Thursday, March 15, 2012

Hacker threatens to expose Anonymous members, Al Qaeda supporters

By Emil Protaniski


Summary: The Jester has detailed a sophisticated attack he put together last week that stole personal data stored on smartphones belonging to various individuals on his very own “shit-list.”



The Jester, a hacker who has caused trouble for other hackers before, claims to have exploited smartphones belonging to Islamist extremists, Al Qaeda supporters, Anonymous members, and LulzSec/AntiSec members. He says he elevated his privileges on each exploited device, extracted data, and stole address books, call logs, text message logs, and e-mails from targeted victims.
The Jester used his Twitter account (first picture above) to compromise hundreds of smartphones by changing his profile picture to a QR code over a five day period last week. When users scanned the QR code with their smartphone, a link opened in their browser, where an image of The Jester and the text “BOO!” appeared, according to Jester’s Court.
In the background, The Jester exploited a vulnerability in the WebKit engine that powers browsers in Android and iOS. The Jester says he compromised the phones of 500 out of 1,200 individuals who scanned the code via a crafted webpage. He then stole personal data from a significant number of activists.
The security hole he claims to have used, CVE-2010-1807, has been in the public domain since November 2010 and has since been fixed in most browsers. Still, The Jester says he modified the exploit code slightly and still managed to see a 40 percent success rate, presumably on unpatched browsers.
The malicious code he wrote for the attack stole the compromised users’ Twitter credentials via a netcat command. The Jester claims he checked these credentials against a list of known targets before stealing any data. He had a list of enemies:
Here’s a very SMALL sample of the much longer list: @alemarahweb,@HSMPress @AnonymousIRC, @wikileaks, @anonyops, @barretbrownlol, @DiscordiAnon etc etc etc
He noted anyone on his “shit-list” was left unscathed:
EVERYONE else without exception was left totally ‘untouched’ so to speak. This was a Proof of Concept QR-Code based operation against known bad guys, the same bad guys that leak YOUR information, steal YOUR CC nums, and engage in terror plots around the world. I do not feel sorry for them. In the interests of convenience I will be taking the liberty of uploading the captured bad-guy data in a signed PGP encrypted file to a suitable location very soon. How’s that for ‘lulz’?
The Jester this week posted a 143.08 MB text file, which he refers to as the “resulting raw dump of the verbose output log from this exercise,” on MediaFire. It’s encrypted with his PGP Public key, so there’s no way of telling if the contents are what he claims they are, or if he’s just trolling.
Rhode Island State Representative Dan Gordon was supposedly one of the victims. Gordon made it onto The Jester’s “shit-list” for a tweet that reference Anonymous, which The Jester interpreted as approving of the hacktivist group. Gordon reacted angrily to The Jester’s jeers on Twitter. He threatened to report the hacker to authorities for offences ranging from threatening a state official to hacking the mobile phone of an elected politician. Later though, Gordon said he had not scanned the QR code and thus could not possibly have been hacked.
Here are some tweets from The Jester’s account in regards to this particular attack:
Curiosity Pwned the Cat: ‘Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret’. – Ralph Waldo Emerson At the beginning … http://t.co/IuLZUb0w
Received reports that my latest blog post triggered AVG, I have removed the exploit source & used screen dumps instead https://t.co/36QVViTP
RT @swordandsalt: @th3j35t3r “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon https://t.co/36QVViTP
So @repdangordon WAS on ’shit list’ & scanned QR. Why’s he on the list: http://storify.com/dailydot/state-rep-reps-anonymous & he’s friends w/this guy: http://th3j35t3r.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/if-ya-cant-beat-em-make-some-shit-up-lmao/#dick
@repdangordon so you & some anon are trying to find me? Man, you are not gonna come out of this looking good Dan http://t.co/87UO8JPd
@RepDanGordon @FBIPressOffice I merely stated u were on the list, u seem awful jittery. U need to calm down >> ;-) http://t.co/87UO8JPd
@RepDanGordon Go away Dan, I’m sick of helping u embarrass urself. I merely said u were on the list. Hey>> http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-20111212.html #stolenvalor
@repdangordon be advised, when u file ur complaint to feds, they ARE going need ur cell for forensics to determine IF I hacked u at all ;-(
@repdangordon >> http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johntiessen/2012/02/23/the-strait-truth-with-your-host-john-tiessen-1/scrub/0 << chatting about #anonymous with his friend @johntiessen << remember him? >> http://th3j35t3r.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/if-ya-cant-beat-em-make-some-shit-up-lmao/#dick
@repdangordon - I told you before, all I stated was that your name was on the list. You have since proved why. http://pastebin.com/et1LnCAL
@repdangordon creates a new twitter under @Rep_gordon in fail attempt to back pedal, however we all know who you are >>
#Checkmate >>> https://twitter.com/#!/th3j35t3r/status/179661949087399937 <<< I'll make you famous >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOzOdj7JmfE #anonymous
It’s unclear whether the clever attack actually worked. Maybe The Jester is just trying to rile up his enemies (it certainly worked for Gordon). We won’t know until he releases the password to the aforementioned file, if ever.

