back to article Anonymous hackers' Wikileaks 'infowar' LATEST ROUNDUP

Online "warfare" between the friends and enemies of Wikileaks continues, with an increasing number of organisations involved. The hacktivist collective Anonymous, operating under the banner Operation:Payback, has continued to mount various types of hacking attacks including DDoS strikes – supplemented by the use of illegal …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    The Elephant In This Room Is

    State Department CIO. What's her name ??

  2. Matthew
    Grenade

    Namefag

    ColdBlood was on BBC Radio 4 this morning, announced as a "spokesman" for Anonymous. He certainly claimed to represent the group, unfortunately, I couldn't work out what his underlying message was.

    And may I be the first to declare that I, for one, welcome our botnet-wielding, spotty, crusty-tube-socked, 19 geek overlords!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      I hope he was using irony.......

      When he said "We are a group campaigning for a free and open internet.........."

      (he didnt say "except those people we feel don't deserve a free and open internet!")

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Matthew - namefag.

      19?

      Sounded more like 14.

      As for being a spokesman, it may help their "cause" if he could string more than 3 words at a time together.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Big Brother

        No, *I* am anonymous

        Can we all play?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Anonymous coward for this post I think

      /b/ has been up in arms at its self-proclaimed spokesperson today. There is an ongoing attempt to trace him and exact internet-based revenge in the way that only Anonymous knows how. Glad I'm not him!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    How will it end?

    One side will have to stop eventually, will the ddossers get bored? Will the card companies back down?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Nah..

      The card companies just have to wait - after all, the same (d)dossers that are working against them will also be the first to realise that they have just cut of their pizza supply as they can no longer take a payment. So, it's a loss but not a tragedy.

      What IS a tragedy that this sort of behaviour is becoming the norm. Don't like someone? Hey, let's juts throw an electronic version of a petrol bomb through their window. Cowards.

      The biggest irony is that Wikileaks is in principle supporting crime, and is then "supported" by people using criminal methods as well (notice the absence of any comment from Wikileaks asking supporters to stop those DDoS). There are better ways to blow the whistle, means which involve less costs, less ego pumping and are more effective in actually addressing the problem rather than just talking about it and apear on national talk shows. But hey, Ze Ego Must Be Polished..

      The fastest solution is to hang Assange by his nuts and then call on Wikileaks to make good on their threats to release everything at once. The best way to lance a festering boil is to cut it and so get the pain over in one go. The information has leaked anyway now, so they might as well get it over with.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Wikileaks isn't illegal or commiting a crime

        So whats the difference between the US state department throwing a brick through Wikileaks website and someone doing the same to Visa etc. The only real difference is that one is much bigger than then other.

  4. blackworx
    Pint

    Crippling Alcoholism

    Wonder how long it'll be before that one comes back to bite you on the arse (or some Graun hack is in need of a hasty ad hom).

    Also, you'll need to update your wikipedia page so that said Graun hacks can get at the information without having to make too much of an effort.

  5. alain williams Silver badge

    DDOS is not the answer

    I support what Wikileaks is doing, but attacking organisations that are perceived to have wronged wikileaks is the wrong way of doing things -- it reflects badly on wikileaks; yes I know that Anonymous are different group, but they will be lumped together by politicians/CIA/... and this will be believed by Daily Mail type readers (or for readers on the other side of the pond: Sarah Palin supporters).

    We claim that we are better than those who are being exposed as wrong doers, so we must live up to that, even if it is harder to do so. To do otherwise will muddy our good intentions.

    1. Laurent_Z

      I differ in opinion somehow...

      Mostly because after playing "by the rules" for quite long (and being serially an*l raped as a consequence) I find it quite refreshing that "The People" can use the same tactics as our revered underlords (FUD, Eliminate opposants, if discrediting them is not sufficient, etc....) and get some traction because of it...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Correct..

      I support what Wikileaks was TRYING to do: be a route for whistleblowers to find a publication channel. However, nothing of what they do now achieves that aim, it's all about being as noisy as possible. Wikileaks and Assange have become the story, which is 100% wrong, especially as they are descending more and more into the criminal to keep up that profile. I bet Assange is already working on a book deal.

