Anonops #10: Stop SOPA

Anonymous Warns Dutch TV: NOS, RTL & SBS ( + Dutch Subs )

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BlackBerry, Nokia and Apple have provided the Indian Military with backdoor access to cellular surveillance

On January 6th reports of Symantec (makers of Norton Anitvirus) being hacked surfaced. The group of hackers behind the attack behind the attack were from India. In a statement issued by a member from the Lords of Dharamraja group (badass name!), the guys said:

. As of now we start sharing with all our brothers and followers information from the Indian Militaty (sic) Intelligence servers, so far we have discovered within the Indian Spy Programme (sic) source codes of a dozen software companies which have signed agreements with Indian TANCS programme (sic) and CBI

Ignoring the typing error, gaining access to Indian Military’s Intelligence servers is pretty damning for the agency. The hack got covered since the hackers claimed to have acces to Norton’s source code. Earlier today I came across scans of a set of documents that are internal communications between the Indian Military. The documents claim the existence of a system known as RINOA SUR. While I did not find what SUR stands for but RINOA is RIM, NOkia and Apple. And this is where things start to get very interesting, according to the set of documents, the RINOA SUR platform was used to spy on the USCC—the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Let’s take a moment for that to digest. Here’s an image from the documents underlining the relevant part:

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Internet - Israel: Israel droht internationalen Hackern mit Vergeltung

Tel Aviv (dpa) - Israel hat internationalen Hackern wegen der Veröffentlichung geheimer Informationen von Kreditkarten mit einem Gegenschlag gedroht.

«Wer Israel im Cyberspace Schaden zufügt, ist nicht immun gegen Vergeltungsmaßnahmen», sagte der stellvertretende Außenminister Danny Ajalon am Samstag in Beerscheva. Ein Mitarbeiter Ajalons bezeichnete Angriffe von Hackern als Terrorismus.

Internationale Hacker hatten im Netz geheime Informationen zu tausenden israelischer Kreditkarten veröffentlicht. Nach Medienberichten wurden Namen, Adressen, Telefonnummern sowie Identitätsnummern von 26 000 Israelis preisgegeben.

Die Identität der Hacker ist bislang noch nicht gelüftet. Zuerst hieß es, die Spuren wiesen nach Saudi-Arabien. Dann erklärte eine Person mit dem Namen OxOmar, er sei Mitglied der internationalen Hackerorganisation «Anonymous».

Ein israelischer Student behauptete dann am Freitag, er wisse, wer hinter OxOmar stecke. Der Hacker stamme nicht aus Saudi-Arabien, sondern sei in den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE) geboren worden. Er lebe jetzt in Mexiko. Die israelische Nachrichtenseite «ynet.com» berichtete daraufhin, in der Redaktion habe sich ein Mann gemeldet, der behauptet habe, er sei OxOmar und seine Identität sei noch nicht gelüftet worden.

Erst im November war es in Israel zu einer schweren Computerpanne gekommen. Die Websites mehrerer Regierungs- und Sicherheitsorganisationen waren nach einem Totalabsturz stundenlang lahmgelegt. «Anonymous» hatte der israelischen Regierung vorher mit einem Angriff gedroht. Die israelischen Behörden dementierten jedoch damals Berichte über eine Hacker-Attacke und erklärten den Vorfall mit einem technischen Fehler.

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Hackers expose defence and intelligence officials in US and UK

Security breach by Anonymous 'hacktivists' reveals email addresses of 221 British military staff and 242 Nato officials

Thousands of British email addresses and encrypted passwords, including those of defence, intelligence and police officials as well as politicians and Nato advisers, have been revealed on the internet following a security breach by hackers.

Among the huge database of private information exposed by self-styled "hacktivists" are the details of 221 British military officials and 242 Nato staff. Civil servants working at the heart of the UK government – including several in the Cabinet Office as well as advisers to the Joint Intelligence Organisation that acts as the prime minister's eyes and ears on sensitive information – have also been exposed.

The exposure of the database came after hackers – who are believed to be part of the Anonymous group – gained unauthorised access over Christmas to the account information of Stratfor, a consultancy based in Texas that specialises in foreign affairs and security issues. The database had recorded in spreadsheets the user IDs – usually email addresses – and encrypted passwords of about 850,000 individuals who had subscribed to Stratfor's website.

Some 75,000 paying subscribers also had their credit card numbers and addresses exposed, including 462 British accounts.

John Bumgarner, an expert in cyber-security at US Cyber Consequences Unit, a research body in Washington, has carried out an analysis of the Stratfor breach on behalf of the Guardian. He has identified within the data posted by the hackers the details of hundreds of UK government officials, some of whom work in highly sensitive areas. Many of the email addresses listed are not routinely made public, and the passwords are all encrypted in code that can quickly and easily be cracked using off-the-shelf software.

Among the leaked email addresses are 221 Ministry of Defence officials identified by Bumgarner, including army and air force personnel. The breach echoes a much larger group of military personnel contained in the database from the US armed forces, where some 19,000 email addresses ending in the .mil domain for the US military were posted.

In the US case, Bumgarner has found, 173 individuals deployed in Afghanistan and 170 in Iraq can be identified. Personal data from the former vice-president Dan Quayle and Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state, were also released.

Other UK government departments have been affected: seven officials in the Cabinet Office have had their details exposed, 45 Foreign Office officials, 14 from the Home Office , 67 Scotland Yard and other police officials, and two employees with the royal household.

There are also 23 people listed who work in the houses of parliament, including Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, Lady Nicholson and Lord Roper. Corbyn said that he had been unaware of the breach, adding that, although his email address was very public, he was disturbed by the idea that his password could be cracked and used to delete or write emails in a way that "could be very damaging".

Nicholson, speaking on a phone from Irbil in Iraq, said that she too had no idea that her personal information had been hacked. As a politician, she said, she was used to her privacy being sacrificed and she "rolled with the punches".