Is there a link between Vikileaks and Anonymous attacks?

By MARK DUNN


OTTAWA - A parliamentary committee will invite foreign experts in tracing Internet hackers to find the people behind attempts to blackmail Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, QMI Agency has learned.
The House and procedural affairs committee began hearings Thursday to investigate threatening YouTube videos by a group purporting to be the political hacker group Anonymous.
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski said the scope of the committee's investigation could broaden if another Commons committee uncovers any links between blasts against Toews from the Twitter account vikileaks and the Anonymous video postings.
"If they find any kind of a link then I think in the committee report they may be able to ask Parliament to consider a point of privilege based on what they uncover in their examination," he said about the ethics committee.
Ethics is investigating Liberal Adam Carroll and his use of an anonymous Twitter account to spread details of Toews' messy 2007 divorce to protest Bill C-30, an Internet crime bill that would give police and government agencies powers to snoop without warrants.
No laws were broken when he used computers at the Liberal research bureau to set up the @vikileaks30 account.
He has since resigned.
Carroll has so far refused to appear because of what his lawyer says are health issues.
The committee Lukiwski sits on is only permitted to investigate the Anonymous threats.
"But if ancillary information comes out, which kind of links it to vikileaks, then yes, I think we've got the ability to expand our examination."
The MP said the committee will ask Canadian and international experts to assist.
"We certainly will and we have the ability to ask them specifics as to how can you trace and how did you find, for example, certain members of the Anonymous organization south of the border," he said about recent arrests.
The Anonymous videos said if Toews did not resign and kill Bill C-30, it would post naughty divorce details and other personal matters - which it did.

Anonymous members speak out at surreal SXSW panel


When it's revealed that a prominent member of a clandestine movement has been giving information to the FBI for months, you'd think it would intimidate others in the group into backing off.
And that may have been the case when it was discovered that "Sabu," real name Hector Xavier Monsegur, had been arrested in June and provided information that helped lead to the arrest of five other alleged members of the "hacktivist" collective, Anonymous.
For a few minutes, anyway.
"That night, after everyone found out, it was a bit chilling," said Gregg Housh, one of the few people associated with Anonymous who speaks publicly using his real identity.

Hunting Anonymous could be 'waste of time,' parliamentarians told

BY JORDAN PRESS





OTTAWA — Parliamentarians tasked with investigating what has been deemed intimidating online videos against Public Safety Minister Vic Toews were warned Thursday that a hunt for the culprit — or culprits — could be a waste to time and resources.

MPs on the procedure and House affairs committee were told that trying to track down anyone using the online handle of Anonymous would be difficult, if not impossible to find.

House of Commons security staff have already checked and found that the YouTube videos weren't uploaded from a Parliament Hill account, and have stepped up their online security sweeps in the wake of the messages.

MPs on the committee reviewing whether Toews had his privilege as a parliamentarian breached when Anonymous put up the threatening videos will have to decide whether to attempt to track down the person or people behind the videos. That could involve calling in the RCMP or the intelligence unit responsible for cybersecurity.

"I really don't see how you will be able to figure out who uttered these threats against the minister," said Audrey O'Brien, clerk of the House of Commons.

