Anonymous To Sony: We Didn't Hit You. But When We Do Hit You, You'll Know It..

"SONY, I AM DISAPPOINT"  (Anonymous via Godlike Productions)  Aww..  Sony just made a friend..  Excerpts:



For Immediate Distribution
Press Release
May 7th, 2011
A 'HiveMind Effort' from
Anonymous Holdings LLC (Bermuda)

Yesterday, an article appeared in Financial Times, alleging Anonymous' involvement in the data and identity theft of some hundred million users of Sony's Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment. This crime is now being investigated by the Homeland Security Agency (HSA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and other legal entities.

Once again Anonymous has been blamed for a security breach, this time by the  journalist Joseph Menn, in his article "Hackers point finger over Sony incursion" [1].  Here, Anonymous wishes to lay out our case against these allegations and false assumptions:
..
Third, in the primary article, Menn claims that a "member" of Anonymous, Kayla, made comments as an apparent admission of guilt from the "leaders". Kayla reportedly said, "If you say you are Anonymous, and do something as Anonymous, then Anonymous did it". This statement is inherently weak; an equivalent statement would be that "I confess to being human. Humans performed the attack".
..
Sony has been accused of false billing, especially in the repairs department: customers who provided credit card details for an MMORPG are charged $150 for repairs to PS3s that they don't own; repairs are double billed and then referred to retailers; equipment is charged $150 multiple times (2-4) for repairs that aren't performed. [7 and Further Reading]

And:

Outraged about the blatant cover up and shameful misdeeds, other Internet hacker groups will apparently proceed with attacks [9] over Sony's mishandling of the matter. These reactions prove that requesting legislation to cover up corporate crimes and the abuse of law is frowned upon by all online communities, not just the Legion of Anonymous. Apparently Sony will have to learn the hard way that corporate malfeasance will not go unpunished. When the dust settles Sony may have more to fear from a massive class action lawsuit by their user base than the brief actions of the Global Hacker Nerd Brigade, Anonymous... Let THE GAMEs begin. :>

UhBAM!

File Under: Cyber War: This Could Be Big, or Dry Run?..

Foreign hackers attack Canadian government Excerpts:
An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government from China has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information, and forced at least two key departments off the Internet, CBC News has learned.
..
Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyberattacks were traced back to computer servers in China.
But they caution there is no way of knowing whether the hackers are Chinese, or some other nationality routing their cybercrimes through China to cover their tracks.
And:
..Sources have confirmed the attackers successfully penetrated the computer systems at the federal government’s two main economic nerve centres, the Finance Department and Treasury Board.
The hackers apparently managed to take control of computers in the offices of senior government executives as part of a scheme to steal the key passwords that unlock entire government data systems.
And:
For years, experts including the federal auditor general have been warning that security on the government’s networks is woefully inadequate and open to cyberattack. (This is why it will be disastrous for many, many governments and organizations is some full scale cyber war does erupt..)

For a trial run, this was pretty successful, as the next several attacks on slow-to-non-responsive governments or organizations targeted by these hackers will be. I'm guessing the next attack will be larger in scope, "show-ier," and more widely covered in the press. This is not to say that this attack won't be heavily covered in the press: It's fairly new, and has not completed one news cycle yet, but having said that, each time these hackers strike, the impact will be larger than the time before..

Stuxnet: Imagine My Surprise

Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay Excerpts:

The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guarded heart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal.

Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a new, equally secret role — as a critical testing ground in a joint American and Israeli effort to undermine Iran’s efforts to make a bomb of its own.

Behind Dimona’s barbed wire, the experts say, Israel has spun nuclear centrifuges virtually identical to Iran’s at Natanz, where Iranian scientists are struggling to enrich uranium. They say Dimona tested the effectiveness of the Stuxnet computer worm, a destructive program that appears to have wiped out roughly a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges and helped delay, though not destroy, Tehran’s ability to make its first nuclear arms.

“To check out the worm, you have to know the machines,” said an American expert on nuclear intelligence. “The reason the worm has been effective is that the Israelis tried it out.”
Though American and Israeli officials refuse to talk publicly about what goes on at Dimona, the operations there, as well as related efforts in the United States, are among the newest and strongest clues suggesting that the virus was designed as an American-Israeli project to sabotage the Iranian program.

This comes as a total shock. Really. I won't admit otherwise until such time when everyone already knows and the point is irrelevant.

Big Mac Attack! Shaq Attack? Oh Right: Hack Attack!

It seems to be "on" in cybersphere..  Hackers hit Mastercard and Visa over Wikileaks row  Opening salvo excerpts in italics:

Hackers have attacked the websites of credit card giants Mastercard and Visa.

The attacks came after the Anonymous group of hackers pledged to pursue firms that have withdrawn services from Wikileaks.

Mastercard payments were disrupted but the firm said there was "no impact" on people's ability to use their cards.

Visa's website also experienced problems. The attacks came after both companies stopped processing payments to the whistle-blowing site.

So far, it's Hackers, Master Card, Visa, and now.. Twitter..

Entries on the Twitter page of Operation Payback, the Anonymous campaign, said the Visa site had been taken down.
Then..
But in a day of fast-moving developments, the Anonymous Twitter page then went down, replaced by a message from Twitter saying the account had been suspended.  (I'm guessing they're next, or on the list..)
..
Earlier the BBC was contacted by a payment firm linked to Mastercard that said its customers had "a complete loss of service".

Master Card downplays the event, as expected..

"While we have seen limited interruption in some web-based services, cardholders can continue to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
And:
Anonymous, which claimed to have carried out the attack, is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.

It said that it has hit several targets, including the website of the prosecutors who are acting in a legal case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

An Anonymous member told AFP news agency the group would extend their campaign to anyone with "an anti-Wikileaks agenda".

These people are fucking serious, and they're strong enough to inflict some serious damage before they're all apprehended or decide they're done.  As a precaution, you might consider how you'll live your life with extended Internet(and possibly electrical, but that's another topic..) outages, banking disruptions, distribution chaos..  Me?  I plan on lots of jogging, yoga, and P90X.

Lest You Forgot WikiLeaks Had Hackers On Their Side..

Payback: Bank That Froze Julian Assange's Bank Account Has Now Been Taken Down By Hackers.  Assange was a hacker.   Those aligned with him would be fairly close to him in abilities, I would guess.  Do you really think they couldn't be say..  seven jumps ahead in their overall strategies?  I'm sure we'll see many variations of today's events forthcoming as the the Cyber War heats up..


Just a thought.