back to article Patriot hacker 'The Jester' attacks nations offering Snowden help

Soi-disant patriot hacker "The Jester" is taking aim at nations seen as offering aid and comfort to NSA sysadmin turned whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Jester claimed responsibility for taking down a government-run Ecuadorian tourism site and the email server of the Ecuadorian stock exchange on Monday, before turning his …

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  1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Hasn't he been caught yet?

    Surely with the 100% all seeing eye of the NSA he should have been detected, orange-jumpsuited and be on an unlisted flight to electrode-on-the-scrotum land by now?

    1. Chris G

      Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

      Just goes to show: Spying and eavesdropping on the whole world and they can't catch one of their own gone rogue.

      Makes you wonder how much GOOD use they'll get out of all that data.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

        >Just goes to show: Spying and eavesdropping on the whole world and they can't catch

        >one of their own gone rogue.

        >Makes you wonder how much GOOD use they'll get out of all that data.

        "One of their own"? Been drinking the psychic beer again, or was it the psychic crack pipe?

        More likely it demonstrates the limitations of the so-called 'all seeing eye' that has so many skiddies and Assange wannabees worried.

        I find myself debating how many of the panicky people have been doing nortee fings.

    2. Eddy Ito
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

      Caught? By whom? I'll give odds that 'The Jester' either worked with Snowden at the NSA or some other branch and further is still drawing that paycheck. Just another covert tool held at arms length to maintain plausible deniability.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Windows

        Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

        Only thing he has been caught at is displaying the ability to use a LOIC attack.

        The fucking tourist board???? Christ on an AT-AT. With such 1337 5xi11z as that we should all be quaking.

        Jester..Yeah, cos he's a fucking sad-act......

    3. LarsG

      Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

      There's not much you can do to prosecute an 10 year old script kiddie who works out of his mum and dads basement. The worst that could happen to him is to take away his milk and biscuits and make him go to bed early.

      1. Danny 14
        Joke

        Re: Hasn't he been caught yet?

        Why would the nsa chase an employee?

    4. WatAWorld

      We have traced the call and it is coming from the next office.

      We have traced the call and it is coming from the next office.

      There is no reason to believe this is not the same sort of state sponsored hacking that China does.

      Sure it is sloppy and obvious, where the NSA can do stuff neatly, but in this case they'd want it to be obvious in order to send a message.

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Devil

    That guy

    Smells like an operator team working from the basement of #FedBuilding.

    Don't give me the "true-blood-red-state/blue-state-fascist-patri0t-hacker" bullshit.

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Destroyed All Braincells Re: That guy

      "......Don't give me the "true-blood-red-state/blue-state-fascist-patri0t-hacker" bullshit." It's pretty obvious that what upsets you most is that The Jester just seems better at the whole staying anonymous trick than Anonymous, Lulzsec, or any of your "heroes".

      1. Intractable Potsherd

        Re: Destroyed All Braincells That guy @ Matt

        Given your usual comments on hackers, i.e. all scum, should be found and imprisoned etc, you seem to be dangerously close to the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" fallacy!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: That guy

      I would just love it if anonymous would locate and find out who this guy is and make it public. That would be a public service to the people of the US and the world

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That guy

        "I would just love it if anonymous would locate and find out who this guy is and make it public. That would be a public service to the people of the US and the world"

        Why? Do you think anyone fucking cares? All these "politically motivated hackers" are assholes.

      2. lightknight
        Paris Hilton

        Re: That guy

        And it wouldn't be worth it. He has a website devoted to his own cult of the personality....no one is going to go after him, just because it's like taking out the neighborhood spastic; I mean, the neighbors might thank you for quieting things down, but then you'd feel bad about what you had just done because he doesn't know any better.

        I mean, come on...he uses PHP for crying out loud as part of his arsenal of 'Freedom.' Mind you, no one working the security or cracker route is going to openly mention that they're using PHP because they don't like being laughed at...and they want to still have a job in the morning.

        So...yeah, I don't really know what he is attempting to achieve, except a few moments of limelight. Perhaps he's bait for something? Of course, this does kind of follow the belief that anyone who wishes to silence him will try cracking his machine, or I don't know, naming him publicly. Which would be a pity, as sooner or later someone will choose an unconventional response, like dropping a satellite on him, that will highlight, in a permanent fashion, the errors of his actions. But it would still be like drowning a puppy.

        1. g e

          Re: That guy

          I'd have thought any competent hacker would just use metasploit to see if they actually even _needed_ to bother scripting anything cunning in anything other than PHP. Much as I love PHP for getting webdev stuff done I can't imagine it being the weapon of choice for a hardcore hacker. Not that I can be arsed to hack anything anyway unless someone's asked me to do a security audit cos they're too cheap to hire someone who knows that shit inside out and lives/breathes it.

