

Feb 16, 2011#5

Tress

Iaculus said:
Let's step back a bit in the timeline, shall we, and look at the guy Anonymous stole these plans from, Aaron Barr? Want to know why they got tipped off about him? Because he had theorised that Anonymous was not, in fact, the amorphous, headless social phenomenon/semi-sentient meme that we all know it as, but rather a small group of elite hackers with lots and lots of sockpuppets, and set out to prove his theory armed with poor research, monumental hubris, and a desperate desire for acknowledgement at any cost.

Here's what happened as a result.

Wow. Is it possible to both love and hate something at the same time? That's kinda how I feel right now.

Feb 16, 2011#6

@Li3n

Iaculus said:
Because he had theorised that Anonymous was not, in fact, the amorphous, headless social phenomenon/semi-sentient meme that we all know it as, but rather a small group of elite hackers with lots and lots of sockpuppets, and set out to prove his theory armed with poor research, monumental hubris, and a desperate desire for acknowledgement at any cost.

Here's what happened as a result.

So he was doing exactly what the media still is and always has since they heard about Anon?!

Feb 16, 2011#7

Krisken

HACK THE PLANET

Feb 16, 2011#8

Shakey

Ars technica has had pretty detailed coverage of this whole deal. They just posted a new story outlining exactly what Anonymous did to get access to HBGary. Check out their Law & Disorder section to see the other stories they have on it. Pretty interesting stuff.

Feb 16, 2011#9

Krisken

Cripes. After reading that article Shakey, one can't help but think a kid with a One Laptop Per Child could have taken the place down.

Feb 16, 2011#10

Shakey

They simplified a lot of it for the article, so I wouldn't underestimate the knowledge needed to do what they did. HBGary did make some huge mistakes for a security company though. This just shows that people will always be the biggest security hole.

Feb 16, 2011#11

Azurephoenix

I don't know if I'm in the minority here but the things that Anonymous often gets involved in seem to amount to little more than vigilante justice.

I can't believe that those security "experts" didn't follow any of their own advice though and left their systems so open to exploitation.

Feb 16, 2011#12

Iaculus

Oh, I'm well aware that Anonymous are a bunch of immature, erratically-moral dicks (insofar as you can give a group so disparate an identity at all). It's just that HBGary was playing with napalm here, and were questionable enough in their practices for me not to really mind that they got eaten by the internet hivemind.

Feb 17, 2011#13

Jiarn

I'm sure Anon are very happy with that assumption about them, makes it easier to get away with so much more that isn't advertised by the media.

Feb 17, 2011#14

@Li3n

Azurephoenix said:
I don't know if I'm in the minority here but the things that Anonymous often gets involved in seem to amount to little more than vigilante justice.

And that'd the more acceptable stuff they do...

Feb 17, 2011#15

Azurephoenix

@Li3n said:
And that'd the more acceptable stuff they do...

Yeah, that's what I figured... I'm not a big fan.

Feb 18, 2011#16

Denbrought

Denbrought said:
"Anonymous" is just the lynch/riotous mob from the cities of yore, except on the internet. It follows the same logic pretty much throughout.

Quoting oneself is one of the most beautiful forms of mental masturbation.

Feb 18, 2011#17

Necronic

The assumptions that Aaron guy used in using social networks to derive Anon identities is remarkably stupid. Have fun ever getting hired again.

Feb 18, 2011#18

Krisken

He was CEO of a security firm with a password that roughly translates to 12345 in the digital world. I think stupid ideas are the least of his problems.

Feb 18, 2011#19

SpecialKO

Necronic said:
The assumptions that Aaron guy used in using social networks to derive Anon identities is remarkably stupid.

Not entirely. List builders for marketing data firms use the same kind of techniques to identify leads and potential customers that they can target. Of course, they also spend years doing it, not just a month or two, and constantly test the validity of their information by sending marketing material and crossing off the names of people who respond negatively (if they know what they're doing, anyways).

What was scary to me was how he was convinced (or, more likely, had convinced other people) that he had somehow developed the infallible holy grail to info-gathering, as opposed to incorrectly applying what marketers, investigators, and law enforcement have been doing for years.

Feb 19, 2011#20

Necronic

Dont you disagree with me. YOU WILL RUE THE DAY!!

Feb 19, 2011#21

SpecialKO

Feb 19, 2011#22

Terrik

I like the word rue.

Rue rue rue rue rue rue.

Rue.

hehe!

Feb 21, 2011#23

Shakey

And now with all those emails leaked, we get to have a glimpse into what kind of work HBGary was doing...

Feb 21, 2011#24

Iaculus

You know what really scares me? That the US was letting this bunch of hooting incompetents help with their hypersensitive black-ops.

I mean, sheez, lrn2marketresearch, people.

Feb 21, 2011#25

Chibibar

Shakey said:
And now with all those emails leaked, we get to have a glimpse into what kind of work HBGary was doing...

I read the 1st page so far (working on 2) but I am not surprise. We are now on the information war. (Anyone remember "Sneakers"?)

Feb 21, 2011#26

SpecialKO

Chibibar said:
(Anyone remember "Sneakers"?)

Still the best hacker movie, if ludicrously outdated.

Feb 21, 2011#27

Shakey

Chibibar said:
I read the 1st page so far (working on 2) but I am not surprise. We are now on the information war. (Anyone remember "Sneakers"?)

The main point they make at the end, is that these firms are developing all this stuff for the government but are all too happy to sell it to any company that's buying. Which bring us back to what they were planning to do to wikileaks for BOA. This is also a pretty small company. Imagine what the big players in this area are doing.

Feb 22, 2011#28

@Li3n