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Are Wikileaks’ Defenders Striking All of Us?

By Bronwyn's Harbor on December 8, 2010 at 5:27 PM in Current Affairs

A couple hours ago, I heard on TV that the hackers have attacked Visa today, shutting it down. (Yesterday, they got to Mastercard.)

I just got a Twitter message from Jake Tapper (ABC News), via my Facebook page, that SarahPalinUSA is under attack. (Probably, it’s a denial of service attack, which overwhelms servers with thousands of hits per minute.)

I struck the third paragraph. Google e-mail is working for me now.

I’d set the story below up to run in tonight’s open thread. But I’m going to share it with you now:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DCMedia Girl is a “friend” of mine on my Facebook page. She posts links to stories that she finds particularly interesting. Here’s a compilation of her finds today:

The “distributed denial of service” attack was apparently orchestrated by a “hacktivist” group calling itself Anonymous, which has in recent days temporarily paralysed the websites of Post Finance, the Swiss bank which closed WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange’s account, and the website of the Swedish prosecution office.

Twitter is next in its sights, following allegations that the social networking site is “censoring” visibility of the breadth of discussion of WikiLeaks by preventing it from appearing in Twitter’s “trends”. Twitter has denied that it is doing this, saying its systems identify topics that are “being talked about more right now than they were previously” – which doesn’t include WikiLeaks.

But who, or what, is – or are – Anonymous?

A 22-year-old spokesman, who wished to be known only as “Coldblood”, told the Guardian that the group – which is about a thousand strong – is “quite a loose band of people who share the same kind of ideals” and wish to be a force for “chaotic good”.

There is no real command structure in the group, the London-based spokesman said, while most of its members are teenagers who are “trying to make an impact on what happens with the limited knowledge they have”. But others are parents, IT professionals and people who happen to have time – and resources – on their hands.

The group has gained notoriety for its attacks on copyright-enforcement agencies and organisations such as the Church of Scientology. …

(Read all.)

  • EllenD

    Got 3 gmail accounts open on my desk now and have been chatting all day. No problem.

  • guest

    “While we don’t have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons,” the group said in a statement. “We want transparency and we counter censorship … we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy.”
    If you want transparency then you’d tell us who you are. Or are you afraid that some harm might come to you if your information is released? Well then I guess you should be protected with some secrecy. We’ll just have to trust that you don’t cross the line and do anything you shouldn’t do because you’re the good guys.

    Sounds kinda familiar…

  • Bronwyn

    I logged out and logged back in.  Whew.  I’m going to remove that from the story.  It was just so odd because it’d never done that before, and Google is a favorite target for hackers.

  • Ferd Premium Saltine Berfle

    and wish to be a force for “chaotic good”.
    =====================
    What utter garbage. The two terms do not belong in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence. Chaos, being the absence of any sort of order, is never a good thing except to dimbulbs who are so self-loathing that chaos is the only thing that brings them relief from the self-absorbed tedium that characterizes their useless existences.

  • Janis

    “Chaos” also lets them redefine “good” such that it includes anything they happen to want to do, mostly composed of shoplifting guitar and magazines and porn.

  • My Site (click to edit)

    Well, it would make me feel good to see them rot in a jail cell with only Bubba and Leroy for company.

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    Well, it would make me feel good to see them rot in a jail cell with only Bubba and Leroy for company.

  • stodghie

    anyone saying that this flap and our lack of response doesn’t have consequences should put down what they are sniffing. obama sitting on his scrawny arse and doing nothing invites every computer nitwit out there to say they have a righteous cause and attack. damn the idiot leading the idiots.

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    I guarantee you, stodghie, that if the Wikiduds threatened to release the Whitey Tape, That One would fall all over himself to stop further releases of damaging information. 

  • seattlegonz

    it seems to be anti-obama sites…I heard that weazelzippers was down yesterday.

  • seattlegonz

    maybe the wikileaks was allowed as justification for shutting down websites and being able to blame it on someone else.