But she was very unhappy that private individuals had had their fundamental right to privacy violated. "To expose civil servants is monstrously unfair," she said. "Officials in sensitive areas like defence and the military could even be exposed to threats. Guarding data like this is extremely difficult, but it's not impossible, and we should do a great deal more."

The hacking into Stratfor has had a big impact because the consultancy offers expert analysis of international affairs, including security issues, and attracts subscribers from sensitive government departments. The British victims include officials with the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) responsible for assessing intelligence from all sources, including MI6 secret agents.

A former deputy head of Whitehall's strategic horizons unit is listed. The unit is part of the JIO based in the Cabinet Office and was set up four years ago to give early warning of potential serious problems that might have an impact on the country's security or environment.

Other email addresses point to employees of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre, a UK agency responsible for training all military personnel in intelligence, security and information support. Among the civil servants listed are a political adviser in the British embassy in Azerbaijan, an adviser to the House of Commons defence committee and an official serving the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.

The extent of the security risk posed by the breach is not known. Bumgarner said that officials who did not take extra precautions in securing passwords through dual authentication or other protection systems could find email and other databases they used being compromised. "Any foreign intelligence service targeting Britain could find these emails useful in identifying individuals connected to sensitive government activities," he said.

British officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were aware of the hacking, but that it did not pose a risk to national security. Passwords for their communications within Whitehall would be different from any of those used to access the Stratfor sites. Whitehall communications would also be protected by extra security walls, officials said.

However, they added that their personal communications could be at risk if individuals used the same password as they used to access Stratfor for their bank accounts and other personal communications.

Unusually, Whitehall spokesmen declined to comment at all on the record about the hacking and any impact it had on the British government. This suggests that the issue is particularly sensitive and that UK security and intelligence agencies are as yet unsure about its full significance.

Stratfor has removed its website from the internet while it investigates the security breach. The company says it is "working diligently to prevent it from ever happening again".

This is just the latest action to hit the headlines by hackers associated with Anonymous. The group, whose loose collection of members are scattered around the world and linked through internet chatrooms, has previously targeted Visa, MasterCard and PayPal in protest at the companies' refusal to accept donations for the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

Suspected members of the collective have been arrested in the UK, US and several other countries.

twitter:

AnonOpsSweden twitterde op maandag 09-01-2012 om 15:17:12 @anon_finland is not alone, you have #anonymous by your side, and we are just getting started. Expect Us! #antisec #antipiracyfi #elisagate reageer retweet

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Elisagate: Anonymous Hackers Launch Finland Cyber War

Hackers synonymous with the Anonymous collective have begun a campaign of cyber attacks against the Finnish government to protest against its decision to block access to the PirateBay website.

Elisa, one of Finland's largest internet providers, has been ordered to block access to the PirateBay website. According to the service provider's press release, it had been ordered to instigate the ban by the local district court in Helsinki. Elisa said it would attempt to overturn the decision in supreme court.

Numerous Twitter accounts linked with the Anonymous collective erupted with messages of discontent and - at times - threats of action against the Finnish government.

"Do you not find it f**king ridiculous that FINLAND of all places is going hard with censorship? bit.ly/yqdrpr," read a tweet from Sabu, one of the most prominent members of Anonymous. "We will not sit idle and allow our governments to censor us. F**k that! Next they will tell us what to eat and think. Cliche? Reality."

Later adding, "To the Finnish government: Stop censorship or deal with the consequences."

The sentiment was later mirrored on the collective's main AnonymousIRC Twitter feed, when it reiterated Sabu's sentiment tweeting, "sexually deviant #Antisec terrorist hackers readying The Flying Dutchman, set to sail to #Finland. #ExpectUs #Anonymous #TPB."

Since the call to arms, a tweet went up from Twitter user Killmwithlazers publicising a distributed denial of service attack on the ifpi.fi website. The message was subsequently re-tweeted by Sabu with a follow-up tweet following from AnonymousIRC.

"TANGO DOWN the mind behind the block of thepiratebay in finland! #finland #elisa" read the original tweet. "Let's help our fellow Finns against censorship! Target: ifpi.fi #Anonymous @Anon_Finland" AnonymousIRC soon followed up.

Anonymous' anger towards the block comes as a part of the collective's ongoing insistence in absolute online freedom. One of the few common aspects recorded between every cell of the collective, Anonymous has consistently threatened and enacted attacks on governments or organisations seeking to censor the internet.

As well as its activities in Finland, Anonymous is also actively combating the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act. Designed to combat online piracy, since being announced the SOPA bill has come under wide-spread criticism, with numerous groups voicing concerns about the new powers the act could grant U.S. law enforcement. A common concern is the suggestion that the act will allow police to arrest, fine and potentially jail individuals for seemingly minor offences, such as uploading a copyrighted video onto YouTube.

Anonymous initially issued threats of possible "retribution" against companies supporting the bill in December when it announced "OpBlackOut" - a website defacement campaign that would see it target law enforcement agencies and companies vocally supporting SOPA. The collective has since continued to issue threats to any group or company actively supporting the bill.

At the time of writing the ifpi.fi site was still down.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: a.stevenson@ibtimes.co.uk

To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.co.uk

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Blitzkrieg tegen Duitse neo-nazi’s

Onder de titel “Operation Blitzkrieg’ hebben Duitse hackers van Anonymous de aanval geopend op een aantal extreem-rechtse sites. Op een speciale website, nazi-leaks, hebben ze een hele reeks gegevens gepubliceerd die afkomstig zijn van gehackte sites en op de een of andere manier te maken hebben met (voornamelijk Duits) extreem-rechts. Dat kunnen de e-mails van mensen zijn die bij Thor Steinar kleren hebben gekocht die populair zijn bij neonazistische groepen, contactinformatie van het rechtse weekblad Junge Freiheit, of e-mails van de site van de Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschland.

