Anonops #8: Occupy Wall Str.

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Electronic Arts: Spiele-Gigant will Kunden ausspionieren

Der Spielehersteller Electronic Arts will mit "Battlefield 3" einen Bestseller landen - doch über eine mitgelieferte Spionage-Software kann der Konzern die Käufer ausspähen. Gamer und Juristen sind empört, Datenschützer ermitteln.

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Online hackers threaten to expose cartel's secrets

Group called Anonymous demands release of one of their own who was kidnapped

An international group of online hackers is warning a Mexican drug cartel to release one of its members, kidnapped from a street protest, or it will publish the identities and addresses of the syndicate's associates, from corrupt police to taxi drivers, as well as reveal the syndicates' businesses.

The vow is a bizarre cyber twist to Mexico's ongoing drug war, as a group that has no guns is squaring off against the Zetas, a cartel blamed for thousands of deaths as well as introducing beheadings and other frightening brutality.

"You made a huge mistake by taking one of us. Release him," says a masked man in a video posted online on behalf of the group, Anonymous.

"We cannot defend ourselves with a weapon … but we can do this with their cars, homes, bars, brothels and everything else in their possession," says the man, who is wearing a suit and tie.

"It won't be difficult; we all know who they are and where they are located," says the man, who underlines the group's international ties by speaking Spanish with the accent of a Spaniard while using Mexican slang.

He also implies that the group will expose mainstream journalists who are somehow in cahoots with the Zetas by writing negative articles about the military, the country's biggest fist in the drug war.

"We demand his release," says the Anonymous spokesman, who is wearing a mask like the one worn by the shadowy revolutionary character in the movie V for Vendetta, which came out in 2006. "If anything happens to him, you sons of (expletive) will always remember this upcoming November 5."

The person reportedly kidnapped is not named, and the video does not share information about the kidnapping other than that it occurred in the Mexican state of Veracruz during a street protest.

Anonymous draws its roots from an online forum dedicated to bringing sensitive government documents and other material to light.

If Anonymous can make good on its threats to publish names, it will "most certainly" lead to more deaths and could leave bloggers and others open to reprisal attacks by the cartel, contends Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence company.

"In this viral world on the Internet, it shows how much damage could be done with just one statement on the Web," said Fred Burton of Stratfor, which published a report Friday that probes the implications of the cartel drawing the activists' ire.

Mike Vigil, the retired head of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the Zetas must take Anonymous seriously.

"It is a gutsy move," Vigil said. "By publishing the names, they identify them to rivals, and trust me, they will go after them."

twitter:

YourAnonNews twitterde op zondag 30-10-2011 om 13:56:40 Starting today #OpCartel begins. Heads up #Zetas! reageer retweet

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#OpDarknet Official Release -- 10/30/2011 - Pedo hunt trophies, Bear Rugs for Mike Perry

In our last battle against Pedo Fort aka Freedom Hosting, we scored a major victory against the army of child pornographers. We were able to use 'The Legion' and 'Chris Hansen' to level pedo fort for over about 30 hours. To our shock, the community of pedos were able to quickly regroup and rebuild Lolita City and Freedom Hosting within a week. While us Anons regrouped to plan a new strategy, the World suddenly became aware of our little war against child pornography.

Amiss the publicity, the pedos collaborated and dreamed of schemes for ways to disprove Operation Darknet. False stories were planted against the IT community about us Anons didn't "hack" Freedom Hosting and Lolita City. What the pedos didn't realize was that we actually took a secret treasure chest from their pedo fort. We worked silently for weeks to try and crack the lock containing this treasure that the pedo bear was diligently trying to protect.

At-last, we cracked the lock and found the true identity of the builder and architect of Freedom Hosting. What we found was truly shocking, it was the deeds to a California, USA 'shell' company for 12 Tor Exit Nodes named Formless Networking LLC.

