Israeli military, intelligence sites down after ‘Anonymous’ threat …….

http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Related: ISRAEL’S WEB WAR DECLARATION: HASBARA GOES WWW!

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Important update below the article

Demonstrators wearing anonymous masks participate in a sit-in protest near the Bank of Italy’s headquarters in Rome October 12, 2011. (Reuters/Stefano Rellandini)

Maan News Agency | Nov 6, 2011

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli army and intelligence agencies’ websites were offline on Sunday, two days after hacker group Anonymous warned it would “strike back” for Israel’s capture of Gaza-bound ships on Friday.

Anonymous, a network of online activists who have attacked government and financial websites around the world, released a statement Friday warning that the group would take action against the navy’s seizure of two ships aiming to break Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“Your actions are illegal, against democracy, human rights, international, and maritime laws,” the statement addressed to the government of Israel and posted on Youtube and Anonymous-affiliated sites said.

“Justifying war, murder, illegal interception, and pirate-like activities under an illegal cover of defense will not go unnoticed by us or the people of the world.”

Websites for Israel’s army, internal Shin Bet security service, and Mossad spy agency could not be accessed on Sunday. It could not be confirmed that Anonymous was responsible.

An Israeli army spokesman said it was a “strange coincidence” but he could not confirm that hacking was responsible.

“Initial investigations conducted by the internet company indicate problem with the internet servers,” a military spokeswoman added. She said they did not know whether it came as a result of a hack.

In its statement Anonymous slammed Israel’s deadly raid on a flotilla heading to Gaza last year, which killed nine Turkish nationals.

“If you continue blocking humanitarian vessels to Gaza or repeat the dreadful actions of May 31st, 2010 against any Gaza Freedom Flotillas then you will leave us no choice but to strike back. Again and again, until you stop,” the statement said.

Source and more at Maan News Agency

 

related news :

Jailed for Sailing to Gaza, Challenging the Blockade

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US protesters rally to #OccupyWallStreet …….

http://stream.aljazeera.com

Protesters gather in New York’s financial hub for demonstration against what organisers call corporate dominance.

 Building on the momentum of the Arab Spring movements, protesters in the US are gathering in New York City’s financial district in a bid to show mass resistance against the dominance of the country’s financial system.

What started as an online campaign has translated into action on the ground, with protest organisers calling for thousands of people to “occupy Wall Street” on Saturday.

“On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months,” organisers wrote on the www.occupywallst.org website.

“Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.”

The leaderless movement includes hacktivist group Anonymous among the protesters. The group released a video online calling on people to take to the streets on September 17.

Similar to the structure of the hacktivist group itself there is no defined central authority, but Twitter accounts like @AnonOps are hubs of information for those attending the protests in person and virtually.

The Stream is following events in New York City and around the globe via social media and will update the elements below as the story progresses.

These are some of the social media elements featured in this episode of The Stream.

[View the story "Social media elements from #OccupyWallStreet" on Storify]

Thumbnail image: NEW YORK – JANUARY 22: A tour bus passes the Wall Street bull in the financial district January 22, 2007 in New York City. In a study commissioned by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), it was determined that New York could lose its place as the financial capital of the world in as little as 10 years. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Anonymous hit on US defense contractor ……………..

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com  

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

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ISTANBUL – From online dispatches

Hacker group Anonymous released a trove of military email addresses and passwords it claimed to have plundered from the network of US defense consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

Anonymous’ propaganda poster for Operation Egypt, its solidarity campaign in support of Egypt’s street protests. Image courtesy of Anonymous

Anonymous, the international cyberactivist network, has announced the release of 90,000 military email logins which its members obtained in one of the biggest-ever hacking operations.

According to Al Jazeera, the group promised that the publication of the documents on several websites on Monday is only the first in a series of leaks intended to show the intelligence community’s vulnerability.

This round of emails comes from Booz Allen Hamilton, a management consultancy firm based in Virginia, United States.

Booz Allen Hamilton is active in the Middle East and North Africa, with its regional headquarters in the United Arab Emirates.