  • an observer

    Although the 3 billion dollars is not a large portion of the overall budget, it is 12% of the projected budget shortfall. Given that Israel has stated that they can exist without our aid (even if it was said in anger) and Bronwyn’s Harbor thinks $200,000 for a women’s toilet in the House is significant, cut their aid now instead of my father’s SS cost of living increase.

  • TeakWoodKite

    Bob Meola on the Berkley “Peace and Justice Commission” sponsored a resolution calling Private Manning a “hero”. The Berkley city counsel is set to vote on the matter next week. It passed by a vote of 7 to 4.

    Cyber Anarchy.

  • oowawa

    I really think the anarcho crowd has fallen out of love with Thee One–or at least the bloom is off the rose.  Anti-Obama sites (like this one for example) are definitely small potatos as cyber targets.  Drudge Report?  Maybe . . .

  • oowawa

    I like the way you think, seattlegonz . . .

  • Samb

    Didn’t “Obamabutt’s” oh so loyal minion use the internet to there
    advantage too? oh yeah, that was all on the up and up, wink, wink
    ;)

    Payback is a bitch!!!!!!
    No matter what form it comes in.
    Real karma dude. 

    :-P =me

  • MrX

    DNS is something else (it converts a domain name to an IP address).  Rather, the attack is a DDOS attack (Distributed Denial Of Service).  This kind of a attack tries to fill up the server with incomplete requests for a connection.  Connections are usually made quickly and a machine usually only need 10 (or hundreds on large servers) temporary connections for this purpose.  When they fill up and the server is left waiting for responses to complete connections, no new connections can be made for at least several minutes when the connection times out.  Of course, old attempts to connect by real users will also never complete and compounds the problem.

  • oowawa

    Oh,  Berkeley activists try so hard to be on the cutting edge of revolutionary social change.  And they’ve been at it for so many decades-it’s really kind of cute . . .

  • TeakWoodKite

    Registry Settings System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters]
    Value Name: TcpNumConnections
    Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
    Value Data: 0 – 0xfffffe

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Can you believe that, Teak?  When I saw this article, my jaw dropped open.  WTH is in the water out there in Berkeley?  Since when does stealing classified information and putting people’s lives at risk constitute being a “hero”?  The lunacy is just staggering.

  • oowawa

    What’s this, Teak?

  • TeakWoodKite

    Bubba has the guitar magazines and Leroy has the porn….

  • TeakWoodKite

    Meola was making comparisions to the Pentagon Papers…..I guess it is what happens after contracting chronic tinfoil syndrome….Hippies don’t grow old they find immortality in the drivers seat of a BMW.

    Depending on what side of the bay your on.

  • Geoff C.

    Yea teak what is this? Your underground bunker code. Or can I give 3 knocks on the door and a foot stomp to get in.

  • oowawa

    Funny–the internet has made both guitar lit and porn so easily accessible for free that they have lost just about all value as commodities . . .

  • TeakWoodKite

    They don’t call it Berzerkly for nothing. Just for good measure they John Yoo teaching at the university. They have tried to eject him to no avail…..

  • Samb

    p://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336806/WikiLeaks-Mastercard-payments-disrupted-hackers-launch-cyberwar-donations-ban.html

    What a shit storm, so much for “O” being master of his domain.

    Question – How do you stop a avalanche?
    Answer- If you are “O” you can’t.
    :-P

  • Docelder

    It’s the web servers that are being hit with the ddos. I prefer Apache running on hardened BSD Unix or Linux kernels myself. No registry keys in that.

  • Samb

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336806/WikiLeaks-Mastercard-payments-disrupted-hackers-launch-cyberwar-donations-ban.html

    What a shit storm, so much for “O” being master of his domain.

    Question- How do you stop a avalanche. 
    Answer- If you are “O” you can’t.
    :-P

  • TeakWoodKite

    one example of which registry entries I have seen effected on a server, due to a DDOS. Point being that there is a static value of how many IP connections and it can be overwhelmed quickly.

