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The LULZ on him

I don't know who's been following the news on this but I think it's hilarious.

There are now 3 groups of hackers - The Jester, Web Ninjas, and Teamp0ison trying to bring down Lulzsec and Anonymous. This is in addition to the FBI, SOCA, etc.

The Jester is an ex-military pro-US guy who hacks jihad websites and also took down Wikileaks. Web Ninjas are some unknowns who put up a website earlier this week and outed Lulzsec's leaders, including real names, DOB's, pictures and location, and sent all the info the FBI. Teamp0ison are a group of Dutch hackers who probably could care less about credit card #'s and ethics but are going after Lulzsec because they dissed them.

This is like watching a cartoon
 
Few things:

  • LulzSec went bye-bye this morning (they weren't hacked, they just closed up shop)
  • The guy the police caught was just an IRC op according to LS, but if that's true, he was obviously involved in deeper stuff elsewhere
  • LS said most of the docs released on them were fake and they released their own details of the guys who outed the guy who was caught
  • Seeing as no one who was connected to LS in any real way has been caught, they're probably telling the truth
  • You can't take down Anonymous, they're not a single organised group
  • If the "hacktivists" want to do something to benefit us, they need to go after the guys enforcing all these new internet censorship laws worldwide
  • The lesson to be learned from these events is that companies and governments need to take better security precautions - they can't leave our data unencrypted on their servers and expect it to be secure anymore

Overall I think it's been an interesting time. I have mixed feelings on their activities but, as I said, I hope we all learn a good lesson from this. They were exploiting relatively simple holes and the fact they were able to do so on such a large scale to such high profile organisations should be a wakeup call.

I also wonder if the police will actually find any of the big guys behind it. Again, since they've gone this long without detection, the chances seem small.

Most importantly, though... When will they make a movie about all this stuff? :p
 
I'm quite pleased that LulzSec got their comeuppance, bunch of little turds leaking passwords and credit card details. Couldn't give a toss if the kid is autistic or not, being an ****** is being an ******.
 
Arrest a hacker and two will take his place. Kill a terrorist and two will take his place. You can't arrest / kill an idea. I wonder how long it will take for the authorities to understand this - I don't think it's anytime soon.
 
(marc) said:
Arrest a hacker and two will take his place. Kill a terrorist and two will take his place. You can't arrest / kill an idea. I wonder how long it will take for the authorities to understand this - I don't think it's anytime soon.
Click to expand...

True, but what do you expect them to do? Just sit idly and watch them do whatever they're doing? (Be it terrorism, or hacking, or anything)

That's going to stir up anarchy amongst the masses. Chaos would take over...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

fireshot91 said:
(marc) said:
Arrest a hacker and two will take his place. Kill a terrorist and two will take his place. You can't arrest / kill an idea. I wonder how long it will take for the authorities to understand this - I don't think it's anytime soon.
Click to expand...

True, but what do you expect them to do? Just sit idly and watch them do whatever they're doing? (Be it terrorism, or hacking, or anything)

That's going to stir up anarchy amongst the masses. Chaos would take over...
Click to expand...

Hire the hackers to build better security?
 
SidewaysTakumi said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)



Hire the hackers to build better security?
Click to expand...

They'll probably do that anyway. In the film Catch Me If You Can (which is based on true events), the guy - who was a massive fraudster, cashing loads of fake cheques and such - caught and put in jail, but after some years the feds come and get him to work for them. He ended up making a business out of it.

With security as bad as it is at the moment, I have no doubt this will happen to at least a few of these hackers.

Many companies already know it's a smart idea to do this, too, Facebook being one - they hired a guy who wrote a Facebook XSS worm and recently they added geohot to the payroll.

Companies who don't do this - I'm looking at you, Sony - well, just look at them. Look at all the Sony hacks that have happened recently.

(marc)'s post is a little over the top, though. While it is true you cannot kill an idea (V for Vendetta reference?), no punishment at all would indeed cause chaos.
 
0dev said:
(marc)'s post is a little over the top, though. While it is true you cannot kill an idea (V for Vendetta reference?), no punishment at all would indeed cause chaos.
Click to expand...