Net als bij WikiLeaks, duidelijk een bron van inspiratie, is het resultaat een enorme hoeveelheid gegevens, met rijp en groen door elkaar heen. Soms zijn naam, adres en telefoonnummer van mensen op het web gezet. Ook medestanders in de strijd tegen neo-nazi’s hebben daar kritiek op, constateert de Deutsche Welle, de Duitse BBC:

. Simone Rafael from the anti-Nazi Web forum, netz-gegen-nazis.de, said it was good “to remove the (Nazi) filth from the Net for few days.” But he criticized the move to publish personal data on the Internet without permission. “If some extreme right-winger were do to this, we’d be furious, too”.

Sommige rechtse sites hebben meteen gereageerd. Zoals het rechtse forum Altermedia. De site was de afgelopen dagen regelmatig offline, maar volgens de Frankfurter Rundschau heeft de site de jacht geopend op de hackers. Beloning voor tips: een paar afgehakte vingers.

. Wie linke Websites berichten, befindet sich auf Altermedia ein Kommentar, “daß Hinweise auf die Identität der Pseudo-Anonymus-Zecken dankend entgegen genommen werden und gerne mit Prämien wie z.B. abgeschnittenen Fingern belohnt werden”. Ob der Kommentar authentisch ist, ließ sich nicht nachprüfen, da Altermedia zum Zeitpunkt der Recherche offline war.

De actie was deze zomer al aangekondigd – zie bijvoorbeeld deze video in het Engels, waarin hard wordt uitgehaald naar neonazi”s.

. You intimidate people that go on the streets protest for their ideals, and attack your political opponents, thus you deny them the right of free speech. Yet you hypocriticaly demand this exact same right of free speech for yourself, and throw the dirt in the form of agitations and “art around you “. You attack journalists and the media in general, you attack members of the opposing parties and equally you attack refugees and immigrants, who live and work in your “home country”. This people simply had to leave their native countries because of suppression and misery. This behaviour can no longer be tolerated.

Anonymous - Operation Blitzkrieg

Al eerder heeft een Finse Anonymous groep een vergelijkbare actie uitgevoerd. Op 31 oktober werd de website gehackt van Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta (SKV, de extreem-rechtse Beweging van Nationaal Verzet). De namen van alle sympathisanten die van de site konden worden gehaald, werden op het internet gezet. In een verklaring schreef Anonymous Finland:

. We have seen a massive increase of racism among large layers of the population and national politics, as well as of violent verbal and physical actions towards foreigners. We have seen the birth of groups and political movements and apparition of political figures who support racist ideologies and foster and encourage racial hatred through flamboyant rhetoric, people and movements who – and We are absolutely sure of it – would switch from words to extreme violent action towards foreigners if they had the means to do so and a massive support at their back. As history has showed too many times, the step from words to horrible crimes is very easy and can happen any time and anywhere.

De actie had een bescheiden succes. Een paar dagen later moest een medewerker van een parlementslid van de Ware Finnen aftreden omdat haar naam op de lijst van sympathisanten stond.

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Elisagate: Anonymous Sabu in Flame War with Finnish Security Expert Mikko Hypponen

Following the Anonymous collective's declaration of war against Finnish online censorship, prominent Anon Sabu has entered into a flame war with F-Secure's Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen.

The flamewar began on Twitter after Sabu directly tweeted Mikko asking him what he was doing to combat a recent court ruling blocking access to the PirateBay website in Finland. Initially reasoned, the twos' interactions took a turn for the worse after Mikko declined a request by Sabu to work with him to combat the country's online censorship.

"@mikko Message me on IRC. Perhaps we can help each other with this situation in .fi. #elisagate #f[**]kcensorship #anonymous" read Sabu's tweet. Mikko soon replied; "@anonymouSabu I'll pass thanks."

Following the comments the conversation turned hostile with Sabu tweeting back attacking Mikko's alleged disinterest in "serving the people." Specifically Sabu charged Mikko of caring more about selling his company's products than stopping online censorship.

"@Mikko has in interest in feeding his pockets, not serving the people. His connections to the government of Finland come before his people" read one of Sabu's tweets. "@TPB_Stun @mikko Same s[**]t with every other whitehat. They are cowards. And have to watch every word they say as it affects their contracts," added another.

Sabu later called for a boycott of F-Secure claiming the company supported online censorship. "Anyone using F-Secure products should boycott immediately. They are in accordance with the Finnish government to censor their web. @mikko."

Mikko subsequently challenged Sabu's accusations reporting that he and F-Secure in no way supported the Finnish block clarifying: "Despite what Mr. @anonymouSabu tries to tell people, F-Secure does NOT support online censorship. Quite the contrary."

Since tweeting his response at 4.40pm Mikko's account has gone silent, though Sabu has continued tweeting against Mikko and as a result several other Twitter users have also weighed-into the debate.

F-Secure is a Finnish online security company with 18 offices and a presence in more than 100 countries. Mikko Hyppönen has worked with F-Secure since 1991 and is currently the company's Chief Research Officer. He has a track record of assisting law enforcement across the world deal with cyber-criminality and has advised several governments on cyber-policy.

Living up to the collective's namesake, little is known about Sabu past that he is a prominent member of Anonymous. In the past, despite there being several groups claiming to have discovered his identity, there is next to no official data on Sabu. His recent flame war with Mikko is not the first he has publicly had on Twitter. Earlier in 2011 Sabu had a similarly heated exchange with the UK Guardian's Technology Editor Charles Arther after he requested the Anon explain certain details regarding data he was claiming to possess.

At the time of writing the debate between Mikko and Sabu supporters was ongoing.

AMENDMENT: This article was changed 8:04am 10/01/2012 After Guardian Technology Editor Charles Arthur contacted the International Business Times UK clarifying he had not requested an interview from Sabu.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: a.stevenson@ibtimes.co.uk

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HACKER GROUP ANONYMOUS TAKES DOWN OVER 40 CHILD PORN SITES

(NATIONAL) -- The group of computer hackers known as Anonymous has turned its attention from corporations long enough to attack and take down over 40 child porn websites run by pedophiles.

Included in the takedowns was one of the largest known such sites, "with account details of its 1589 users being posted online as evidence,” said Time.com and another report in artstechnica.com.