          LOL @ Neighbourhood spastic.

          #JesterTheSpastic

        2. Amorous Cowherder
          Coat

          Re: That guy

          " his arsenal of 'Freedom.' "

          Anyone else snigger childishly at that? No? Must be just me and that Friday feeling!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Childcatcher

      Re: That guy

      That guy .. confuses patriotism with subservience ... I can picture him tugging his forelock and chasing revolutionaries at the behest of the redcoats because you know, the govt is the nation.

      Icon for the obvious reason.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That guy @Nicho

        " ... I can picture him tugging his forelock "

        I think he's tugging away at something else.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: That guy

      I must admit, the Fox news quote is very PC for some random bigot skiddie.

    5. BillG
      Happy

      Re: That guy

      Snowden: "And I think I need a Lear jet"

  3. i like crisps
    Black Helicopters

    I wonder....

    ...How much KID-PORN does Jester has on his hard drive?

    1. g e

      Re: I wonder....

      *CLICKETY*

      More than he did 30 secs ago...

  4. h3

    This guy has done loads of stuff.

    Be interesting if he was caught to see how the rules apply.

    He is still a vandal and not doing anything in the public interest but I get the impression he will get a much lighter sentence than Snowden should it go that way.

    (I think you can basically do anything you like if it is in the best interests of America (Or you can find someone important enough to convince people of that).

    1. FartingHippo
      Holmes

      Re: This guy has done loads of stuff.

      Welcome to the real world. It's a dark, depressing and utterly cynical place.

      And with that nihilistic thought, to the pub...

    2. mhenriday
      Boffin

      Re: This guy has done loads of stuff.

      Hardly «in the best interests of America [read : USA]» h3 ; rather in the best interests of the military-industiral-(in)security complex that runs that country....

      Henri

    3. lightknight

      Re: This guy has done loads of stuff.

      Hmmm. Well, he may not exist...could easily be just an operation / composite individual. But allowing for that, you're right; perhaps he believes that because he's a patriot, the men in black will look the other way?

      For that matter, is there any proof he has actually taken down a website, save his own proclamation? Has anyone seen a webpage of one of his mentioned sites replaced with something tasteful of his own design, with a little jester logo to let the world know he did it?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This guy has done loads of stuff.

      "if it is in the best interests of America"

      Or more rightly, "if it is in the best interests of certain powerful families, organisations and corporate entities predominantly within America"

      The best interests of America are irrelevant to those powerful groups.

    5. Tom 13

      Re: will get a much lighter sentence than Snowden

      1) Has he stolen and revealed state secrets from the state in which he was a citizen?

      2) Has he subsequently fled to competitor nations to seek asylum?

      If the answer to both of the questions is 'No' then they are different crimes with different guidelines and should be tried in accordance with those guidelines. So long as the courts adhere to the guidelines the sentences are fair, regardless of the total time served.

      That being said, yes this character should be caught and jailed. Just like Snowden and Bradley and Assange.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: will get a much lighter sentence than Snowden

        You do realize that Assange isn't a U.S. citizen, right?

        1. Robert Helpmann??
          Childcatcher

          Re: will get a much lighter sentence than Snowden

          You do realize that Assange isn't a U.S. citizen, right?

          Nor is he a citizen of Sweden, but that should not prevent him from standing trial there.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: will get a much lighter sentence than Snowden

          > You do realize that Assange isn't a U.S. citizen, right?

          Who gives a fuck? He has attacked a country and stolen their secrets. If you think they're going to sit there and not deal with him you're more than laughably stupid.

          1. WatAWorld

            Being a patriot is a very despicable thing when the patriotism is directed against freedom.

            AC, says, "e has attacked a country and stolen their secrets."

            By your logic you should imprison the entirety of the NSA and CIA because they did exactly what you say is a crime in your country -- attacked a country and stole its secrets.

            Oh, it is only a crime if it is a "foreign country" -- Assange is Australian and to him, and me, the USA is a foreign country.

            As regards Americans, true patriots think instead of automatically obey.

            Thinking first, instead of blindly obeying, is what makes patriots from actually free countries superior to patriots from despotic regimes like NAZI Germany, East Germany, the Stalinist Soviet Union and Mao's Communist China.

            Being a patriot is a very despicable thing when the patriotism is directed against freedom.

      2. WatAWorld

        The true traitors are those who side with the bureaucracy in its attack the US middle class.

        Snowden violated the laws of the bureaucracy and obeyed the Constitution of his country.