“With a multidisciplinary approach, Booz Allen provides robust cybersecurity solutions to a broad range of clients and industries, enabling them to confidently pursue the opportunities offered by the cyber revolution,” reads a statement on the company’s website.

The company on its Twitter feed it wrote: “As part of @BoozAllen security policy, we generally do not comment on specific threats or actions taken against our systems.”

A flurry of commentary around the operation began immediately on the microblogging site Twitter under the hashtag #MilitaryMeltdownMonday.

There were hints that other similar military or intelligence contractors may be next to catch attention in the emerging “Antisec” movement.

“ATTN Intelligence community: Your contractors have failed you. Tomorrow is the beginning,” an Anon known as Sabu wrote on Twitter under the handle of @anonymouSabu.

Sabu’s tweets, widely retweeted by other Anons, promised “two of the biggest releases for Anonymous in the last four years”.

Hours earlier, Anons breached the security of IRC Federal, an IT contractor that works for federal agencies in the US, including the FBI and NASA.

A representative at IRC Federal’s head office in West Virginia told the company had reported the incident to the authorities and had no further comment.

He said it was not clear why the firm, which employs less than 35 people, had been targeted.

A statement from Anonymous called on the firm’s employees to stop working for “corporations and a government which uses unethical means to corner vast amounts of wealth”.

“They [IRC] brag about their multi-million dollar partnership with the FBI, Army, Navy, NASA, and the Department of Justice, selling out their “skills” to the US empire. So we laid nuclear waste to their systems, owning their pathetic windows box, dropping their databases and private emails, and defaced their professional looking website,” the statement said.

The amorphous group is in constant evolution, though freedom of speech remains an underlying preoccupation.

It rushed to the defence of WikiLeaks, launching high-profile attacks against financial companies when they responded to governments’ requests to cut the whistle-blowing website’s income.

The latest operations come on the eve of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal hearing against his extradition.

With its support for the Arab uprisings, it went from being largely based in Western countries to gaining popularity amongst like-minded activists in North Africa and the Middle East.

Gabriella Coleman, an anthropologist at NYU’s media department, said that Anonymous has “set the bar very high” in the buildup to this latest series of operations.

“If it is indeed a splash,” she said of this week’s operations, “I think it’ll be a defining moment.”

The hacking of Booz Allen Hamilton and IRC Federal had been conducted in what appeared to be a more open, inclusive manner than similar hacking activities in the past, she said.

“With every twist and turn, new possibilities have opened up.”

Anonymous’ regular online meeting place, the Anonops Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a secure form of online chat room, has been taken offline by “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks carried out by an unknown group. The site, where Anons discuss their operations has been unavailable since Friday and was still unavailable at the time of writing.

In recent months, the movement has come under growing international pressure. Its members have been arrested in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, while in the US, its members have been targeted by subpoenas.

Yet, as Monday’s operation demonstrated, the Anons are growing bolder than ever. A defiant press release followed the crackdown in Italy, reiterating that the groups’ lack of leadership or structure made it impossible to dismantle.

“All Anonymous members operate at the same level. Those arrested are not ‘dangerous hackers’ as the media calls them, but people like you. They have been arrested while peacefully protesting for their and your rights. Our protest will continue louder than ever.”

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Anonymous Message to NATO

Monday, June 6, 2011

http://circleof13.blogspot.com

Good evening, NATO.

We are Anonymous.

It has come to our attention that a NATO draft report has classified Anonymous a potential „threat to member states’ security”, and that you seek retaliation against us.

It is true that Anonymous has committed what you would call ‘cyber-attacks’ in protest against several military contractors, companies, lawmakers, and governments, and has continuously sought to fight against threats to our freedoms on the Internet. And since you consider state control of the Internet to be in the best interest of the various nations of your military alliance, you therefore consider us a potential threat to international security.

So we would like to make it clear that we, in reality, pose no threat to the people of your nations. Anonymous is not a reckless swarm attacking the websites of governments and companies out of hatred or spite. We fight for freedom. For ourselves, and the people of the world, we seek to preserve the liberty granted to the millions of people who have found it on the Internet.