    Bottomline…really easy.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Check out this email I just got from Voters for Peace: 
    Challenging U.S. Empire and its illegal and unjust wars are at the heart of our work at VotersForPeace.US. 

    This mission calls us to the active defense of journalist Julian Assange, WikiLeaks.org and the courageous whisteblower(s) who are dealing the most powerful blow to U.S. Empire in recent memory with the continuous massive release of documents now rocking world capitals and dominating the global media. 

    In an attempt to intimidate and silence others, there is serious concern that the U.S. government will try to make Assange an example by manipulation of existing law or the creation of new laws retroactively applied charging him with crimes in the United States and pressuring other governments to extradite him to the USA. 

    We must create a culture where it is safe and supported to tell the truth about our government’s activities.  We must encourage more people to have the courage to reveal what they know about the murder, torture and corruption committed in our name. 

    We must stand up to protect all whisteblowers and truth tellers in the face of a U.S. government which is increasingly unaccountable to citizens, to domestic or international laws, or to our Constitution. 

    Recall that The New York Times has admitted it checked every document it published with the government beforehand. We must say to the Empire, “We draw the line HERE. Step back. We will not sit silently while you make this journalist and good government activist into a criminal to drive fear into the hearts of any other who would oppose you. We will resist.”  

    Please consider signing this petition as an expression of your support for peace, justice, and democracy, http://www.WikileaksIsDemocracy.org.  

    Sincerely, 

    Linda Schade
    Co-founder, Voters for Peace

  • oowawa

    Thanks for sharing, Rev. Amy–I feel so left out . . .

  • seattlegonz

    I don’t trust anything that obama does. The talking heads are all suspicious to me. Lol. That’s why I loathe obama, he turned me into a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

    but I don’t trust that he’s really fighting with the democrats, or that olberman is now mad at obama. Nah…it’s a setup to go after fox or something.

  • seattlegonz

    I think it’s true that obama obsesses about hillary and fox.

  • TeakWoodKite

    I should probably delete the comment due it being  silly but it shows the world these turds live in.

    The Cyber Anarchy going on reminds me of the WTO demonstrations, which is related to the Internal SEIU fringe

  • seattlegonz

    it scary, rev amy that they think you’re ready to sign on.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    LOL – oh, yes – I am sure you do.  I was mighty surprised when I received it.  Rather, that this is the way they want to go.  There seems to be a correlation between this group and the Berkeley folks.

  • Samb

    Then they should have never let the POSER be elected.
    Because Mr. Poser, will shut down the truth as soon as he can.
    Rev. Wright?
    Chicago style politics ?
    Resko?
    Birth Certificate?
    Bill Ayers?
    Acorn?
    Extra ,extra…………..?????????????????????

    It took some Online Rat to make you  want to fight for TRUTH.
    >:o

  • susiepuma

    wiki stupids tried to hack into SarahPac.com – the Pac prevented any damage – but they wiki tried to hack personal credit cards of Todd & Sarah – petty petty people -  trying for their 15 mins of fame – reminds me of the ELF nuts & PETA and the rest of the dupes – mostly come from Berkeley & SF area – not that I wish them dead but an earthquake would sure shut them up for awhile – payback is a bitch……………..

    One question – if they hate it here so badly – why don’t they leave – maybe nobody else wants them? 

  • Samb

    Were was this outrage over Obama?  
    Wright.  
    Resko.  
    Ayers.  
    His Chicago ways.  
    Birth certificate.  
    Acorn   
    His education or lack of.  
    I am pissed, it took some online rat  
    to make people come around.   
     
    Thanks RRRA.

  • TeakWoodKite

    True but the concept is similar.

  • EllenD

    :)
    These days are making all of us a bit paranoid, Bronwyn.
    To quote the magic voice mail message on our favorite show – The IT Crowd – “have you tried turning it off and on again?”

  • EllenD

    Not fair. Not fair RRRA. We all should have gotten one. :’(

  • TeakWoodKite

    3 knocks and the Rascals high sign . )

  • Geoff C.

    How do you fight back, this is something that I and many others have never had to worry about.   In laymans terms please.