She told the committee that a search for the Anonymous poster could be "a giant waste of time."

That message from the Commons staff responsible for securing MPs on and off Parliament Hill was received well by some members of the committee, but at least one Conservative wanted the search to commence.

Conservative MP Laurie Hawn said someone needed to be held responsible for the videos attacking Toews and demanding he withdraw the government's controversial online surveillance bill, and be held up as an example for others who would consider doing the same thing.

"Anonymous is a coward," Hawn said, adding he "had nothing but contempt" for anyone who would abuse free speech.

"They're like the Taliban. We're never going to run out of them."

Anonymous is a loosely knit group of online hackers with no central organization, meaning that anyone can claim to be part of the collective and disputes about tactics arise regularly.

The group is responsible for attacks against several high profile websites, including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and, in Canada, the website for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

Members of the group have been tracked down around the world in recent weeks, with Interpol saying 25 suspected members of the collective were arrested in Latin America as authorities in Europe and the United States charged six more after they were outed by one of their own.

The ad hoc nature of the group means that someone calling themselves a member could have uploaded the videos to YouTube targeting Toews. The YouTube account has been silent since March 1 when the last video was uploaded.

Parliamentarians were told Commons staff monitor the Internet for hacking threats, and meet daily to discuss how to keep the network and MPs safe.

"Security is evolving everyday," said chief information officer Louis Bard. "They're always something new to discover. The strength we have is the ability to react and I think we've proven that."

Meanwhile, House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer ruled that there may be a case that MPs had their privileges breached during a recent visit from Israel's prime minister.

Security on Parliament Hill was heightened for the visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so much so that parliamentarians were blocked at times from walking around the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings. New Democrat MP Pat Martin filed a complaint with the Speaker's office and on Thursday, Scheer said there may be a "prima facie" case that Martin and other MPs had their privileges violated.

"Security measures cannot override the right of members to unfettered access . . . free from obstruction or interference" Scheer said in his ruling.

That matter will now be referred to the House affairs committee for review.

Anonymous operating system prompts security warnings

BBC News


More than 26,000 people have downloaded an operating system which members of the Anonymous hacker group claim to have created.



The software is based on a version of the open-source operating system Linux and comes outfitted with lots of website sniffing and security tools.
The "official" Anonymous group has distanced itself from the software.
In a widely circulated tweet, AnonOps claimed the operating system was riddled with viruses.
Tool box
The operating system is available via the Source Forge website - a well-known repository for many custom code projects.
The 1.5GB download is based on Ubuntu - one of the most popular versions of the Linux operating system. The software's creators say they put it together for "education purposes to checking the security of web pages (sic)".
It asked people not to use it to destroy webpages.
Soon after the operating system became available, the AnonOps account on Twitter posted a message saying it was fake and "wrapped in trojans".
The creators of the OS denied it was infected with viruses adding that, in the world of open-source software, "there were no viruses".
Code check
After downloading and running the software, Rik Ferguson, director of Trend Micro's European security research efforts, said it was "a functional OS with a bunch of pre-installed tools that can be used for things like looking for [database] vulnerabilities or password cracking".
It also included tools such as Tor that can mask a person's online activities. In many ways, he said, it was a pale imitation of a version of Linux known as Back Track that also comes with many security tools already installed.
Mr Ferguson said he was starting work to find out if there were any viruses or booby-traps buried in the code.
Graham Cluley, senior researcher at hi-tech security firm Sophos, wondered who would be tempted to use it.
"Who would want to put their trust in a piece of unknown software written by unknown people on a webpage that they don't know is safe or not?" he asked.
He warned people to be very wary, adding that some hacktivists keen to support the work of Anonymous had been tricked earlier in the year into installing a booby-trapped attack tool.
"Folks would be wise to be very cautious," he said.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Ron Paul Openly Calls GOP Election Fraud



The whole sorry criminal saga goes on and on and at last Ron Paul calls it for what it is.

Post-Sabu, Anonymous says arrest was "a favor" and vows to continue hacking.