In your draft, you mention the „data intelligence company” HBGary Federal, and how they were hacked by Anonymous. You use this as justification that we are a threat. What you conveniently fail to mention is that HBGary itself was engaged in illegal activity, including but not limited to: being contracted by the United States Chamber of Commerce to spy on & discredit unions and progressive groups, being contracted by the Bank of America to launch a campaign of misinformation against Wikileaks and it’s supporters (going so far as to blackmail journalists), developing a new type of Windows rootkit to spy upon individuals, and developing astroturfing software that could make an army of fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues.

That this company which „tries to protect the US Government from hackers” was partaking in such illegal activity against ordinary, uninvolved citizens, whether it be for „the aid of security” or not, is completely disgraceful and utterly unacceptable.

We care not whether the actions we have taken in this struggle have complied with laws of the United States or any other country. What your lot fail to understand is that we live in cyberspace. The only laws that apply are the laws set forth by our individual consciences. We break your nations’ laws when we recognize those laws to stand between the people and their freedom.

Anonymous is not simply „a group of super hackers”. Anonymous is the embodiment of freedom on the web. We exist as a result of the Internet, and humanity itself. This frightens you. It only seems natural that it would. Governments, corporations, and militaries know how to control individuals. It frustrates you that you do not control us. We have moved to a world where our freedom is in our own hands. We owe you nothing for it. We stand for freedom for every person around the world. You stand in our way.

We hope you come to see that your attempts to censor and control our existence are futile. But if this is not the case, if you continue to object to our freedoms — we shall not relent.

We do not fear your tyranny. You cannot win a battle against an entity you do not understand. You can take down our networks, arrest every single one of us that you can backtrace, read every bit of data ever shared from computer to computer for the rest of this age, and you will still lose.

So come at me bro. You can retaliate against us in any manner you choose. Lock down the web. Throw us in prison. Take it all away from us. Anonymous will live on.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

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Lessons from Anonymous on cyberwar