The attacks on the websites were reportedly an operation the group is calling “Operation Darknet,” a move by the hackers to eliminate child pornography on the Tor network.

Tor, which was originally developed as a way of protecting government communications by the U.S. Navy, now describes itself as “a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet.”

But according to Anonymous, the privacy and anonymity it offers has been abused by child pornographers.

In its statement about the attacks and takedowns of the porn sites, Anonymous says that the group “identified [hosting service] Freedom Hosting as the host of the largest collection of child pornography on the internet…(and) by taking down Freedom Hosting, we are eliminating 40+ child pornography websites, among these is Lolita City, one of the largest child pornography websites to date containing more than 100GB of child pornography. We will continue to not only crash Freedom Hosting’s server, but any other server we find to contain, promote, or support child pornography.”

The group’s statement also demands of web hosting services that they “Remove all child pornography content from your servers. Refuse to provide hosting services to any website dealing with child pornography. This statement is not just aimed at Freedom Hosting, but everyone on the internet. It does not matter who you are, if we find you to be hosting, promoting, or supporting child pornography, you will become a target.”

Tor is based on a secure networking technology originally developed by the US Navy. It routes traffic through a collection of volunteer servers scattered across the Internet, making monitoring of what is being viewed or where communications are coming from very difficult.

Because of its anonymity, Tor is widely used by individuals and groups seeking to communicate without being surveilled by authorities, employers, or “eavesdroppers watching packets on public WiFi networks,” as well as those wishing to visit websites anonymously without having their IP address recorded.

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Bewaarplicht dreigt ook voor sociale media

Sociale netwerken krijgen mogelijk een bewaarplicht, zodat opsporingsdiensten toegang kunnen krijgen tot data die in het verleden via die netwerken is uitgewisseld.

De Europese Commissie maakt op dit moment plannen om het Data Retention Directive te herzien, de Europese richtlijn voor de bewaarplicht. Providers zijn verplicht gegevens van hun klanten, zoals ip-adressen en andere metadata, voor een bepaalde tijd op te slaan. Die data is bedoeld voor opsporingsdiensten. En diezelfde opsporingsdiensten blijken nog veel meer wensen te hebben.

In het kader van de herziening van de bewaarplicht heeft de Europese Commissie de meningen gevraagd van lidstaten en opsporingsdiensten over de tot nu toe geldende richtlijnen. Dat leverde onder meer het verwijt op dat de bewaarplicht zo moeilijk is te verklaren en te rechtvaardigen door lokale politici en opsporingsdiensten. Aan de Europese Commissie is gevraagd met betere argumentatie te komen om de bewaarplicht beter te beargumenteren.

Intern stuk gelekt

Dat wil de EC wel, zo blijkt uit een intern stuk dat gelekt is en in handen is van de Oostenrijkse tegenhanger van Bits of Freedom: q/uintessenz. Daarnaast leverde de respons van de opsporingsdiensten op dat zij zich belemmerd voelen doordat zij geen wettelijke basis hebben om toegang te krijgen tot historische en metadata van sociale netwerken. De Europese Commissie lijkt in het interne document begrip te tonen voor de behoefte van de opsporingsdiensten en gaat onderzoeken of zij die wens kan faciliteren.

De opsporingsdiensten zeggen "technologische neutraliteit" te willen hebben om te weten te komen wie met wie, wanneer, waar en hoe communiceert. Die term betekent dat het niet moet uitmaken of dat via e-mail, videoconferencing (skype), telefoon, WhatsApp, Twitter, sms of Facebook gebeurt.

Ook voor illegaal downloaden

Niet alleen willen de opsporingsdiensten dat de bewaarplicht voor meer communicatievormen wordt gebruikt, ook zou het voor meer soorten van criminaliteit moeten gelden. Nu mag het grazen in de historische data alleen in geval van zwaardere criminaliteit en terrorismebestrijding. Maar er is grote druk vanuit sommige lidstaten om dat uit te breiden naar opsporing van mensen die zich bezig houden met piraterij en illegale downloads, en in de speurotcht naar cybercrime, bijvoorbeeld naar hackers.

Bits of Freedom heeft de gelekte memo onder de loep genomen en zegt dat de Europese Commissie zonder enige vraagtekens de mening van de opsporingsdiensten lijkt te volgen. "Als het aan de opsporingsdiensten ligt wordt de bewaarplicht zelfs uitgebreid. Die vragen om het bizarre concept "technological neutrality", zo blijkt uit het document. "

Politie neust in krabbels

"Dat zou betekenen dat niet alleen je telefoongesprekken, maar ook al je Facebook updates, je Gmail e-mails, je Hyves krabbels en je up- en downloads een half jaar of langer bewaard moeten worden", schrijft Rejo Zenger namens BoF. Om over de uitbreiding naar copyrightschendingen op te merken: "Function creep to the max!"

Zenger vervolgt: "De Europese Commissie kan nog altijd niet bewijzen dat de bewaarplicht écht nodig is. Laat staan dat het deze enorme inbreuk op onze privacy rechtvaardigt. Hoogste tijd dat de Commissie stopt met het grootschalig bespieden van onverdachte Europese burgers."

Het onderzoek naar de voorstellen van de opsporingsdiensten moet in mei zijn afgerond. Waarna ze in juli besproken worden door de Europese Commissie.

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SOPA becoming election liability for backers

To the ranks of same-sex marriage, tax cuts and illegal immigration, add this to the list of polarizing political issues of Election 2012: the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The hot-button anti-piracy legislation that sparked a revolt online is starting to become a political liability for some of SOPA’s major backers. Fueled by Web activists and online fundraising tools, challengers are using the bill to tag its congressional supporters as backers of Big Government — and raise campaign cash while they’re at it.

Among the fattest targets: SOPA’s lead author, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and two of its most vocal co-sponsors, Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has also felt the wrath of SOPA opponents.

Even GOP presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were asked by voters recently to weigh in on the bill (neither gave definitive answers, though activists have interpreted Santorum’s response as more sympathetic to SOPA than Romney’s).