How does punishment work? These are teenagers whose concept of actions->consequences is minimally formed in the first place. The real goal of punishment is not retribution but deterrence: in this case, that effect is clearly missing.

Anyway, the real criminals are the ones who inhabit a cut-throat, libertine system yet fail to address the weaknesses in their own security. Like flying an airplane with holes in the body, hoping the stresses do not rip it apart, and writing off any passenger who falls out as an incidental cost of doing business.
 
Sydde said:
How does punishment work? These are teenagers whose concept of actions->consequences is minimally formed in the first place. The real goal of punishment is not retribution but deterrence: in this case, that effect is clearly missing.
Click to expand...

All these arrests should help. I think that's the idea of them - making an example.

Anyway, the real criminals are the ones who inhabit a cut-throat, libertine system yet fail to address the weaknesses in their own security. Like flying an airplane with holes in the body, hoping the stresses do not rip it apart, and writing off any passenger who falls out as an incidental cost of doing business.
Click to expand...

I agree that corporations need to take a serious look at their security. Absolutely. But that doesn't mean hackers are nothing more than innocent customers.
 
0dev said:
All these arrests should help. I think that's the idea of them - making an example.
Click to expand...
As (marc) said, it is nothing more than whack-a-mole. Except, in this case, it is more like whack-a-hive, the angry ones swarming and multiplying. Most criminals do what they do because only the other guys, the stupid ones, get caught. In that respect, an "example" is not an effective deterrent. If it is not someone you know, they were just a fool, and if it is someone you know, the time has arrived for retribution.
I agree that corporations need to take a serious look at their security. Absolutely. But that doesn't mean hackers are nothing more than innocent customers.
Click to expand...
I was not characterizing hackerz as innocent victims, just any customer who gets screwed because of a business' inadequate security. If the business (or government agency) was cracked because they failed to anticipate the risks of their system, then they entered an area they should not have, without sufficient preparation, and should be held liable and take their medicine.

Consequences are for everybody, not just criminals.
 
Sydde said:
As (marc) said, it is nothing more than whack-a-mole. Except, in this case, it is more like whack-a-hive, the angry ones swarming and multiplying. Most criminals do what they do because only the other guys, the stupid ones, get caught. In that respect, an "example" is not an effective deterrent. If it is not someone you know, they were just a fool, and if it is someone you know, the time has arrived for retribution.
Click to expand...

So you're saying LulzSec are "fools" for getting caught? Considering their high profile targets I'd say they knew what they were doing and hid themselves as well as they could. Multiple VPNs, proxies, and various anonymous browsing systems (Tor, etc.) all around, I'm sure.

I was not characterizing hackerz as innocent victims, just any customer who gets screwed because of a business' inadequate security. If the business (or government agency) was cracked because they failed to anticipate the risks of their system, then they entered an area they should not have, without sufficient preparation, and should be held liable and take their medicine.

Consequences are for everybody, not just criminals.
Click to expand...

Data protection laws let customers sue companies that leak data. That's what Sony's trying to prevent at the moment by claiming on their insurance, and even if they can it'll end up costing billions. Plus they invested in new security and a whole new PSN system.

Point is, the organisations that aren't protecting their data properly are getting their punishment too. But that doesn't mean the hackers should be let off.
 
Sydde said:
How does punishment work? These are teenagers whose concept of actions->consequences is minimally formed in the first place. The real goal of punishment is not retribution but deterrence: in this case, that effect is clearly missing.

Anyway, the real criminals are the ones who inhabit a cut-throat, libertine system yet fail to address the weaknesses in their own security. Like flying an airplane with holes in the body, hoping the stresses do not rip it apart, and writing off any passenger who falls out as an incidental cost of doing business.
Click to expand...

Well, teenagers already realize it's wrong to murder and rob because they'll get locked up for it. Now they'll realize it's also wrong to steal credit card #'s, hack government websites, etc because the FBI or whatever cybersecurity agency exists in your country will find you and arrest you. I think that's a good deterrent. There hasn't been this much hacking press since Mitnick went to trial.

This is all ignoring the fact Sabu, Lulzsec's leader, was doxed as a 30 year old. And Topiary is 18. And Kayla is supposedly an old man pretending he's a 12 year old girl. They're old enough to know better.
 
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