http://english.aljazeera.net

After Anonymous hacked into HBGary’s network and published over 71,000 private emails, signs of a brewing cyberwar were more troubling, hinting that this sort of activity has been going on for some time  [CC - GlamourShootR] “Cyberwar” is a heavily loaded term, which conjures up Hollywood inspired images of hackers causing oil refineries to explode. Some security celebrities came out very strongly against the thought of it, claiming that cyberwar was less science, and more science fiction. Last year on May 21, the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) reported reaching initial operational capability, and news stories abound of US soldiers undergoing basic cyber training, which all point to the idea that traditional super powers are starting to explore this arena. Recent activities with one government contractor and Anonymous, however, show clearly that cyber operations have been going on for a long while, and that the private sector has been only too ready to fill the cyber mercenary role for piles of cash. Anonymous vs. HBGary Early in 2011, Aaron Barr submitted a talk to a security conference in which he planned to “focus on outing the major players of the anonymous group”. Barr, the CEO of Washington-based HBGary Federal, had spent time “infiltrating the group” using multiple identities on social networks and Anonymous IRC channels. He was confident enough of his analysis to publish parts of it through the Financial Times. Barr (and indeed the rest of the company) planned to milk the exposure, lining up a string of meetings to profit from the research, from an interview with 60 Minutes to multiple potential deals with federal agencies. The CEO of HBGary prepared a post explaining how they had flexed their “muscle today by revealing the identities of all the top management within the group Anonymous.” Anonymous were quick to respond. Even while Barr was proclaiming victory and threatening to “take the gloves off”, Anonymous were burrowing deeper into his network. By the end of the attack, Barr’s iPad was reputedly erased, his LinkedIn and Twitter accounts were hijacked, the HBGary Federal website was defaced, proprietary HBGary source code was stolen and with over 71,000 private emails now published to the internet, HBGary was laid bare. In this, was our first lesson: The asymmetry of cyber warfare. HBGary, a well-funded, pedigreed security company with strong offensive cyber capabilities was given a beating by a non-funded, loosely organised hacker collective. The incident holds a string of lessons for those wishing to secure their networks from attack, but what’s far more interesting is the leaked emails that give us insight into the murky world of “cyber contractors” and what’s being called “the military digital complex”. HBGary: cyberwar arms dealer HBGary was formed by security research veteran Greg Hoglund, who has made a name for himself over the years doing research on rootkit technology. A rootkit is a piece of software installed to ensure that an attacker is able to maintain control of a compromised computer. Rootkits are designed to avoid detection once installed. Hoglund’s emails claim that his current products were built with “about 2 million in Uncle Sam’s money”, but this alone is no shocker. Governments fund technology research all the time, and HBGary were also building a commercial product. What is shocking though, are some of the other details that came out in the wash. The emails make it clear that HBGary sold rootkits and keyloggers (tools to record and exfiltrate keystrokes surreptitiously) to government contractors for prices between $60,000 and $200,000 each. These pieces of “malware” would be tailored specifically to the clients needs, which undoubtedly reflected the state of the ultimate targets e.g.: “..test the tool against McAfee and Norton”. Some rootkits were fairly routine, while others clearly betrayed specific needs: “Runs on MS Windows XP sp2 and Office 2003, finds MS Office files using the XRK technique to exfiltrate files”. Even next generation rootkits were explored - to remain active despite the removal of a hard drive or to persist on a machine through the video card. Make no mistake, these were offensive cyber tools, made to order. 0day exploits Rootkits allow you to maintain control of a compromised machine, but one would still need an initial compromise vector. Once again, the mail archives deliver: HBGary sales personnel can be seen making reference to “Juicy Fruit”, their internal name for HBGary supplied 0day exploits. 0day refers to exploits that are currently unknown to the software vendor, making defence against 0day attacks sometimes impossible. One email lists their 0day arsenal, which included attacks against Adobe Flash, Windows 2003, Sun Java and a host of other products. The emails even differentiate between exploits that have been sold to a customer and those that are still exclusive. Other emails include discussions on selling back-doored software to foreign governments and plans to create “themes for video games and movies appropriate for Middle East & Asia. These theme packs would contain back doors.” Clearly cyber attacks against foreign nationals appear to be fair game. If the ethical line on such matters was slightly blurry, the line was completely obliterated with plans to combat WikiLeaks by targeting supporters of the cause: From – Tue Feb 08 09:06:48 2011 Subject: Re: first cut From: Aaron Barr <aaron@hbgary.com> Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 08:32:12 -0500 Cc: Eli Bingham <ebingham@palantir.com>, BERICO-Sam.Kremin <skremin@bericotechnologies.com> To: Matthew Steckman <msteckman@palantir.com> One other thing.  I think we need to highlight people like Glenn Greenwald.  Glenn was critical in the Amazon to OVH transition and helped wikileaks provide access to information during the transition. It is this level of support we need to attack.  These are established proffessionals that have a liberal bent, but ultimately most of them if pushed will choose professional preservation over cause, such is the mentality of most business professionals.  Without the support of people like Glenn wikileaks would fold. Aaron (Subsequent emails show that the project to target WikiLeaks was to be sold for $2 million dollars.) Maybe HBGary was an outlier? At this point we could make the jump that HBGary was a single bad apple, operating on the other side of the ethical line all on its own, but we would be wrong. The email above indicates that the project to discredit WikiLeaks (and their supporters) was a joint operation by HBGary Federal, Palantir and BericoTechnologies, although the other companies involved were quick to distance themselves from HBGary after the Anonymous hack. Endgame Systems, a company with almost no public footprint were also thrust into the spotlight, when several of their previously well-guarded reports and company presentations were shared amongst the emails. In an early email to Aaron Barr, Endgame Systems made it clear that they had “been very careful NOT to have public face on our company”. The CEO of Endgame Systems was clear: “Please let HBgary know we don’t ever want to see our name in a press release.” So what exactly do the secretive Endgame Systems do? The company started by ex ISS and CIA executives promises (in private) “to provide our customers with the highest quality offensive CNA/CNE (Computer Network Attack/Computer Network Exploitation) software in the world”. Their overview makes it clear that they serve “the special requirements of the United States DoD and Intelligence Community”. Their leaked PowerPoint deck advertises subscriptions of $2,500,000 per year for access to 0day exploits, with slightly more affordable “intelligence feeds” effectively selling information on vulnerable servers by geographic region. With a single report (and a big enough chequebook) you can find out all the servers vulnerable to attack in the Venezuelan government, along with the software required to exploit them. [Downloadable file] Even just the CV’s sent to HBGary for job applications turned out to be instructive, revealing details that are not often circulated in the public arena. One candidate had “managed team of 15 persons, responsible for coordinating offensive computer network operations for the United States Department of Defense and other federal agencies.” Clearly offensive cyber operations far predate the 2009 founding of USCYBERCOM. The email conversations make clear what many have known, that offensive cyber operations against individuals and nation states have been going on for a long, long time. Experts who claim otherwise are misinformed at best, or actively spreading misinformation at worst. When it comes to cyberwar, the matter is best handled by William Gibson’s famous quote: “The future is already here - it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Haroon Meer is the founder of Thinkst, an applied research company with a deep focus on information security. He has contributed to several books on information security and has presented research at industry and academic conferences around the world. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’ s editorial policy.