It’s a stretch to think SOPA will cost any of the longtime incumbents backing the bill their seats. The legislation would give government new powers to shutter websites that peddle counterfeit products and pirated copies of movies and music.

But there are signs the issue, long the domain of think tanks and intellectual property lawyers, could become a real factor in some races.

Prominent conservative blogger Erick Erickson, for one, has promised to make life miserable for any GOP lawmaker who gets behind the bill. His first target: Blackburn.

“I love Marsha Blackburn. She is a delightful lady and a solidly conservative member of Congress,” Erickson wrote on his widely read blog, Red State. But “I am pledging right now that I will do everything in my power to defeat her in her 2012 re-election bid.”

Erickson went on to implore the left and right to “unite and pledge to defeat in primaries every person named as a sponsor” of SOPA and suggested that both sides create a fund dedicated to supporting challengers running against SOPA supporters.

“Killing SOPA is that important,” Erickson wrote.

In Ryan’s case, critics pounced after the powerful congressman issued a vague statement that they interpreted as supportive of the bill. Using the social news site Reddit, they launched an online campaign— dubbed “Operation Pull Ryan” — to unseat him.

Ryan’s Democratic opponent, Rob Zerban, seized on the uproar. After lambasting the bill during an interview on Reddit, Zerban raked in about $15,000 in campaign donations, according to campaign manager Lisa Tanner.

The uproar wasn’t lost on Ryan. On Monday, he issued a statement opposing SOPA in no uncertain terms. While the bill “attempts to address a legitimate problem,” Ryan said, it would open the door to “undue regulation, censorship and legal abuse.”

SOPA is making waves in other House races, too.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/n(...)4.html#ixzz1j5hRDo9Z

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Anon threatens to bomb anti-piracy group

The anti-piracy group CIAPC (Copyright, Information and Anti-Piracy Centre) on Tuesday asked police to investigate a bomb threat it received via email signed by the hacker group Anonymous. The threat follows a recent court-ordered ban on access to The Pirate Bay torrent site by Elisa and Saunalahti internet customers.

The email detailed how a bomb attack would be made on CIAPC’s office this week.

Antti Kotilainen, who heads up the association, said he takes the threat seriously.

CIAPC and the Finnish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, IFPI Finland, have also asked police to investigate denial-of-service attacks on their websites.

On Monday, Helsinki District Court ordered internet service providers Elisa and Saunalahti to block access to The Pirate Bay, where users exchange computer files, including copyrighted films and music.

The music industry is now seeking similar Pirate Bay blocks for Sonera and DNA internet customers.

"If IFPI gets to block access for TeliaSonera & DNA, We'll tear it down. We'll make it crumble," tweeted AnonFinland, Finnish activists of the group Anonymous early Wednesday.

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Hackers 'Anonymous' nemen Brein op de korrel: 'Te wapen!'

De internetgroep Anonymous roept op om de auteursrechtenorganisatie Brein massaal te gaan faxen, of anders van binnenuit te infiltreren. 'Ze zoeken nog een sofware-ontwikkelaar'. Volgens Anonymous is Brein verwikkeld in een 'groot auteursrechtenschandaal' in Nederland.

Anonymous doelt op het feit dat Brein vindt dat internetproviders Ziggo en XS4ALL de toegang tot de downloadsite moeten blokkeren. De stichting kreeg daarin vandaag gelijk van de rechtbank in Den Haag. 'Na censuur in België en onlangs nog in Finland, kan nu de anti-piraterijlobby in Nederland domeinen en IP-adressen van The Pirate Bay blokkeren', aldus de hackers. 'Brein kan zelfs kiezen welke IP-adressen gecensureerd moeten worden. Anonymous zal niet stilzitten terwijl Brein delen van ons internet platlegt. Te wapen!'

Brein lijkt nog niet direct te hoeven vrezen voor een fax-bombardement. Want in plaats van het faxadres van de Stichting Brein in Hoofddorp, hebben de hackers per abuis het faxnummer van het bedrijf Brein BV in Haaksbergen geplaatst.

Finland
Twee Finse auteursrechtenorganisaties werden gisteren al het slachtoffer van hackers van Anonymous, nadat een rechter op hun verzoek The Pirate Bay liet blokkeren bij de providers Elisa en Saunalahti. Die hebben naar schatting gezamelijk 2,2 miljoen klanten.

In een reactie op het vonnis had Anonymous een zogenoemde distributed denial-of-service (ddos)-aanval gelanceerd, waarbij het netwerk wordt platgelegd doordat er met veel computers tegelijk informatie naartoe wordt gestuurd.

Serieus
Hoe serieus het dreigement aan Brein moet worden genomen, is echter moeilijk te zeggen. Achter anonymous schuilt namelijk geen vaste hackersgroep, maar doorgaans juist losstaande groepen van internetactivisten.

Het is overigens niet de eerste keer dat Anonymous Brein op de korrel neemt. In mei vorig jaar claimden leden van Anonymous de verantwoordelijkheid voor een ddos-aanval op de website van de stichting Brein.

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Stratfor back online after cyberhack

LONDON (AP) — Global intelligence analysis firm Stratfor has relaunched its website after hackers brought down its servers and stole thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to its customers.

Chief Executive George Friedman acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that the company had not encrypted customer information and said this decision had embarrassed the company.

Loose-knit hacking collective Anonymous, which claimed responsibility for the attack over the Christmas holidays, had said it was able to get the details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them.

"It was a truly unforgivable failure and I feel awful about it," Friedman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Sometimes in rapid growth, you make a mistake. That's not an excuse, that's not a justification ... It's an explanation."

Stratfor had previously declined to say if the information was left unencrypted. Members of Anonymous have said it was targeting companies "that play fast and loose with their customers' private and sensitive information."

The company said Wednesday that it was moving its entire e-commerce process to a third-party system, which will eliminate the need to store credit information.

Friedman also revealed that the company was targeted more than once by hackers and had known for some time about a data breach.