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An Open Source Analysis of the Anonymous - Los Zetas Op

In order to gauge the potential impact of Anonymous' threat against Los Zetas (or any target), you need to assess the size of the attack surface. The larger the online footprint of the target, the greater the potential impact of the attack. Stratfor's Oct 28 analysis underestimates the Cartel's digital footprint and ignores Mexicos' indigenous hacker population: "The online media frequently used to organize Anonymous-labeled activities are far removed from the violent world of Mexican criminal cartels. This distance — along with the likely physical distance of many Anonymous members from Mexico — could limit the activists’ understanding of cartel activities."

For my analysis, I've examined two data sets: the size of the South American hacker population and the use of online tools by the Zetas and other Mexican crime syndicates and cartels. The asymmetrical nature of cyber conflict doesn't require large numbers of Anonymous members to be involved to be effective but there are certain parameters that will impact the measure of success of their op; one - the number of Anonymous members who speak the language and know the terrain and two - whether the Zetas or their associates use social networks enough for them to be vulnerable.

Mexican Hackers
Assuming that some of Anonymous members are hackers rather than script kiddies, Diosdelared.com might be a good starting point. Diosdelared.com is a large, popular South American hacker forum that has doubled in size since Taia Global analysts first reviewed it in April 2010. It now has 4524 members of which 1351 are from Mexico, 1201 from Argentina, 461 from Peru, 443 from Spain, 227 from Columbia, and 219 from Venezuela. There hasn't been any mention yet of OpCartel in their public postings but with over 1300 members who self-identify as Mexican, even a ten percent participation rate could have a significant impact on the Zetas' organization.

Mexican Drug Gangs
The use of online tools by drug gangs has been escalating. YouTube has been a popular medium to generate fear and recruit new members for several years. Facebook and Twitter were added to their toolkit in April, 2010, when a drug gang shuttered the Mexican town of Cuernavaca by spreading threats of violence via social networks to anyone who broke their curfew. The streets of Cuernavaca stayed empty for the designated period. In August, 2011 Mexican drug gangs learned how useful social networks can be for targeting victims. Also last summer, the head of the Beltran Leyva gang hired a computer technician to assist him in becoming "virtual". The specific degree of the Zetas online presence isn't known but they're clearly building a digital fingerprint if the history of their peers is any indication; a fingerprint that could be uncovered and exploited by a group like Anonymous.

Summary
If Anonymous makes good on their threat to release information on the Zetas' businesses and associates on November 5, their rivals and hopefully law enforcement would almost certainly exploit that information to hurt the Zetas. More importantly, if the OpCartel movement attracts broad Mexican and South American support, it could be the beginning of a movement that would lead to the overthrow the drug cartel's power and influence in Mexico. The fact that Mexico is about to begin one of its most important holidays - Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) - is highly significant. The combination of religion and patriotism is a potent mix, and the Anonymous movement is riding on a wave of successes that connect social media to revolutionary change in the Middle East, North Africa, and the global Occupy movement. Why not Mexico as well?

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Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones

Civil liberties group raises concerns over Met police purchase of technology to track public handsets over a targeted area

Britain's largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area.

The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc, which counts the US Secret Service, the Ministry of Defence and regimes in the Middle East among its customers. Strictly classified under government protocol as "Listed X", it can emit a signal over an area of up to an estimated 10 sq km, forcing hundreds of mobile phones per minute to release their unique IMSI and IMEI identity codes, which can be used to track a person's movements in real time.

The disclosure has caused concern among lawyers and privacy groups that large numbers of innocent people could be unwittingly implicated in covert intelligence gathering. The Met has refused to confirm whether the system is used in public order situations, such as during large protests or demonstrations.

Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, warned the technology could give police the ability to conduct "blanket and indiscriminate" monitoring: "It raises a number of serious civil liberties concerns and clarification is urgently needed on when and where this technology has been deployed, and what data has been gathered," he said. "Such invasive surveillance must be tightly regulated, authorised at the highest level and only used in the most serious of investigations. It should be absolutely clear that only data directly relating to targets of investigations is monitored or stored," he said.

Datong's website says its products are designed to provide law enforcement, military, security agencies and special forces with the means to "gather early intelligence in order to identify and anticipate threat and illegal activity before it can be deployed".

