Tag: anonymous

Hacker Wars: Westboro Baptists Church Gets Jestered!

jester_westboroBy now, I imagine everyone is familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church, the notorious ultra-militant Christian cult best known for its slogan “God Hates Fags”. Well, it seems that the group has expanded its message of hate, no longer content to celebrate the deaths of gays or of US servicemen and women –  with such slogans as “Thank God for dead soldiers” or “Thank God for IEDs”. Yes, it now seems they have widened their focus and chosen to embrace new tragedies in their quest to spread their message of hate.

These include such tragedies as the Newton, Connecticut shooting and the Oklahoma tornadoes. And while their efforts to protest the funeral of Principal Dawn Hochsprung – one of the many victims of the tragic school shooting – were thwarted by a group of good Samaritans, the group still managed to make some headlines for themselves with the creation of the website GodHatesOklahoma.com, claiming once again that the tragedy in Oklahoma was God’s judgement, and praising Him for taking the lives of the 24 people who were killed.

Hackers-With-An-AgendaLuckily, the hacker community stepped in to teach these hate-mongers a lesson. Shortly after the website went up, all the original content was deleted and replaced with a picture of Jesus giving the Westboro Church the middle finger. The words ” “Westboro Faptist Church — Even Jesus Hates You” were added to let them know exactly who the Savior was cursing and why. (FYI: Faptist is a reference to the word “fap,” Internet slang for “masturbate”).

Clearly, the Westboro techs took the website down, because none of the content is avaiable for veiwing anymore. But according to some additional rumors, the person responsible was Jester, a relatively well-known hacker. This was indicated by the added message: “On the 8th day, God created hackers, and he saw that it was good. From the Gospel according to @th3j35t3r Redirecting in 5 seconds…….” After waiting, visitors were taken to a Red Cross donation site for victims of the storm.hackers_security@th3j35t3r refers to Jester’s Twitter account, which contained the message: “Westboro Faptist ‘Church’ – My God loves everyone, especially you. You need it the most”, followed by a link to an article at The Daily Dot which acknowledged his efforts. It is unclear at this time if Westboro will attempt to put their site up again, but given their inferior programming skills, I would imagine they’d not want to tempt fate, or the hacking community, a second time.

And might I take this opportunity to commend Jester and those like him. This incident, much like Anonymous’ exposure of the internet predator who ruined Amanda Todd’s life, shows how hackers can be a truly positive influence on society. Much those people who originally came together at MIT to found the “Hacker Ethic”, these individuals are proof that some people are still capable using technology for good and not abusing their freedom.

Sources: mashable.com, huffingtonpost.com

Cybersleuths Uncover Worldwide Spy Virus

 

computer-virus.istock

“I’m frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They’re not nations, they’re individuals. And look around you. Who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No! Our world is not more transparent now, it’s more opaque! It’s in the shadows.” 

This was one of the most memorable lines from the recent Bond movie Skyfall, as spoken by Dame Judi Dench in her role as M, director of MI6. It’s memorable because of how it managed to capture the essence of spy work in the post-Cold War digital age, and because it pretty much resounds with audiences who are increasingly fearful for their privacy.

In a story that I know I must comb for material for my next cyber novel, a team of cyber sleuths recently uncovered a cyberspy ring that has been spying on embassies, governments and research institutions around the world for the past five years. The virus, which has been dubbed “Red October”, is of uncertain origin, though the culprits are believed to be Russian (hence the name).

Red-October-Infection-MapFor the past five years, the virus has been harvesting documents and data from computers, smartphones and removable storage devices (such as USB sticks), largely from victims in Easter Europe and Central Asia. However, 69 countries were reported as being targeted in total, including the U.S., Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, South Africa, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. So far, these victims remain unidentified except to say that in most cases, they were government agencies and embassies, institutions involved in nuclear and energy research and companies in the oil and gas and aerospace industries.

The virus was uncovered by the Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based antivirus firm that specializing in internet security. In a statement released on Monday the 14th: “The main purpose of the operation appears to be the gathering of classified information and geopolitical intelligence, although it seems that the information-gathering scope is quite wide.” The virus is still active, they say, but now that the operation is a matter of public record, there’s no telling if it will continue or not.

hackers1What’s more interesting is the fact that the spy ring set up an extensive and complex infrastructure consisting of a chain of at least 60 command-and-control servers that appear to rivals the massive infrastructure used by the nation-state hackers that were behind the infamous Flame spay malware that was responsible for infiltrating computers in Iran and across the Middle East last year. However, Kaspersky went on to claim that this network was not associated with Flame, meaning that there is another hacker ring out there that is equally powerful and motivated, and has comparable infrastructure.