He said he was first alerted to a website hack in early December — weeks before Anonymous took to Twitter to boast of bringing down the website and stealing a stash of credit card numbers, emails and other data from the company.

The hackers said then that their goal was to use the stolen credit information to donate to charities at Christmas, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions were made from their credit accounts.

Austin, Texas-based Stratfor is a subscription-based publisher providing political, economic and military analysis to help customers reduce risk. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.

On Tuesday, Friedman said he had met with an FBI agent in early December after being informed by the company's vice president of intelligence that customers' credit card numbers had been stolen.

He said he had felt torn over the need to protect and personally inform customers at the time, but that the FBI was setting the rules and wanted to conduct its investigation without tipping the hackers off.

"It was very important to them that the criminals not know the extent to which we had knowledge of the damage," Friedman explained, saying the FBI had assured him that it had informed credit card companies about compromised cards.

"We were caught between a very difficult situation where the FBI had control of the investigation and expected certain care in that investigation — and the need to protect our customers," said Friedman. "What little we could do, we did."

Still, he said he was under "no illusion" that the breach would be exposed.

"We knew our reputation would be damaged by the revelation, all the more so because we had not encrypted the credit card files," Friedman said in a note to subscribers announcing the website's relaunch.

But he told the AP that subscribers have stood by the company and subscriptions have held up in light of the attack.

"Our customers are primarily focused on the criminals," he said. "Some customers have been critical, but the primary theme isn't that 'you didn't know how to lock the door,' but 'locked or not, what are these people doing coming in?'"

While dismayed over stolen emails in the previous breach, Friedman said he was "stunned" to learn that the company's servers were "effectively destroyed" in another hack on Dec. 24.

"I was absolutely unprepared for their attempt to destroy us," Friedman said, describing how hackers took full control of the servers, overrode the systems and made recovery "just about impossible."

"Our systems were shredded," he explained. "The destruction of our servers and our backups... was clearly intended to take us offline and silence us."

Stratfor said it was continuing to cooperate with an FBI investigation into the attack.

Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at: http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Mohamed Bouazizi was a produce vendor in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia. He was always meant to be a little person in the world, whose life and death could never matter. You were never meant to hear of him. But for no explicable reason, that changed on Dec. 17, 2010. His produce cart was seized by police, and he was beaten. Less than an hour later, he stood on the street doused in paint thinner, screamed “How do you expect me to make a living?” and let a lit match drop.

Bouazizi was at the end of his ability to endure, silently, the pain and abuse that had been the way life worked. But it turned out so was Tunisia, and the whole Middle East.

Within hours protests against the systemic corruption that had driven Bouazizi to self-immolation filled the streets of Sidi Bouzid, and over the next two weeks spread like fire over Tunisia.

It was Jan. 2, 2011. Ben Ali would leave power in 12 days, but no one knew that.

“There were two different posts in channel #operationpayback. First one about some law about to pass in Hungary, second one about a Tunisia problem. For some reason I paid attention to the Tunisian one, and it seems other people did too,” said an anon who participated in OpTunisia. It was a claim that Tunisian dictator Ben Ali was censoring Wikileaks cables related to Tunisia. Rumors emerged about Bouazizi as well, that he was a computer science student (he wasn’t), that he had immolated himself to protest police corruption (he had), and so on.

A few people formed #optunisia on IRC and started talking about what to do. The OpTunisia anon who spoke with Wired.com didn’t think either the op or the revolution had a chance.

“I saw nobody cared about those people, because it wasn’t a big country. It was like, ‘Fuck this is impossible…. Let’s fucking do it!’” the anon wrote in an online chat.

Over the next couple of weeks the small group DDoSed and defaced Tunisian government websites and passed media and news reports about the Tunisian uprising in and out of the country.

“We also distributed a care package containing stuff to workaround privacy (restrictions in Tunisia), including a Greasemonkey script to avoid proxy interception by the Tunisian government on Facebook users,” said the anon. (Greasemonkey scripts are powerful browser plug-ins).

Within that digital care package was a message to the people of Tunisia from Anonymous: “This is *your* revolution. It will neither be Twittered nor televised or [sic] IRC’ed. You *must* hit the streets or you *will* loose [sic] the fight. Always stay safe, once you got [sic] arrested you cannot do anything for yourself or your people. Your government *is* watching you.”

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Nederland maakt zich klaar voor totale Internet Censuur

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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SOPA protest re-ignited with Reddit blackout, Wikipedia may join

(CBS) - The popular link-sharing community Reddit plans a site black out on Jan. 18 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its sister bill the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Reddit's co-founder Alexis Ohanian has been one of the most outspoken leaders of the movement against SOPA and PIPA.

"Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of reddit, we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit, link to resources to learn more, and suggest ways to take action," the site admin's wrote in a blog post.

Along with the protest message, the site will stream Ohanian testifying at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Shutting down the Reddit for 12-hours will no doubt send users into withdrawals. The site has a reputation for being highly engaging and addictive. Users have lamented over spending hours a day on the site. Not that we would know.

While Reddit hasn't hit the mainstream, like Facebook or Twitter, its influence is nothing to scoff at. The site recently reported hitting over 2 billion page views and more than 34 million unique visitors at the close of 2011.

Ohanian and his Reddit army aren't the only ones fighting SOPA and PIPA. Tech heavyweights, like Google, Facebook and Twitter have banned together and put out a joint statement in opposition of SOPA.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales says he's behind Reddit's efforts and would like to coordinate with them.

"I'm all in favor of it, and I think it would be great if we could act quickly to coordinate with Reddit," Wales posted in a discussion today on his personal Wikipedia page. "I'd like to talk to our government affairs advisor to see if they agree on this as useful timing, but assuming that's a greenlight, I think that matching what Reddit does (but in our own way of course) per the emerging consensus on how to do it, is a good idea."

This isn't the first time Wales has made moves against SOPA. After a Reddit thread pointed out that domain registrar GoDaddy was not only for the bill, but exempt from it, Wales announced that all Wikipedia sites would be switching registrars in protest.