The company's systems, showcased at the DSEi arms fair in east London last month, allow authorities to intercept SMS messages and phone calls by secretly duping mobile phones within range into operating on a false network, where they can be subjected to "intelligent denial of service". This function is designed to cut off a phone used as a trigger for an explosive device.

A transceiver around the size of a suitcase can be placed in a vehicle or at another static location and operated remotely by officers wirelessly. Datong also offers clandestine portable transceivers with "covered antennae options available". Datong sells its products to nearly 40 countries around the world, including in Eastern Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In 2009 it was refused an export licence to ship technology worth £0.8m to an unnamed Asia Pacific country, after the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills judged it could be used to commit human rights abuses.

A document seen by the Guardian shows the Metropolitan police paid £143,455 to Datong for "ICT hardware" in 2008/09. In 2010 the 37-year-old company, which has been publicly listed since October 2005, reported its pro forma revenue in the UK was £3.9m, and noted that "a good position is being established with new law enforcement customer groups". In February 2011 it was paid £8,373 by Hertfordshire Constabulary according to a transaction report released under freedom of information.

Between 2004 and 2009 Datong won over $1.6 (£1.03m) in contracts with US government agencies, including the Secret Service, Special Operations Command and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In February 2010 the company won a £750,000 order to supply tracking and location technology to the US defence sector. Official records also show Datong entered into contracts worth more than £500,000 with the Ministry of Defence in 2009.

All covert surveillance is currently regulated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), which states that to intercept communications a warrant must be personally authorised by the home secretary and be both necessary and proportionate. The terms of Ripa allow phone calls and SMS messages to be intercepted in the interests of national security, to prevent and detect serious crime, or to safeguard the UK's economic wellbeing.

Latest figures produced by the government-appointed interception of communications commissioner, Sir Paul Kennedy, show there were 1,682 interception warrants approved by the home secretary in 2010. Public authorities can request other communications data – such as the date, time and location a phone call was made – without the authority of the home secretary. In 2010, 552,550 such requests were made, averaging around 1,500 per day.

Barrister Jonathan Lennon, who specialises in cases involving covert intelligence and Ripa, said the Met's use of the Datong surveillance system raised significant legislative questions about proportionality and intrusion into privacy.

"How can a device which invades any number of people's privacy be proportionate?" he said. "There needs to be clarification on whether interception of multiple people's communications – when you can't even necessarily identify who the people are – is complaint with the act. It may be another case of the technology racing ahead of the legislation. Because if this technology now allows multiple tracking and intercept to take place at the same time, I would have thought that was not what parliament had in mind when it drafted Ripa."

Former detective superintendent Bob Helm, who had the authority to sign off Ripa requests for covert surveillance during 31 years of service with Lancashire Constabulary, said: "It's all very well placed in terms of legislation … when you can and can't do it. It's got to be legal and obviously proportionate and justified. If you can't do that, and the collateral implications far outweigh the evidence you're going to get, well then you just don't contemplate it."

In May the Guardian revealed the Met had purchased software used to map suspects' digital movements using data gathered from social networking sites, satnav equipment, mobile phones, financial transactions and IP network logs. The force said the software was being tested using "dummy data" to explore how it could be used to examine "police vehicle movements, crime patterns and telephone investigations."

The Met would not comment on its use of Datong technology or give details of where or when it had been used.

A spokesman said: "The MPS [Metropolitan police service] may employ surveillance technology as part of our continuing efforts to ensure the safety of Londoners and detect criminality. It can be a vital and highly effective investigative tool.

"Although we do not discuss specific technology or tactics, we can re-assure those who live and work in London that any activity we undertake is in compliance with legislation and codes of practice."

A spokesman for the Home Office said covert surveillance was kept under "constant review" by the chief surveillance commissioner, Sir Christopher Rose, who monitors the conduct of authorities and ensures they are complying with the appropriate legislation.

He added: "Law enforcement agencies are required to act in accordance with the law and with the appropriate levels of authorisation for their activity."