        The US Constitution has trumped laws in every judicial decision where the two disagree -- which is how it is supposed to be.

        And how many people who have fled "competitor nations" has the USA taken in? The USA does it, so don't the people of the USA think it fair?

        The true traitors against the USA are those who side with the bureaucracy in its war on the US middle class.

        1. Tom 13

          Re: US Constitution has trumped laws in every judicial decision

          Guess you weren't paying attention to the DOMA decision. They ruled that the Feds had to adapt to varied standards based on state laws, which was a direct contradiction of the supremacy clause.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Something tells me if this dude is a lone hacker, the NSA won't be going after him how they go after others accused of 'hacking'.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      IF he is a lone hacker, then there perhaps there won't be the traffic of emails with incriminating words and/or between him and those who are "known to the authorities" to give them much to follow back.

      You need to persuade him to start ordering weedkiller online.

      1. Tom 13

        Re: those who are "known to the authorities"

        Part of what Snowden's release is alleged to tell us is that the NSA keeps the raw internet traffic as well. Which means it ought to searchable for the traffic that generates the attacks. And since the attack was against a legitimate commercial website, the government of Ecuador should be able to request US assistance in locating the perpetrators of those attacks. At which point the US authorities ought to be able to generate a search warrant to find the data. Continue as necessary until the perp is located in meat space as well as cyberspace.

        Of course this all assumes Snowden was telling the truth about how the data is collected, stored, and accessed as well as how much data is collected. If any of that is wrong, all bets are off.

    2. WatAWorld

      Someone said he has a website, how hard can it be to track him down?

      Probably a lot of hacking is allowed to go on because it provides background noise that the security services can hid in.

      He has a website.

      He accessed a particular IP address and he passed on a particular character string of data. Now that we know they record 30 days of traffic, we know they could, if they wished, track him down if he is anywhere in the EU, USA, Canada, Australia or NZ.

  6. Suricou Raven

    Unimpressed.

    Wow, he took down a public-facing website and email server for a low-security government sub-sub-subdivisision. He's yet to successfully steal any information or down any target of real importance. The only time he has done anything other than pathetically unskilled DoS attacks was a XSS exploit to inject some fake articles into some rather low-circulation newspaper website.

    The Jester is full of hot air. All he does is DoS the most vulnerable of targets and brag about his 1337 5k1115.

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Suricou Raven Re: Unimpressed.

      "Wow, he took down a public-facing website and email server for a low-security government sub-sub-subdivisision. He's yet to successfully steal any information or down any target of real importance. The only time he has done anything other than pathetically unskilled DoS attacks was a XSS exploit to inject some fake articles into some rather low-circulation newspaper website...." Whilst I would agree that The Jester has achieved little of actual import or note during this little online tantrum, I would have to point out your hypocrisy given that the sheeple treat such trivial tricks as "great hax" when they were done by the Anons, Lulzsec or the like.

      1. David Hicks
        Stop

        Re: Suricou Raven Unimpressed.

        >> I would have to point out your hypocrisy given that the sheeple treat such trivial tricks as "great hax" when they were done by the Anons, Lulzsec or the like.

        Whether you agree with their actions or not, the Anons and Lulzsec did quite a lot more than that - e.g. HB Gary.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: brag about his 1337 5k1115.

      Indeed. Ought to learn to spell first (or buy a new keyboard).

    3. Tom 13

      Re: All he does is DoS the most vulnerable of targets

      In other words, he's just like the vast majority of the rest of the miscreants out there.

      1. paulll

        Re: All he does is DoS the most vulnerable of targets

        "In other words, he's just like the vast majority of the rest of the miscreants out there."

        Yes, he is a chronic masturbator who knows how to download software from the internet and run it. Difference is the others profess to be in it, 'for the lulz,' while he acts like he's some hot shit, with his 'Arsenal of freedom' (PMSL) and giving public addresses. In his own words with reference ro LulzSec, "I am not the same as my detractors."

        1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: paulll Re: All he does is DoS the most vulnerable of targets

          "....Difference is the others profess to be in it, 'for the lulz,'....." Oh, paulll, you are SOOOO missing the difference! When the Anonyputzs or Lulztwits do this kind of thing the sheeple dance about with glee and say how great an achievement it is, and how the miscreants involved should be paid to find security holes. But when it is someone the sheeple don't like, then suddenly they get all "it's so childish, what a pathletic loser, etc., etc." If you can't admit that then you sheeple really are just too blinkered for words. Enjoy!

  7. Daniel B.
    Meh

    Meh.

    The Jester is a lamer script kiddie. And to top it off, he's on the wrong side of public opinion, yet again. I do wonder why the FBI isn't going after him, as he has done at least much of the stuff that the LulzSec guys have?