Forbes is claiming that Facebook and Google must join the protest for greater impact.

"Facebook and Google going offline would undoubtedly be the biggest tech story of the day, week, month, or possibly the year," claims Forbes contributor Paul Tassi.

He's right. It would be a jaw-dropping day in tech if all of the sites we rely on went dark in solidarity against these bills.

SOPA is intended to curb the illegal download of copyrighted materials from foreign "rogue" sites, like The Pirate Bay. There is already legislation that provides some protection for copyrighted material, like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires companies to remove copyrighted content "in good faith."

Worst-case scenarios are being debated. The Electronic Frontier Foundation speculates, "Instead of complying with the DMCA, a copyright owner may now be able to use these new provisions to effectively shut down a site by cutting off access to its domain name, its search engine hits, its ads, and its other financing even if the safe harbors would apply."

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Hackers willen lekken anoniem kunnen melden

Nederlandse hackers werken aan de oprichting van een eigen platform dat hun de mogelijkheid moet bieden anoniem lekken te melden aan bedrijven en overheden. Het platform, met de werktitel Hacker-leaks, is volgens hen nodig omdat hackers die te goeder trouw lekken opsporen en melden nu nog vaak vervolgd worden voor computervredebreuk.

Dat zegt Koen Martens, woordvoerder van een een groot aantal hackers in Nederland. Om beveiligingslekken te kunnen aantonen, moeten hackers vaak inbreken op computers en daarmee overtreden ze de wet. Onlangs nog deed het Utrechtse poppodium Tivoli aangifte tegen de hacker die zich meldde nadat hij een lek in de website van Tivoli had blootgelegd. 'Zolang dat zo is, moeten wij een andere manier verzinnen om anoniem te kunnen werken', aldus Martens.

Vorig jaar deed de PvdA al een voorstel om een klokkenluidersregeling in het leven te roepen voor zogenaamde white hat-hackers. Dat zijn hackers die te goeder trouw lekken aantonen.

Hoewel het erop leek dat er een Kamermeerderheid voor zo'n regeling was, is er sindsdien op dat vlak niets meer gebeurd. Volgens kenners zitten er erg veel haken en ogen aan een dergelijke regeling.

Zelf initiatief
Mede om die reden nemen de hackers nu het initiatief in eigen hand. Volgens Martens willen ze de nieuwe organisatie 'los van de overheid oprichten maar uiteindelijk wel in samenwerking met hen.'

De Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid (NCTv), Erik Akerboom, ziet wel iets in dat soort samenwerking. Akerboom, die vandaag het Nationaal Cyber Security Centrum (NCSC) opent, zegt daarover: 'We moeten hackers geen vrijbrief geven om lekker aan de slag te gaan, maar als zij op verantwoorde wijze proberen problemen aan de kaak te stellen, vind ik dat wij hen daarin moeten ondersteunen.'

Ook hoogleraar computerbeveiliging Bart Jacobs van de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen denkt dat de overheid meer gebruik moet gaan maken van de kennis en kunde van hackers dan tot nu toe gebeurt.

'Hoe je het precies invult, is best lastig, maar ik denk dat het Nationaal Cyber Security Centrum een goede buffer zou kunnen vormen tussen die mensen en de overheid. Ik denk dat zij veel waardevolle informatie kunnen verschaffen.'

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Politie scant sociale media op 'verdachte info'

De KLPD heeft een systeem aangeschaft om verdachte informatie van openbare bronnen te verzamelen. De regio Twente gaat er als eerste mee aan de slag.

Het systeem CY-Humint (Cyber Human Intelligence) wordt geleverd door Athena GS3 Security Implementations Ltd in Holon Industrial Zone in Israël. Athena is onderdeel van de grote leverancier van infrastructuur- en transportsystemen Mer Group, in Nederland aanwezig met Cellular Infrastructure BV. Vragen van Webwereld worden vanuit Israël per e-mail beantwoord door Omer Laviv, chief executive officer van Athena.


Openbare bronnen

Over CY-Humint zegt Laviv: "Het is bedoeld om wethandhavende instanties te voorzien van vroege waarschuwingen, die worden gebaseerd op 'deep-web' activiteiten." Het is ontwikkeld in Israëlische defensiekringen met behulp van specialisten van de geheime dienst Mossad en nu is het beschikbaar voor export. Welke landen het systeem in gebruik hebben wil Laviv niet kwijt.

De documentatie van Athena is duidelijk over de redenen van het systeem: "Gebeurtenissen als de 'Arabische Lente', de Londense rellen en de maatschappelijke onrust over de hele wereld hebben onomstotelijk aangetoond dat de cyberspace is uitgegroeid tot een favoriete plaats voor aanzetten tot en het coördineren van terrorisme en criminaliteit, maar ook in de civiele onrust."

Volgens Laviv wordt het speuren in ieder geval beperkt tot openbare bronnen, zoals blogs, microblogs, websites, forums, chatrooms en sociale netten als Facebook, Hyves en Twitter. Het systeem maakt vooral gebruik van koppeling op grond van het volgen van het gebruik van IP-nummers en het wisselen daarvan. Het is vooral krachtig vanwege analyse: "CY-Humant creëert en onderhoudt virtuele identiteiten, aangevuld met krachtige middelen voor analyse. Het systeem ondersteunt informatieanalisten online met de efficiency van het verkrijgen van informatie in de echte wereld."

Europese subsidie

Het KLPD en de Politie Twente zijn samen met diverse andere opsporingsinstanties, IT-bedrijven en onderzoeksinstellingen partner in wat nu nog een 'onderzoeksproject' heet. Ordina doet de systeemintegratie en begeleiding in Nederland. Volgens managing partner Onno Franken van Ordina moet het project officieel nog van start gaan. Er is namelijk een Europese subsidieaanvraag, maar het besluit daarover moet in de komende maanden nog vallen.