Datong declined to comment

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Anonymous cancels crackdown on Mexican Zetas drug cartel — Update 1 —

10/30/2011

Mexico City Anonymous group anounced it has cancelled reprisals against the Zetas cartel for being a very risky operation. It was informed through a press and social networks for different users.

After the disappearance of one of its members in Veracruz, one of the members announced reprisals against the drug cartel “Los Zetas” with “Operation Cartel.”

However, because of the great risks involved in leaking information and to safeguard the integrity of persons adhering to the collective group of hackers, they decided to cancel the whole operation.

“Destroying # OpCartel because the lives of people who are not participating can be put at risk,” was published in the first text of the cancellation of the operation, through Twitter account @ Sm0k34n0n.

Before this action the company of strategic intelligence analysis, Stratfor, published an article about the “serious risk” involving actions of leakage of information about members of Los Zetas.

“Last October 6 Anonymous posted to inform on those who are members of Los Zetas … if Anonymous carries out its threat, it will almost certainly lead to death of the persons named as members of the cartel, whether or not the information published is accurate, “says the article by Stratfor.

In an interview with Milenio, two members of Anonymous, Skill3r and GlynissParoubek were in contact to explain the circumstances:

Milenio – Why was it decided to cancel the operation?

Anonymous – We can not be reckless administrators to condemn to death those who participate, we have talked and discussed extensively by all and it was decided to remove it.

Milenio – So why issue threats?

Anonymous – It’s very easy to make a video on behalf of Anonymous and launch air threats, but to think, plan, and evaluate the pros and cons is another story,” they said.

Milenio – What’s next?

Anonymous – “There will be other operations, but for now we hope to make clear that the cartel operation is false.”

Anonymous released a statement where they reject any relation with pages publishing names of officials involved in the Los Zetas cartel.

“Dear followers and supporters of this page (Anonymous). I hereby disclaims Mexico Anonymous entirely the responsibility of the news of hacking a page that is linked to alleged Zetas cartel,” is detailed in the text circulated.

“Our struggle is not of this type and our ideals do not go with that operation. The article published by various electronic means is completely false. We ask for your support to spread this news” They ended denying the media who published the page.

Milenio

Previous posts related to this
http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/7775
http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/8485
http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/8516
http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/8590

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Update 1

OpCartel Anounced it will continue its fight against Zetas independently from Anonymous

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http://thepiratebay.org/t(...)d_Defense_Industries

For #FuckFBIFriday, we are releasing 1GB of private emails and documents
belonging to Vanguard Defense Industries(VDI), a defense contractor that sells
arms to law enforcement, military, and private corporations.

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Anonymous vs. Zetas: is #OpCartel a flop, hoax, or honeypot?

[Video Link] Over the last few days, word has spread of a purported #antisec operation by Anonymous against the most brutal of all Mexican drug cartels, Los Zetas. What was unusual about the way this story spread, however, was the speed at which it was amplified by credulous reports from larger media outlets. This op got lots of press, fast. Faster, in fact, than it got support from Anons.

Geraldine Juarez and Renata Avila were two of the earlier voices I read expressing doubt about the prevailing storyline—a report by Juarez is here. Some I spoke to within Mexico wondered if the Mexican government (no bastion of purity) might be involved.

At the New York Times, writer Damien Cave digs in here on why the story is important.

And over at Wired News, a must-read piece by Quinn Norton that cinches the deal for me (and in it, she references the aforementioned Global Voices item). Quinn's been covering Anonymous extensively for some time, and I trust her spidey sense on this one.

"Everyone, Anonymous and not, seems to agree that going after the Zetas, who are known for hanging people by their own intestines, would be a new level of ambitious, and might even be the point where Anonymous would bite off more than they could chew," Quinn writes. "But there’s some nagging problems with the video that proposes the op."

Read the rest at Wired.

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China a minimal cyber security threat: Paper

Despite having an Information warfare strategy since the mid '90s China's offensive cyber-warfare capabilities are fairly rudimentary

Despite growing concern about China’s cyber-warfare capabilities, Australia and other Western nations have little to worry about when it comes to their national security.