Following the revelation last week that LulzSec’s so-called leader Hector Xavier Monsegur (Sabu) had been working with the FBI for a number of months to turn in other top-ranking members of the hacking collective, Anonymous has moved to distance itself from the disgraced former member, calling the FBI arrest “a favor” and vowing to continue its campaign of hacking.
The activist group has come in for heavy criticism in the past for its raids on media and government websites but found itself further in the spotlight after it emerged the loosely associated member had been apprehended by the FBI last June and then worked with agents to not only identify but also apprehend his former colleagues.
In a pure display of grandstanding, Anonymous took to one of its ‘official’ Twitter accounts, telling its followers to “be evasive,” whilst laying down a warning to the authorities that seek to apprehend them:
Anonymous says that it is not a hierarchical organization, meaning we are unable to ascertain whether the person tweeting from that account has much influence or not.
Last week, the FBI — with the help of police forces around the world – apprehended five top-ranking members of LulzSec, working on information reportedly provided by Sabu. The Bureau named the LulzSec members involved as Ryan Ackroyd (Kayla); Jake Davis (Topiary); Darren Martyn (Pwnsauce); Donncha O’Cearrbhail (Palladium) and Jeremy Hammond (Anarchos).
An FBI official said the arrest would be “devastating to the organization,” adding that they were “chopping off the head of LulzSec.”
Anonymous responded to reports of LulzSec arrests by attacking security firm Panda Security, posting e-mail addresses and passwords of its 114 employees and a message on Monsegur’s transformation from LulzSec hacker to FBI snitch:
#AntiSec is back once again knocking snitches doors cause traison is something we dont forgive
Yeah yeah
We know…
Sabu snitched on us
As usually happens FBI menaced him to take his sons away
We understand, but we were your family too (remember what you liked to say?)
It’s sad and we cant imagine how it feels having to look at the mirror each morning and see there the guy who shopped their friends to Police.
Whilst Anonymous and LulzSec operated independently of each other for the most part, the two groups joined forces for ‘Operation Anti-Security’ or AntiSec in June 2011 (around the time of Sabu’s arrest), which resulted in a number of high-profile hacks on government, private contractor and police websites — including theinterception of a confidential phone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard.
Monsegur was also said to be the mouthpiece of Anonymous before LulzSec was formed.
Sci-Tech Today reports that Monsegur’s criminal past includes “gun possession, purchasing stolen jewelry and electronics, running up $15,000 on a former employer’s credit card and referring people seeking prescription pain pills to illegal drug suppliers,” crimes that he will be punished for following its compliance with the FBI. His agreement with the agency may also see him enter witness protection and assume a new identity, should he escape a a long jail sentence.
Today’s gesturing appears to be a move by Anonymous to distance itself from events past, boasting that “the Establishment will lose” and that “the anger of the people” will motivate it to continue its hacking campaigns.
With 280,000 followers on Twitter alone, Anonymous still garners an impressive amount of support. However, with identities revealed and confidence in its members well and truly smashed, some members may start believing it’s a matter of when, not if, their acts will catch up with them.

Vatican confirms second Anonymous hack

By Tom Espiner

The Vatican has confirmed a second attack against its website by the Anonymous hacking group, and an infiltration of its radio database.


A Vatican spokesman on Tuesday downplayed the impact of the hack on the Vatican Radio database, saying the hackers had gained access to an old server.

"There was a second attack we are aware of directed against the [Vatican IP] address," said the spokesman. "[Concerning] Vatican Radio, a database on an old server was accessed. Thirty percent of the information on the server was so outdated it was of no use."

Anonymous claimed to have hacked Vatican Radio in protest against the Vatican Radio allegedly using "repeaters with power transmission largely outside the bounds of the law" in a Pastebin post on Monday.

AnonOps Communications, a recognised mouthpiece of the hacktivist collective, published a link to the Pastebin post on Tuesday. Comments on the post called for alleged LulzSec members arrested last week by the FBI and international law enforcement to be freed.

"Almost any protest which bares the request 'free the LulzSec team' is a honourable cause [sic]," said the comment.

Anonymous first took down the Vatican website last Wednesday, in protest against the Roman Catholic Church, which Anonymous accused of actions including the molestation of children by priests.