    3. Mark 65

      DDOS is...

      the weapon of the script-kiddy. That is all.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Unfortunate

    That script kiddies throwing their toys about on the Internet can have this effect.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Unfortunate

      Titus, you disappoint. That is not up to your usual trolling standards so I can only assume you mean it.

  7. Asiren
    Grenade

    Phew!

    Dodged a bullet there, Reg!

    I think you've given the right answer at the end of the article. You might want to hand over your network to their bots though, just to be safe...

  8. TeeCee Gold badge
    Black Helicopters

    I suppose if this continues.....

    .....the end result will be an Internet better hardened against DDOS attacks in its entireity. A good thing.

    Trouble is, if I can work that out, then presumably the *really* nasty people who make their cash doing DDOS blackmail scams can work that out. I wouldn't want to be part of Anonymous right now, those types have ways of finding out who's really behind something that the world's intelligence agencies aren't allowed to have (e.g. "Now tell us who it is, or we'll saw your *other* bollock off."). I also suspect that they do a nice line in the sort of retribution designed to deter anyone else considering pissing on their picnic.

    1. morphoyle

      meh

      It is currently not possible to differentiate legitimate requests to a webserver (people wanting to visit a page) and a DDOS attack. Even flagging repeated attempts at access wouldn't do much good, since a lot of internet mouth-breathers sit there and click "reload" over and over when the page they are trying to access doesn't load. I have worked in tech support for a large ISP, so trust me. People actually do that, instead of giving up and doing something else.

      1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
        FAIL

        Nah, that's tosh.

        There are plenty of boxes out there capable of identifying and mitigating DDoS attacks. I've worked in organisations that came under attack every week, without their customers noticing a thing.

        GJC

  9. Evil Auditor Silver badge
    Pint

    Job opening?

    Is there any job opening at The Reg?! Seems one of the very few places where you are NOT sacked because of alcoholism. And, are there any Reg hacks not addicted to booze?

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

  11. Dr. Mouse
    Coffee/keyboard

    Classic

    "Register management, having witnessed the disasters befalling other online organisations which have angered Anonymous, would like to point out that Lewis Page is an unimportant, low-paid employee who is in no way representative of the Reg as a whole. Only a certain misguided sympathy for his cripplingly expensive alcoholism and many other personal problems has led to his continued employment, and they would ask that this charitable impulse not be punished too harshly."

    You owe me a new keyboard

  12. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Delusional or outrageously fortunate? :-)

    "Register management ... would like to point out that Lewis Page is an unimportant, low-paid employee who is in no way representative of the Reg as a whole."

    Are we then to assume that the Reg management consider themselves important and are highly paid.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      El Reg

      Is Serious Business!

    2. I didn't do IT.
      Coat

      Important and are Highly Paid?

      Sorry, amanfromMars1, I'm afraid that just means that Lewis is low-paid and unimportant even from the standpoint of the management of El Reg's meager subsistance.

      Icon? Checking for loose change - there's a pub open somewhere.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why don't they target more tactically

    to the people, groups targetting, persecuting and holding him? Sure doing the people cutting off Wikileaks lifeblood is impressive, but the bar stewards doing Julian are more to blame for conspiracy against him.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Visibility, lack of deniability

      If I tell you Paypal is down, you'll go and check. You can see it with your own eyes. If I tell you that the Swedish Prosecutor's website is down (incidentally, it is), you won't care much.

      Also, as the Daily Mash has revealed, a man has been prevented from buying a Chris de Burgh album and therefore, karmically, Anonymous has won the Internet.

  14. veskebjorn
    Pint

    The spirit of the people is greater than the man's technology

    The title of this message is a quote from Huey P. Newton, Defense Minister and principal founder of the U.S. group, the Black Panther Party. He said this early in the career of his group, at a rally in a San Francisco Bay Area city which the police were trying to disrupt by flying noisy helicopters immediately overhead.

    This author hopes that Huey's assessment will prove true in the WikiLeaks affair.

    Sorry to hear about Lewis's problems with alcohol. All of us who have appreciated his work over the years owe Lewis our support. I should like to suggest a fund to cover his expenses at the various pubs favored by The Register staff. If you folks would be so kind as to publish an address for Lewis (at work, of course) I will send him a tenner and hope that many others will do the same.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    remember...

