US diplomatic cables to be dropped by wikileaks; US doing pre-emptive damage control

[Acturus]

*bamped*

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/fbi-anonymous/

FBI Knocks Down 40 Doors in Probe of Pro-WikiLeaks Attackers
By Ryan Singel January 27, 2011 | 6:59 pm | Categories: Crime, WikiLeaks

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/th...er-660x441.jpg

The FBI has joined in the hunt for those who participated in the retaliation attacks against companies that cut off services to Wikileaks, executing more than 40 search warrants across the United States on Thursday, the bureau announced.

In what seem to be timed raids, British police arrested five men Thursday morning who allegedly participated in the Anonymous group’s denial of service attacks on Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and Amazon in mid-December. Anonymous was seeking to bring attention to — and punish — the financial-service companies’ decisions to prohibit donations to Wikileaks. Amazon was targeted after it kicked Wikileaks off its web-hosting service.

The attacks caused no permanent damage, as they simply temporarily overloaded a website with more traffic than the server could handle. They were, for the most part, really nothing more than the cyber equivalent of a campus sit-in.

But the FBI warned it did not see it that way.

“The FBI also is reminding the public that facilitating or conducting a DDoS attack is illegal, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as well as exposing participants to significant civil liability,” the FBI said in a press release. The FBI did not announce any arrests in conjunction with the searches.

The attacks were conducted by the loosely organized ‘Anonymous’ group to show displeasure with the financial-service companies that cut off donations to Wikileaks.

In the attacks on the financial-service companies, thousands downloaded a tool called LOIC — or Low Orbit Ion Cannon — that joined their computer to the group attack on the target of the moment. However, the tool did nothing to hide a user’s IP address, making it possible for the target website to hand its server logs over to the authorities to track users down by their IP addresses.

The denial-of-service attacks attempted to shut down the websites of Visa and Mastercard — which would have had little effect on the credit card giants. since few people ever visit their homepages. However the attack on PayPal focused on the interface used by online merchants, and reportedly caused some slowness, though no outages, to merchants for several hours.

The companies, along with Amazon, turned their backs on Wikileaks after the site began releasing U.S. diplomatic cables in conjunction with newspapers, saying the organization violated their terms-of-service agreements. However, none of the companies have cut off services to newspapers such as The New York Times that have extensively reported on and reproduced many of the cables. Wikileaks has not been charged with any crimes related to the leaked documents.

Photo: The Anonymous group adopted the Guy Fawkes mask, a la V for Vendetta. Courtesy Stian Eikeland/Flickr.

FBI Search Warrants Release:

Spoiler: show

Search Warrants Executed in the United States as Part of Ongoing Cyber Investigation

Washington, D.C.
January 27, 2011 FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

— filed under: Breaking News, Press Release
FBI agents today executed more than 40 search warrants throughout the United States as part of an ongoing investigation into recent coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations. Also today, the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service executed additional search warrants and arrested five people for their alleged role in the attacks.

These distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) are facilitated by software tools designed to damage a computer network’s ability to function by flooding it with useless commands and information, thus denying service to legitimate users. A group calling itself “Anonymous” has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they conducted them in protest of the companies’ and organizations’ actions. The attacks were facilitated by the software tools the group makes available for free download on the Internet. The victims included major U.S. companies across several industries.

The FBI also is reminding the public that facilitating or conducting a DDoS attack is illegal, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as well as exposing participants to significant civil liability.

The FBI is working closely with its international law enforcement partners and others to mitigate these threats. Authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, and France have also taken their own investigative and enforcement actions. The National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) also is providing assistance. The NCFTA is a public-private partnership that works to identify, mitigate, and neutralize cyber crime. The NCFTA has advised that software from any untrustworthy source represents a potential threat and should be removed. Major Internet security (anti-virus) software providers have instituted updates so they will detect the so-called “Low Orbit Ion Canon” tools used in these attacks.

[Senoska]

And boom goes the dynamite

[Mizango]

Oh shit.