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“Anonymous” Hackers Release Bank of America Emails, Allegedly Showing “Corruption and Fraud”

http://www.alternet.org

Anonymous, the WikiLeaks-supporting hacker-activist group, has released a batch of emails leaked by a former Bank of America employee who alleges that a division of the bank was trying to hide damning information on foreclosures. In the lead-up to the leak, Anonymous noted that the documents reveal “corruption and fraud” at the bank — the biggest in the country in terms of assets.

A Bank of America spokesperson provided a statement to Reuters confirming that the documents were stolen by a former employee of Balboa Insurance, which was acquired by the bank in 2008, but denying that the documents prove any wrongdoing on the bank’s part. “We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue,” the spokesperson said.

The New York Times’ DealBook reports:

Balboa deals in so-called force-placed insurance coverage on mortgages. The e-mail messages concern the removal of information linking loans to other documentation….

The e-mails dating from November 2010 concern correspondence among Balboa employees in which they discuss taking steps to alter the record about certain documents “that went out in error.” The documents were related to loans by GMAC, a Bank of America client, according to the e-mails.

“The following GMAC DTN’s need to have the images removed from Tracksource/Rembrandt,” an operations team manager at Balboa wrote. DTN refers to document tracking number, and Tracksource/Rembrandt is an insurance tracking system.

The response he receives: “I have spoken to my developer and she stated that we cannot remove the DTNs from Rembrandt, but she can remove the loan numbers, so the documents will not show as matched to those loans.”

According to the e-mails, approval was given to remove the loan numbers from the documents.

Here’s what the anonymous former Balboa staffer had to say (via Huffington Post):

My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group (soon to be rebranded as QBE First by Australian Reinsurance Company QBE according to internal communication sent to all Balboa associates) is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need….

How is Balboa able to charge such inflated premiums and get away with it?

It’s all very simple.

First, when you call in to customer service, for say, GMAC, you’re not actually speaking to a GMAC employee. You’re actually speaking to a Bank of America associate working for Balboa Insurance who is required by their business to business contract with GMAC to state that they are, in fact, an employee of GMAC. The reasoning is that if you do not realize you’re speaking to a Bank of America/Balboa Insurance employee, you have no reason to question the validity of the information you are receiving from them. If you call your insurance agent and ask them for the lienholder information for your GMAC/Wells Fargo/etc lien (home or auto) you will be provided with their name, but the mailing address will be a PO Box at one of Balboa’s 3 main tracking locations (Moon Township/Coreaopolis, PA, Dallas/Ft Worth, TX, or Phoenix/Chandler, AZ)

More details from that message here.

Anonymous has posted the emails to the website BankofAmericaSuck.com, which was experiencing intermittent outages this morning (likely due to high traffic). The documents are also available for direct download here. The leak was announced on Twitter with the hashtag #BlackMonday.

By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from 358 

Posted at March 14, 2011, 7:34 am

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