    In the US at least, you can get hauled into court by either the government (criminal case) or a person/organization (civil case).

    Anybody following the RIIA shenanigans might want to consider what a really pissed off credit card industry might due to IP addresses found to be attacking their business.

    Just sayin'.

    1. Stone Fox
      Flame

      proper anon

      Are behind over 9000 proxies to avoid getting v&.

      As for how to stop the war, all you'd have to do is get boxxy to order it! ;D

      As for the namefag, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes shortly.

      And when are we gonna get a guy fawkes icon?!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      IP address chasing?

      how many did scientology catch? did that change anything? as for the RIAA & MPAA, are people still active on the torrents? making an example of a few to weak to fight back will not change anything.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Drive-by paint ball?

    So far the guys in the pedobear suit have hit soft targets with ease. Makes me wonder how Visa and MasterCard ended up being soft targets but where there is a will, there is a corporate way... that isn't secure. The scary thing is that a sustained attack until after xmas could close one or more of the national institutions if it was pointed at the money network and not at the PR mouthpiece.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      the Money Network

      All those little machines that phone home to Visa/Mastercard - same system - are a private network and it's proving very hard to find a way in. Anonymous could really use somebody on the inside to help out a little here.

      If that's you, you could drop by some of the usual spots and make things go a lot more smoothly.

      Just sayin.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Love the footnote

    That'll stop 'em.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Kids, eh

    Bless their little cotton socks. They'll soon get bored and go back to their computer games and masturbation.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pirate

      cotton socks

      computer games wat?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    Namefag

    I wouldnt want to be in his shoes when Anon finds out who he is.

    "These possible contra-hacktivista "patriots""

    No "patriots" DDoSing the pro-anon sites. The essense of 4Chan is trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls. They are just other Anons trying to get a reaction out of the pro-Assange DDoSers.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dear Amazon Customer Service

    I will not be ordering anything from Amazon this Christmas due to your withdrawal of service from Wikileaks. Honestly, I don't think Wikileaks is that great either but dropping them as a user is, in my opinion, a cowardly act and un-American.

    What happened to the principal of "innocent until proven guilty"? Where do you draw the line between standing up for your Principals and Bending Over and sticking your head in the sand?

    Frankly, I expected better of you.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Dear Anonymous Coward

      It doesn't matter since all your friends and family have already spent more than enough with us buying you presents. As a massive corporation we have no principals beyond "keep making money".

      We regret you feel you cannot use us for your online purchases but rest assured we do not take this personally, we have no personality to offend. We would like to assure you that should you change your mind later on we will take your money unless you cause us embarassment or hurt the bottom line in which case we won't.

      1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
        Happy

        Too Late ...

        Damn - now I have to LOIC my friends too... and my Granddad ... oh well ...

        <clickitty click>

  21. Mark 169

    It's not about the cables or the leaking info

    It's obviously about the money. Did everyone miss the point in another Reg article about Wikileaks being denied approx. "7 figures" in donations daily? The old say about "follow the money" seems to be true in this case also.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Ridiculous

    Assange's stated goal is the overthrow of constitutional government in the U.S. (or at least what's left of it after Bush and Obama are done). I'm not joking here: Assange believes that the U.S. government IS a conspiracy and that distributing this information will kill the "conspiracy." (he likely also believes that JFK was assassinated by the ghost of Elvis right before the moon landings were staged)

    Aside from this, Wikileaks is a distinctly for-profit venture. You can see this in their constant begging for money--something that's almost as annoying as Wikipedia's new ads, and Assange's attempts at attention grabbing--things like his constant claim that he has to "hide out" so that he isn't assassinated (apparently Elvis' ghost is still alive and looking for additional victims)

    The real interesting thing here, by the way, isn't what was in the cables and other documents that Manning leaked, but what wasn't in them: no evidence of systemic corruption, cover ups, or secret dealings. It's all just high-school gossip... diplomat A said something nasty about leader B. King C wants the US to attack country D. Political big-shot E has bad breath.