The first successful Vatican hack was made a day after the LulzSec arrests which saw prominent LulzSec hacker 'Sabu' — Hector Xavier Monsegur — exposed as an FBI informant.

The AnonymousIRC Twitter channel said on Tuesday that the FBI had done Anonymous "a favour" by arresting Sabu.

"Not rocket science," said the Tweet. "Really. Hacks will continue and so will the anger of the people. Arresting Sabu is not a win for the FBI it was a favour [sic]."

Norton Antivirus source code

LulzSec and Anonymous appear to have continued operations since the arrests. On Friday, Anonymous released Norton Antivirus 2006 source code, which the collective had threatened to do in February, after the release of Symantec PCAnywhere source code. The source code was stolen in 2006, according to Symantec.

 Symantec can confirm that the source code for 2006 versions of Norton Antivirus posted by Anonymous is authentic. 
– Symantec
The source code was released to the Pirate Bay file-sharing site, with a quote attributed to Jeremy Hammond, one of the alleged LulzSec hackers arrested the FBI last week. Hammond is alleged to be the hacker 'sup_g'.

"Our civilization is facing a radical, imminent mass change," said the quote. "The alternative to the hierarchical power structure is based on mutual aid and group consensus."

Symantec downplayed the release of the code on Friday, but confirmed the code was bona fide.

"Symantec can confirm that the source code for 2006 versions of Norton Antivirus posted by Anonymous is authentic," the company said in a statement. "The exposure of this code poses no increased risk to Norton or Symantec customers. This code is part of the original cache of code for 2006 versions of the products that Anonymous has claimed to possess over the last few weeks."

The code was "so old that current out-of-the-box security settings will suffice against any possible threats that might materialize as a result of this incident", said Symantec, which added that it expected Anonymous to release source code for 2006 versions of Norton Internet Security.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Anonymous Documentary We Are Legion The Story Of The Hacktivists Premieres At SXSW

By DJ Pangburn




Last night, “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” a documentary covering the hacking collective Anonymous, premiered at SXSW.
I’ve spent a great deal of my time here at Death and Taxes attempting to examine the symbolic context by which Anonymous operates on political, social and economic levels. While I freely acknowledge that hacking of credit cards is a criminal act, I am quite convinced that DDoS attacks are a legitimate form of digital protest.
Additionally, I believe that in a country and a world in which power structures operate behind the veil of state secrecy and national security, that if information—whether it reveals bankrupt ethics, corruption, or otherwise bad behavior—finds its way into the hands of WikiLeaks or other publishers by way of hacking, then so be it. I believe that such a force can simultaneously fight alongside Arab Spring protesters, but also on American shores against banks and investors who crashed the economy in 2008; and that the latter is not crime on the order of Al Qaeda or Timothy McVeigh’s violent theatrics. Greedy, unethical bankers and corporate lobbyists are as illegitimate as dictators: the former often operate in the shadows, while the other exerts power openly. Both act without compunction.
If governments were more open with their people and didn’t act irresponsibly, or weren’t so easily and efficiently corrupted by business interests, then the hacking would not be necessary. If a man is bound against his will, he is liable to gnash his teeth at his captor—so it is with Anonymous.
I first encountered Anonymous while living in Los Angeles, where they initially donned the Guy Fawkes masks in opposition to Scientology. Naturally, I was supportive, not only because the visuals were humorous, but because it was an effective means of protesting an ethically corrupt cult.
In the summer of 2010, I encountered an individual who foresaw that Anonymous was about to evolve from merely causing The Church of Scientology and Sony grief into a mechanism for fighting political, social and economic injustice. This was several months before Operation Avenge Assange, when I couldn’t possibly have comprehended the full import of Anonymous’ next move.
A lot has been said about Anonymous by the federal government, the private sector, and journalists, and many of their points are valid within the context of current federal cybercrime laws. As with any power structure, though, its power is to be preserved not through its integrity, but in how well it can distort the atmosphere of dissident opinion and action, and feed the lies to the masses. It should come as no surprise then that the US government is attempting to define Anonymous as “terrorists.”
Hopefully, “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” directed by Brian Knappenberger, will go some way in checking the distortion from the federal politicians and their benefactors on Wall Street.
Appearing in the documentary is Gabriella Coleman, an anthropologist who researches hacktivism. You can read my interview with her here.