  • Madame deFarge

    No earthquakes in Berkeley, please.  Sadly, my grandson is there along with his mom and dad.  Love them anyway.

  • helenk

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/40583027

    Internet war to continue claims “coldblood”

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE CHATTERING PEOPLE RULE

  • creeper

    Julian Assange said he’d have preferred to remain anonymous himself but felt honesty demanded he come forth.

  • creeper

    Ding, ding, ding!  The inescapable conclusion is that Barry-O wants this mess to keep going.  The question is, as Rachel Maddow asked, “Why?”

  • creeper

    Samb, I don’t think this is payback.  I think this is part of the script.

  • creeper

    When Teak answers the door, don’t forget to say “Joe sent me.”

  • creeper

    “Challenging U.S. Empire and its illegal and unjust wars are at the heart of our work”

    This could have been (and probably was) spoken by Barry-O.  I see much more linking Julian Assange and Barry-O than I do separating them.

    We’re being had.  I just don’t know how or why.

  • Breeze

    -

    ….AND SARAH PALIN!

  • creeper

    Well, if it was okay with Hillary to hack credit cards of foreign officials, why isn’t it okay for these people to do it?

    You see the problem?

  • Bronwyn

    Yes!  Good advice i’ve shared in the past, and forgot when I tried retrieving mail.  Maybe Google e-mail does that when it’s time to log back in, as is required periodically.  It should kick me out and make me log in, but it didn’t.

  • Bronwyn

    I bet Drudge pays big bucks for very good techs to handle his site.  Makes me wonder what his monthly server and tech support bill is.

  • Bronwyn

    Oowawa, were you with us at No Quarter during the 2007-2008 campaigns?  Boy, we got slammed constantly.  As I recall,there was an entire week where we were down most of the time.  That was just one of the many, many forms of attack they used against us.

  • TeakWoodKite

    Funny :)

  • seattlegonz

    true, true. There isn’t a republican candidate that scares him or the dem party more. She is threatening to move women to the republican party in the same way that the 19th ammendment moved them to the dem party.

    Women are a majority voting block in and of themselves. In the mid-terms, before the vote on the 19th ammendment, women were campaigning for any anti-suffragette voter to be thrown out, replaced. Sound familiar? : )

  • Lady Cracker

    well you KNOW you are doing something very right when they target your website! hahaha the FREAKKKKKKKKKKKKkkkk  is messing with Sarah’s site AND Tammy’s site now!  What a libtard!  He only makes them stronger!  Are they THAT dopey really??? 

  • Pingback: What Is In The Water In Berkeley? : NO QUARTER

  • Puma.for.Life

    They hacked Conservatives4Palin and they are still down; I guess they hacked Tammy Bruce but she is back up.  They are after Palin.

  • Walter Wooten

    Look up the term “Chaotic Good”  there isn’t a facepalm big enough to cover it.  Maybe Beck should stop talking about things he’s totally ignorant of like…the Internet (and no Al Gore didn’t create it)

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    I stand by my original comment. The phrase “chaotic good” is gobbledegook thought up by some callow, shallow moron living in its mommy’s basement. It is crap and so are those who think it is a good thing. These types have way too much free time on their useless hands and it shows. It isn’t just the U.S. that is being dumbed down, it is the entire world and they’re all hell-bent for leather to cater to the lowest posssible common denominator. How’s that shallow end of the gene pool?

  • Walter Wooten

    Sometimes you just have to lead people by the nose……

    The hacker was likely a geek, this is what he meant.

  • Walter Wooten

    Yup…where is the outrage.  Half of America suddenly woke up and realized a white man isn’t sitting in the White House.  

  • Walter Wooten

    Yes, blame Obama for everything.  That’s what your Fox News masters tell you.

    What you don’t realize are the most damaging cyberattacks are the ones that never make the news.

    What about your infrastructure and corporate secrets?

    There are “patriotic hackers” in China, supported by the state that do 10 times more damage.

    But don’t let me stop you from watching Fox, take the blue pill again.  Go to sleep….