All of this calls to mind the Anonymous and the whole debate about hacking and its ethics. Whereas the concept was born of a desire to make information free, deconstruct corporate and government control of media, and break down barriers between nation states, examples like this remind us that there are also insidious hackers, the ones who’s motivation is questionable and who’s actions are less than benign. Alongside “black hat” hackers, the people who spawn malware, spyware, and other viruses from their basements, hackers have it pretty bad on the PR front!

anonymousBut good or bad, the reality is that hacking and information wars are becoming an increasingly decentralized and democratic affair. For some, this is a good sign, an indication that we are moving towards a truly open and free society. For others, its a very bad sign, since we really have no idea how to contain threats that emerge from what are essentially non-entities.

I swear to God I didn’t pick this story to promote my new book, people! But for some reason, the news cycle seems to have decided to break a story that specifically addresses what I was trying to capture with that book and its planned sequels. So in addition to all the people these “Red October” individual may have screwed over, it seems that they’ve made me look like a shameless self-promoter! I don’t know what your agenda is, be it general mischief, anti-secrecy, freedom of information, or just plain anarchism, but did you ever once think of ME???

Source: Wired.com

Anonymous Busts Cyber Bully

As a sci-fi geek and indie writer, I rarely get into stories about terrible tragedies on this site. However, I couldn’t ignore this story once I came across it. Not only does it pertain to an issue which is of extreme importance to all of us – cyber bullying – there are also aspects of this case which are undeniably relevant when it comes to the fields of information technology and internet communications.

It’s no secret that the advance of technology has created new opportunities for predators to prey on the innocent. But at the same time, it seems that said same technology could be opening up opportunities to bring them down as well. What’s more, it seems that when it comes to certain types of cybercrime, hackers and authorities can come together in common cause.

As I’m sure many have already heard, a Canadian teen girl named Amanda Todd was recently found dead in her Coquitlam home after committing suicide. Within days of her death, it was reported that she was the victim of cyber bullying that had been going on for years. Apparently, it began when a man who had developed an online relationship with her convinced her to flash him on her webcam.

A year later, this same man contacted her and threatened to circulate the photo all over the internet unless she “put on a show” for him. The stranger also revealed that he knew everything about her: her address, where she want to school, her friends, relatives, and the names of her family members. Naturally, she was horrified and refused him, and the naked photo was forwarded to all her family, friends and online peers.

Humiliated and now the victim of harassment at school, Todd changed schools. However, things continued as a Facebook page was created with the picture of her flashing the camera as the profile photo. This began the deluge, and the 15-year old was harassed at school and at home for months by former friends, peers, and people she had never met. She posted about her torment online, saying how friends had abandoned her, a group of girls beat her up, and how she even tried to drink bleach to end her pain. For a time, she seemed to be recovering. But it seemed that no matter where she went, the torment followed. Invariably, she chose to end it by ending her life.

And now, in what can only be described as an act of Cyber Vigilantism, the hacker group Anonymous – the same people who brought you such things as the Occupy Movement – have uncovered the identity of the man in question. Apparently, the man is a 30-year old pedophile who lives in New Westminster, BC. Anonymous not only provided his address, but also included Google Map screenshots of his house, his Facebook profile, and chat conversations and screenshots from a “jailbait” website account supposedly tied to the man.

According to Vice Magazine, who picked up the story, Anonymous decided to act when it was becoming clear that the cyber bullying had not ended with Todd’s death. Shortly after her death, nude photos of her autopsy were also posted online. According to a statement released by the hacker group: “We generally don’t like to deal with police first hand but were compelled to put our skills to good use protecting kids. Ironically we have some good people in Vancouver who brought this to our admin’s attention. It’s a very sad story that affects all of us.”

According to CTV, the man identified by Anonymous appeared in court on Monday on charges of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor. These charges were unrelated to Todd however, indicating that this is not the first time he has preyed on youths. The man denied being Todd’s harasser though, and pointed the finger at a New York man who was harassing her. I’d say that ranks right up there with “the check’s in the mail”, but if it leads to the break-up of a pedophile ring, perhaps it’s worth investigating. Either way, the man is now being tried for his brand of disgusting crimes, and I think he should count himself lucky. After word of his address broke, he could have easily found himself on the business end of some baseball bats and crowbars. Instead, he can look forward to prison, where his life expectancy will be slightly higher.

Alas, I should also mention that sites dedicated to Todd’s memory have been subject to harassment as well. It seems that anonymous flamers and trolls have taken to these sites to question why Todd should be mourned, or to post slanderous comments about her. To these people I can only ask, what the hell is your damage? Suicide is tragic, but suicide as a result of bullying, especially something as cowardly as cyber bullying, is just plain disgusting. In short, piss off or grow the hell up!

And I think I speak for just about everyone when I say that I hope there is a special place in Hell for scum bags like this, and in wishing Todd’s family all the condolences in the world. Nothing justifies this sort of behavior, and it will certainly be a better world when online predators can’t hide behind an internet connection and bully people with impunity. And though the means do not yet exist to police the internet as we might like, this most recent case shows that the weapons used against youth and innocent children could be turned against the predators themselves.

What’s more, it also shows that hackers and civil authorities can come together for the common cause of busting internet predators. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a slender ray of hope.

Hear that perverts? You’re free ride is over! Prepare to be crushed!