Anonymous Affiliate Steals 40,000 Credit Card Numbers

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Anonymous made fraudulent charges worth $700K in Stratfor attack

Meghan Kelly


The FBI has revealed that there were $700,000 worth of fraudulent credit card charges after hacktivist group Anonymous stole nearly 200 gigabytes of data, including credit card numbers, from security firm Stratfor.
“At least $700,000 worth of unauthorized charges were made to credit card accounts that were among those stolen during the Stratfor Hack,” said Mahil Patel of the FBI to a judge overseeing the Stratfor case.
Stratfor, which has a number of high-profile clients including the Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin, and Bank of America, was breached in December. Soon thereafter hacker Jeremy Hammond was arrested for leading the attack.
Anonymous stole a large amount of user names and passwords, in addition to some 60,000 credit card records, after exploiting vulnerabilities to reach Stratfor’s servers. At the time, Anonymous said it would use the credit cards to make charitable donations — money that would obviously never see the hands of the needy. One VentureBeat tipster claimed Anonymous actually charged $300 worth of hooded sweatshirts to an account.
The damages may still be growing, however. The FBI explained that the $700,000 figure did not include any charges on credit card records that have not yet been reviewed. The number Patel offered the judge only referenced records reviewed between December 6 and early February.
In addition to the credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information, Anonymous also stole emails from Stratfor executives, including chief executive George Friedman. These emails were subsequently fed to Wikileaks which, with participation from a number of publications around the world, began publishing the emails in late February. Some emails held what Wikileaks considered damning information, including odd nicknames such as “Hizzies” for members of Hezbollah and “Adogg” for referencing Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

'Anonymous' abortion service hacker pleads guilty

By 


A West Midlands man who hacked into and defaced the website of the UK's largest abortion service has pleaded guilty to two offences under the Computer Misuse Act.

James Jeffery, who used the handle 'Pablo Escobar', hacked the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) on Thursday. He defaced the front page with an anti-abortion message and the Anonymous logo, and took details of people who had visited the site looking for advice.




The defaced BPAS website, shown in an image uploaded by the hacker
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday — one count related to hacking the BPAS web server, and the other to taking the personal data from a contacts database.

According to a report in The Guardian, Jeffery took around 10,000 records of women who had registered with the site. He had boasted on Twitter that he would publish the records, but told the court that he changed his mind as doing so would be "wrong".

It appears the records included names and email addresses, but BPAS said that the identity of women receiving treatment remained safe.

Jeffery also identified vulnerabilities in the websites of the FBI, CIA and houses of parliament, the report stated.

The hacker claimed affiliation with Anonymous, but there has so far been no suggestion that anyone else from the collective had anything to do with the BPAS hack.

Jeffery will be sentenced at a later date.

Rome- Hacker gang Anonymous targets Vatican again

Credits to 




(AGI) Rome- The Holy See is being targeted by hackers from the gang Anonymous once again. Just days after a first attack which generated several problems for the official website, the hackers are back on the rampage. "It pains us to tell you that your systems are less safe than you would like to believe because, while the media furore focused on the vatican.va blackout, we took the liberty of penetrating your system a little". The main target of the new strike is Vatican Radio: "it is now a renowned fact that you use equipment whose transmission strength exceeds legal limits by far, and the correlation between exposure to high-intensity electromagnetic emissions and serious illnesses such as leukemia, cancer and others is also a sad and proven fact. Many citizens unlucky enough to live within range of your repeaters have tried to undertake legal proceedings in light of their declining health conditions. Anonymous cannot tolerate these crimes, which continue to go unpunished, and would like to remind you that you are 'guests' on Italian soil." In the past days there has been a surge in attacks at the hands of the group, often targeting the websites of the police, carabinieri, Interior Ministry, government, Trenitalia and, yesterday, Equitalia. . .

Symantec is unmoved by Norton Anti Virus source release


by Dave neal


SECURITY FIRM Symantec was expecting hacker group Anonymous to release the source code for its 2006 Norton Anti Virus product.