"Met een aantal Europese partijen hebben we een voorstel ingediend om dit systeem te ontwikkelen voor aan aantal politiediensten in Europa", zegt Franken. "Als je dat samen doet, dan bespaart dat onderzoekskosten en je kunt later elkaars ervaringen delen."

'Niemand hoeft bang te zijn'

Volgens hem hebben ze een 'gezamenlijke visie' opgesteld om als politie meer te gaan doen met informatie. Ze willen op grond van diepgaande analyse potentieel crimineel gedrag en de potentiële vorming van criminele organisaties eerder in beeld te krijgen. Daarmee wil de politie preventief kunnen optreden, of sneller succes boeken met opsporing na een misdaad.

"Het systeem functioneert geheel binnen de wettelijke en ethische grenzen", stelt hij op de vraag of nu iedereen op internet potentieel verdachte wordt. "Als de verkregen informatie uit openbare bronnen verder onderzoek vergt, worden de reguliere kanalen en procedures die voor elk politieonderzoek gelden gevolgd. Niemand is zomaar verdachte en niemand hoeft er bang voor te zijn."

Breder gebruikt

In het verlengde daarvan speelt de vraag of juist de kwaadwillenden voortaan het openbare internet niet gaan gebruiken in de wetenschap dat de politie daar intensief surveilleert. Maar volgens Franken tonen de ervaringen met CY-Humint elders beslist dat het effectief is in het gebruik.

Ordina is de vaste partner van Athena in de Benelux. Dat suggereert dat er al meer opdrachtgevers zijn, maar namen willen Athena en Ordina niet noemen. Wel wil Franken nog kwijt dat de Belgische politie niet deelneemt in het project.

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Anonymous faction in new attack on corporate fraud

A faction within the online hacking collective Anonymous has moved into an unlikely new area – exposing corporate fraud and making money in the aftermath. A new financial research group, Anonymous Analytics, has released a report accusing Chinese firm Chaoda Modern Agriculture of “11 years of deceit and corporate fraud”. The company is one of China’s largest fruit and vegetable suppliers.

The group alleges that Chaoda’s management has funnelled more than $400 million out of the company through false accounting and payments to shell companies. Hong Kong’s government announced an investigation into the company on Monday, shortly before the release of the Anonymous report, leading its shares to fall by 26 per cent before being suspended from trading.

In a departure from illegal hacking, Anonymous Analytics claims that “all information presented in our reports is acquired through legal channels, fact-checked, and vetted thoroughly before release.” The group will however profit from Chaoda’s falling shares, stating “we have an indirect interest in these positions and stand to gain from a decline in the share price of these securities.”

The group has released the information in an encrypted insurance file and will publish the password if its members’ safety or anonymity is threatened.

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Top German cop installed spyware on his daughter's computer to monitor her Internet usage, gets hacked in retaliation

Trojans—they're not just for hackers anymore. German police, for instance, love them; a scandal erupted in Parliament last year after federal investigators were found to be using custom spyware that could potentially record far more information than allowed by law. The story made headlines, but it lacked a certain sense of the bizarre.

Fortunately for connoisseurs of the weird, Der Spiegel revealed a stranger story in its magazine yesterday. According to the report, a top German security official installed a trojan on his own daughter's computer to monitor her Internet usage. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing—well, at least until one of the daughter's friends found the installed spyware. The friend then went after the dad's personal computer as a payback and managed to get in, where he found a cache of security-related e-mails from work. The e-mails, in turn, provided the information necessary for hackers to infiltrate Germany's federal police.

That was bad, but it got worse. The hackers got into the servers for the "Patras" program, which logs location data on suspected criminals through cell phone and car GPS systems. Concerned about security breaches, the government eventually had to take the entire set of Patras servers offline.

One moral of the tale: parents, think hard before taking technical measures against your own kids. There's a better than average chance that they—or their friends—know more than you do.

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Anonymous will shut down to protest SOPA

HACKTIVIST GROUP Anonymous will turn off its lights for twelve hours in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the US.

The hackers are following Reddit's lead, and will join a communications blackout on 18 January that will begin at 8am and end at 8pm.

Reddit said this week that in protest against SOPA, which could shut web sites like it down, it will cease to operate as normal and will be showing only a message of protest, and this has gained the approval of its already supportive user base.

At Anonymous the news was taken equally well, and while the @AnonymousIRC Twitter account tried to recruit other organisations such as Wikipedia and Google into joining the protest it received tweets of support for its plans from its members.

The Reddit announcement has also caused Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales to have another think about whether it is right to turn off his web site in protest, a tactic that was mooted last year.

"Reddit recently announced that they will be blacking out the site from 0800-2000, Jan 18th," he said in a statement on his personal page on the web site. "Were Wikipedia to consider a similar measure, it might make sense to do so at the same time, to increase impact."

Wordpress is also joining the protest and has posted a strong call to arms on its website. "You are an agent of change. Has anyone ever told you that? Well, I just did, and I meant it," it says. "There's something going on in U.S. politics right now that we need to make sure you know about and understand, because it affects us all."

That something is SOPA, and Wordpress said that if it is left unchecked and unprotested it will have a terrible impact on the internet and the web sites that depend upon it.

"We are not a small group. More than 60 million people use WordPress - it's said to power about 15 per cent of the web. We can make an impact, and you can be an agent of change," it said as it called on its users to protest.

"The Senate votes in two weeks, and we need to help at least 41 more senators see reason before then. Please. Make your voice heard." µ

Source: The Inquirer (http://s.tt/15col)

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Gegevens politici op straat door gehackte websites

De wachtwoorden, adresgegevens en mailadressen van ambtenaren en Kamerleden zijn gelekt nadat de websites Beauy.nl en Recreatief.nl zijn gehackt.

In de bestanden zijn vertrouwelijke gegevens te vinden van onder anderen Hero Brinkman van de PVV en van werknemers van het ministerie van Defensie en het ministerie van Economische Zaken.

In totaal zijn de privégegevens van 315.000 gebruikers gelekt zijn. Dat meldt Security.nl.