[Max™]

...and they would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling IP addresses!

[Yabby]

Wow they make LOIC seem like a super elite hackers tool..... omfg it's just a junk shooter.

[archibaldcrane]

Someone should've used 7 proxies...

[aurik]

They also keep on citing Anon as "wikileaks backers"...which, objectively, is true, but considering wikileaks disapproved of the DDoSing is pretty misleading about who these guys are.

Also DDoS is not really the same thing as sit-in / picket line.

[Cadsuane]

They also keep on citing Anon as "wikileaks backers"...which, objectively, is true, but considering wikileaks disapproved of the DDoSing is pretty misleading about who these guys are.

Also DDoS is not really the same thing as sit-in / picket line.

What's wrong with the analogy?

[archibaldcrane]

DDoSs don't bring attention to the site being DDoS'ed, it just hurts their ability to do business.

[Cadsuane]

That's patently false. The anon DDoS's were widely reported and discussed.

[archibaldcrane]

That's patently false. The anon DDoS's were widely reported and discussed.

Point is, someone goes to amazon, can't load the page or whatever, has no idea why, and leaves. You're correct that some DDoS's are widely reported, but unlike a sit-in or picket where customers immediately link "oh I can't engage in commerce here and this is why", there's a disconnect between affected consumers and the reason.

You asked for a difference, this is a difference.

[Yabby]

If i can't access a site, i just assume it's being DDoS or the FBI tossed it's dick at them. After checking isitdown

[Cadsuane]

Point is, someone goes to amazon, can't load the page or whatever, has no idea why, and leaves. You're correct that some DDoS's are widely reported, but unlike a sit-in or picket where customers immediately link "oh I can't engage in commerce here and this is why", there's a disconnect between affected consumers and the reason.

You asked for a difference, this is a difference.

Actually, I didn't ask for a difference, I asked how the analogy was inappropriate, as in, a meaningful observation possibly pointing out how these specific DDoS's are a less legitimate form of protest and/or civil disobedience. You pointed out a technicality that's only true to a degree, and that amounts to sophistry besides.

[test123]

US Gov gave SADDAM HUSSEIN a GREEN LIGHT to attack KUWAIT (1990)

[Shuvo]

Saw this coming a mile away... most of the kids at 4chan are not tech-literate enough to realize they have no anonymity when they run LOIC, and the ones they are think they have plausible deniability ("It was a virus!") when it would be really easy for computer forensics to identify if it was intentionally installed or not.

[pogejr]

What do you guys think about the idea that Wiki-leaks is a threat to U.S. National Security?

I've garnered from this thread, the ideas that:

Wiki-Leaks allows for transparency and accountability in the government.
The U.S. is essentially a threat to its own National Security.
Wiki-leaks allows for an informed populus.

On the other hand:

Wiki-Leaks puts national security in the hands of a third party.
Wiki-Leaks has overstepped its mission of keeping the government honest.
Wiki-Leaks creates unrest within our society.

[Kuya]

If he's still in politics 9 years from now I'm asking Ron Paul to run as my Vice President.

lol

[Kuya]

What do you guys think about the idea that Wiki-leaks is a threat to U.S. National Security?

I've garnered from this thread, the ideas that:

Wiki-Leaks allows for transparency and accountability in the government.
The U.S. is essentially a threat to its own National Security.
Wiki-leaks allows for an informed populus.

On the other hand:

Wiki-Leaks puts national security in the hands of a third party.
Wiki-Leaks has overstepped its mission of keeping the government honest.
Wiki-Leaks creates unrest within our society.

I don't like buzzwords.

edit: and the bolded is dumb

[Correction]

Wiki-Leaks puts national security in the hands of a third party.
Wiki-Leaks has overstepped its mission of keeping the government honest.
Wiki-Leaks creates unrest within our society.

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/w...antz/urkel.gif

[quannum]

if facts are a threat to us national security, there's a bigger problem at play.