    In a way it's comforting to be reminded that the conspiracy theorists are all crazy as loons

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      Nope

      I only respond to the second part of your crap:

      Wikileaks did publish a very interesting report of a Russian-American committee assessing Iranian and North Korean missile capabilities. It becomes clear U.S. Intelligence is again trying to fake evidence of WMD technology (in this case the "BM-25 solid-booster rocket, never tested, surely a threat"). Last time it was "mobile chemical labs".

      This is just one cable worth for the world to see. Julian's a hero !

      I could go on to refer to other nasty dealings of USG, US Army, General Petraeus, Yemeni Gov, but I'l stop here. Maybe you read some of the cables yourself before you write crap here.

  23. wbk

    Who is Anonymous

    Read this blog post for a sense of who Anonymous are:

    http://kimmons.tv/blahg/?p=102

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    twitter, really?

    I doubt the DOSers would hit Twitter since that POS is a tool used to control the attacks.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Namefag

    They already know who he is, from the Anon twitter: http://www.facebook.com/chris.coldblood

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    twats

    "Wikileaks' ongoing public drip-feed of classified US files allegedly passed to it by US soldier Bradley Manning (now in military custody) must be suppressed."

    must be suppressed because the truth must not be known. Rise up against the scum in the world and demand the truth.

  27. Zap
    Alert

    Hope the government take action

    The Wikileaks have been amusing but really they are just fodder for the nosey, how would you like it if your emails were published? In the end they are just the opinions of a bunch of diplomats at a given moment in time or the people they meet. I have no problem with Wikileaks publishing this stuff because it highlights the errors in security. I DO have a problem with the willful download and installation of the DDOS tool. I think that the logs of victims of the DDOS attacks and ISP's should be used to prosecute the offenders.

    ISP’s should be able to spot a user spitting out UDP traffic and should simply suspend their service.

    The computer misuse act allows for 2 years in prison for downloading and 10 years in prison for using such a tool, we should now be tracking down and prosecuting offenders.

    So called freedom campaigners do not realise that such action will actually work against them, it will force the internet to demand a fully traceable connection in due course.

    Even if you were totally supportive of Wikileaks, attacking people like Visa and Mastercard does not damage them, it damages their clients, that is you and me or our employers. Trade is the foundation of our society, in this time of austerity the lack of orders may be enough to force some people out of business as users who could not complete their purchase look elsewhere.

    I really hope the government does something, in the first place gather the evidence in the form of access logs from all UK ISP’s along with IP lease information. Even if they decide not to send these people to prison, we can ban them from having an internet account for 5 years and from working in the computer industry. Harsh, yes, but you would not allow a person with a criminal record for robbing a bank to be responsible for financial transactions.

    1. Ouldbob
      Pirate

      Ouldbob

      Waddaya mean "wouldn't allow someone with a criminal record for bank robbery run the bank"? Don't you read the papers? The biggest financial crooks in the world are those who are now running the bloody banks.

      Also the biggest liars in the country are now running the country. Jeez, wake up! - or were you just born self-righteous?

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    "I really hope the government does something"

    Yes, I expect you do. Kibo forbid that you ever take any action on anything for yourself, beyond spouting your corporate-fed drivel on the Reg's comment boards.

    I have posted as "Anonymous Coward" but this is misleading. Only one of us is a coward, and that's you.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Re:the Money Network

    My Missus is going christmas shopping this afternoon and usually heads for the shoe shops at the end of the day to reward herself for afterwards so anytime after 5 please.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    He fell off a roof didn't he?

    I'm quite sure that that Bradley bloke fell off a roof and died in a live version of the show, didn't he?

  31. James Woods

    hello john young

    Why doesn't el reg allow comments on the CRYPTOME article?

    We know who you are john.

    your claim to fame is registering the wikileaks domain?

    Alex Jones is impressed with anyone that knows how to use a computer so it's not hard to have him support you. Alex thinks that by brute forcing google you can increase your page rankings for god sakes.

    Wait, maybe im lieing.

    Don't we all lie? :)

  32. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Joke

    US Gov Infosec == UK License Fee Detector Vans

    Heard about but *rarely* seen.

    Highly secretive inner workings.

    Seem to target innocent people as often as guilty.

    Not very effective at stopping things happening in the first place.

    Fair comparison?

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