    1. DJ Smiley
      Holmes

      Re: Meh.

      Who says they aren't?

      They had the anon guy for 9 months before revealing their hand.

  8. Mr Fuzzy

    This is why script kiddie tools are a bad thing -

    Ego-fools who haven't yet developed the ability to think critically can use them to swim in the pool that is supposed to be for the grown up boys and girls.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's OK for me is not OK for you!

    Somehow I can't picture the US offering him up for extradition?

    1. Cliff

      Re: What's OK for me is not OK for you!

      Who the heck would waste time or money for the extradition of someone who made a petty mess of a tourism Web site. You may well be right, but I doubt we'll ever get a chance to find out if he sticks to being a childish twat.

  10. Graham Marsden
    Facepalm

    taken down [...] Ecuadorian tourism site

    Wow! I can hear the world quaking in its boots...

  11. Cliff

    He's 12

    At least mentally if not in body. The worst thing you can do to him is snigger disrespectfully. The kids in the playground already do. Doubtless he'll go postal one day.

  12. Anomalous Cow Pasture
    FAIL

    Struggling to stay relevant and coping with the failure of his campaign of inventing "jihadi" websites that *never existed in the first place* and "then taking them down"-- for 'MURKA-- skidiot reject from the 80s T3H T0T411Y 1337 J35T3R \/\/H05 13!K K001 'N 5+UP|-| manages to summon an illegal botnet, commit several felonies and get away with it, all before his mother rouses him in the middle of the afternoon for his daily chocolate milk and enema.

    Think about that: a drooling, mouthbreathing, butane-huffing skid in his basement is the best America's patriotic cyber warriors can muster. Oh well, he'll choke to death on a thick paste consisting of mountain dew and stale cheetos soon enough, and no one will care.

  13. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge
    Trollface

    Take out The Jester?

    Is it time for Anonymous to take out The Jester? Go!

  14. FuzzyTheBear
    Big Brother

    Computer act anyone ?

    Ain't there a law against that in the USA ? Wonder how long they will take to find and jail him.

    My guess , they wont move and give him a medal .

  15. tkioz

    What a moron... really into the 'American' principles of freedom and democracy isn't he? How dare sovereign nations consider offering sanctuary to people... oh right anyone who is 'against' the US is 'evil'.

  16. ukgnome
    Mushroom

    Dear Jester

    Feck off you pencil dicked moron.

    Your attacks will only poor fuel on the NSA fire.

    If you want to keep your land of the "free" and home of the "brave" then stand down you moron.

    ** "free" = mindless drones

    ** "brave" = anyone who is prepared to hide behind a stupid script kiddy handle

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dear Jester

      *** Pity you couldn't spell 'pour', but IFTFY.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One might propose that if anyone here were to want to practice their 'hacking skillzzz' without fear of being collared by the police, they need only attack their countries 'enemies', ie China, North Korea, Venezuela, etc.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Ecuadorian tourism site

    What's next? take down the online Galápagos boat timetables

  19. g e
    Alien

    He reminds me of

    Those lone 'survivalist' gun nuts with their own corrugated metal bunkers and crazy alien abduction paranoias

    But in an internetty kind of way. He maybe even has PTSD of some form, too, to help his eyes swivel better.

  20. Miek

    This Jester guy seems to be an asshat

    1. g e
      Holmes

      Asshat

      I do enjoy the irony of how he's "protecting the USA" by essentially embodying pretty much everything the rest of the world (and a good number of US folk) looks down on it for.

  21. Arachnoid

    If the NSA can keeps tabs on the young ner do well they can either, through motivation or "accident" have the perp tarred and feathered for any black ops that reaches public attention and get away clear of any downfall.

  22. Frankee Llonnygog

    Congrats, Jester

    You are Lance Corporal Jones in the US's CyberDads's Army

  23. heyrick Silver badge
    FAIL

    Patriot?

    Funny, I thought being a patriot meant following the American ideal and the Constitution; not being a dumb slave to whatever bullshit version of reality the government agencies are working to today.

  24. Amorous Cowherder

    Wrecking defenceless countries minor infrastructure for purely personal gain and kudos with the lowest sort of dipshit redneck nationalist TV slaves in the homeland?

    Yep, that sounds about right for anyone who claims to represent US "patriotism"!

  25. The Jase

    Anon

    I can see Anonymous next doxxing target

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where's the beef?

    This bonehead does stuff that has landed people like Aaron Swartz into durance vile, yet are they (the US and/or other authorities) tracking this person down to charge with various felonious crimes? Please, tell me that they are, and then I might regain a bit of faith in our "democratic" systems!

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