That’s the view of Desmond Ball, a professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, who in a recent journal paper argues China's offensive capabilities are limited and its own Internet security has notable deficiencies and vulnerabilities.

According to Ball, China had carried out a number of high-profile and successful hacks, denial of service attacks and website defacements in recent years. However, its offensive cyber-warfare capabilities were fairly rudimentary.
[ With the increasing threat of cyber crimes, protect yourself and stay informed on the latest news with Computerworld's Security newsletter ]

[China has] evinced little proficiency with more sophisticated hacking techniques, the paper reads. The viruses and Trojan Horses they have used have been fairly easy to detect and remove before any damage has been done or data stolen. There is no evidence that Chinas cyber-warriors can penetrate highly secure networks or covertly steal or falsify critical data.

They would be unable to systematically cripple selected command and control, air defence and intelligence networks and databases of advanced adversaries, or to conduct deception operations by secretly manipulating the data in these networks.

According to Ball, the capability gap in anti-virus and network security applications between China and other nations was immense.

Chinas cyber-warfare authorities must despair at the breadth and depth of modern digital information and communications systems and technical expertise available to their adversaries, the paper reads.

In Balls view, and despite having an information warfare (IW) plan since 1995 and conducting cyber exercises since 1997, Chinas cyber-warfare capability was not expected to better rivals for several decades.

At best, [China] can employ asymmetric strategies designed to exploit the (perhaps relatively greater) dependence on IT by their potential adversaries the paper reads.

Chinas cyber-warfare capabilities are very destructive, but could not compete in extended scenarios of sophisticated IW operations. In other words, they function best when used pre-emptively, as the PLA now practices in its exercises. In sum, the extensive Chinese IW capabilities, and the possibilities for asymmetric strategies, are only potent if employed first.

In the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisations (ASIO) 2010-11 Annual Report, the agency noted that espionage by cyber means was emerging as a serious and widespread concern.

ASIO is seeing increasingly both foreign state and non-state actors taking advantage of the access, relative anonymity and global reach of the internet, the report reads. From the comfort of wherever their computer terminal may be, they probe Australian information systems and data holdings for vulnerabilities and mine for valuable commercial, diplomatic and military intelligence sometimes with success.

Despite the rise of espionage through cyber means, ASIO has not seen any reduction in the intensity of other, more traditional forms of espionage human spies are still being recruited and run and foreign intelligence agencies are still interfering covertly in the Australian community. Indeed, effective coordination between traditional, human-based espionage and computer network operations represents a potent threat to our most sensitive data and networks that are not connected to the Internet."

In July 2010, ASIO established a Cyber Espionage Branch to provide advice to government and business on the threat of cyber-espionage and to investigate increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber-intrusions into computer networks.

For its part, Australia has worked during the past year to raise cyber security as a foreign policy issue on the international agenda and has moved to better secure its cyber borders.

In the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades (DFAT) 2010/11 Annual Report, the department said it had worked with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and other agencies on a framework for Australias international engagement on cyber.

The department took the lead for Australia in contributing to the development of international cyber norms by under taking work on messaging, principles to underpin norms, and mapping international activity, the report reads.

The department also worked with the Department of Defence to strengthen cooperation with the US and the United Kingdom on cyber in AUSMIN and AUKMIN consultations and contributed to planning for the United Kingdoms London conference on international cyber norms, scheduled for November 2011."

In a sign of the growing government acceptance of cyber-attacks as genuine threats to national security, the Australian government said it June that it would develop its first Cyber White Paper.

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"The Night of Thousand Masks".



Message By Anonymous :

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do 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 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 high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. 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 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 me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot. V for Vendetta.

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Op vrijdag 4 november 2011 12:57 schreef deelnemer het volgende:
De tactiek van anonymous is die van terreur verstopt achter anonimiteit. Wat is dat voor een rare intimiderende beweging?

twitter:

Anon_Central twitterde op vrijdag 04-11-2011 om 20:08:41 Holy shit, /b/ has been occupied. lol reageer retweet

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THE OCCUPIED /b/