Anonymous recruits Wikileaks 'data army'
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11957367

The data war between companies that have refused to do business with Wikileaks and the online activists keen to defend it is getting more intense.

The tool through which attacks are carried out against websites perceived to be anti-Wikileaks has now been downloaded more than 31,000 times.

Security experts warned people to avoid joining the voluntary botnet.

Targets of the loose-knit group Anonymous have so far included Visa, Mastercard and Paypal.

Amazon is expected to be among firms targeted next using the Anonymous attack tool known as LOIC. When a person installs the tool on their PC it enrols the machine into a voluntary botnet which then bombards target sites with data.

Motivation

Anonymous member Coldblood told the BBC that he did not understand how firms such as Visa and Mastercard have decided that Wikileaks is illegal.

"We feel that they have bowed to government pressure. They say Wikileaks broke their terms and conditions but they accept payments from groups such as the Klu Klux Klan," he told the BBC.

Coldblood told the BBC that he has not personally taken part in the recent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks but explained the motives of those who have.

"Everyone is aware that they are illegal but they feel that it is a worthy cause and the possible outcome outweighs the risk," he said.

He said such attacks were only one tactic in its fight to keep the information being distributed by Wikileaks available.

In a twist to the story it has emerged that Amazon, which last week refused to host Wikileaks, is selling a Kindle version of the documents Wikileaks has leaked.

Anonymous have named the online retailer as its next target.

Earlier attacks against Visa and Mastercard knocked the official websites of the two offline for a while and resulted in problems for some credit card holders.

The attacks have been relatively small so far mustering less then 10 gigabits per second of traffic, said Paul Sop, chief technology officer at Prolexic which helps firms to defend themselves against the type of attack being employed by Anonymous.

"What's really wreaking havoc with these enterprises is how often the attackers can rotate the attack vectors," he said. "We see the attack complexity being more devastating as the mitigation technologies enterprises use can't filter out all these permutations."

Defending against an attack typically involves analysis to work out which attacks are being employed. A tactic that may not work well in this case, he said.

"These Anonymous attacks are like riding a bull, they can change wildly and at a moment's notice," said Mr Sop.

Carole Thierault, a security researcher at Sophos, warned against getting involved with the Anonymous campaign.

"No-one, no matter how much you want to take part, should do this," she said. "It is very risky, and most probably illegal."

Ms Thierault said downloading and installing the LOIC attack tool was very risky.

"No-one should download unknown code on to their system," she said. "You're giving access to your computer to a complete stranger."

Coinciding ideals

Anonymous is taking action against sites it deems to be hampering the work of Wikileaks As well as releasing the attack tool, the Anonymous group has also been active in helping to create mirror sites. To date there are over one thousand sites offering exact copies of the content on Wikileaks.

It is also ensuring the information is available on dark nets, heavily encrypted layers of the internet via which information can be extracted while remaining untraceable.

The DDoS attacks are the latest battle in a wider fight known as Operation Payback, which targets firms Anonymous sees as "misusing the internet".

Past targets include the music industry and law firms associated with the attempt to bring music pirates to book.

The new-found attention on Anonymous has led the group to publish its manifesto.

In it, it denies that it is a group of hackers.

"Anonymous is not an organisation...and it most certainly is not a group of hackers," it said.

"Anonymous is an online living consciousness, comprised of different individuals with, at times, coinciding ideals and goals."

It also keen to distance itself from Coldblood, who it said is not a spokesperson for the group.

these dorks will end up in jail...

It's not fair to call Visa and MC dorks. They are just scared of the US government and are doing exactly what they are told to do.

I imagine you would do the same thing.

not too fucking likely captain.

I doubt they will get all of them :)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dH5ZoOZ4fI4

Sums it up for me.

all it takes is talking to the wrong person. ddosing sites is not impressive and its so obvious how amateur the whole thing is. they want to think they're internet bad asses but they're just losers in basements. they won't accomplish shit.

and what do you do???

i'm not trying to be anything...these guys only made the news because of the wikileaks connection. otherwise no one would care about people ddosing sites. it happens every day. i should mention that i respect that they are standing up for what they believe and what they are fighting for but i think they're gonna get in trouble and in the end, nothing changes.

life is like 80s cyberpunk novel now.

agree

:thumbsup

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.

http://blog.makezine.com/hackers.jpg

although I suspect they're not as hot as Angelina. :1orglaugh

The piratebay had an ad that advised people to take out all their money out of paypal. And actually, I followed their advice!

Sadly, this is looking more and more like the setup for increased crack down on the Internet.

We can't have a "Cyber Insurgency" from a "Shadowy Group of Hackers" waging an "Online Cyber War" on "Critical Financial Infrastructure" now can we?

Pay close attention to what happens next over the coming weeks, and the solutions they will be proposing.

people will demand their money be protected. Internet homeland security act will be enacted. I cant believe this shit is happening.

You'll be back.

One dutch kid got busted.