Anonymous hacking network declares war on IS

PARIS, France — The Anonymous hacking network declared war on the Islamic State in a Youtube video Monday, sparking a combative response from the jihadist group’s affiliates, a security expert said.

The “hacktivist” collective vowed vengeance for attacks in Paris on Friday, claimed by IS, that left 129 dead and hundreds injured, some of them critically.

“Anonymous everywhere in the world is going to hunt you down,” a hooded figure in black, wearing the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask said in French.

It was not possible to verify its authenticity, but the statement and video had the hallmarks of the network, known for mounting cyberattacks against government and corporate websites.

“Our country, France, was hit in Paris on November 13 around 2200 (2100 GMT) by multiple terrorist attacks claimed by you, the Islamic State,” the figure said in a gravelly, computer-altered voice.

“We are going to launch the biggest operation every mounted against you — get ready for a multitude of cyberattacks. War has been declared.”

Counterproductive

The video, posted the day after the attacks, had more than 1.3 million views by Monday afternoon.

In an apparent riposte, a message posted on the Twitter address of the messaging service Telegram calls on Islamic State affiliates to secure their Internet communications.

“The #Anonymous hackers threatened… that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic state (idiots),” the message said.

“So U should follow the instructions below to avoid being hacked,” it continued, advising followers to avoid opening unknown links and to frequently change computers and phones.

Charlie Winter, a researcher in transnational jihadism at UK-based think tank Quilliam, affirmed the message’s authenticity in a tweet.

“@GroupAnon, IS didn’t like your declaration of war,” he wrote, referring to one of Anonymous’ Twitter addresses.

“Here’s what they’re saying on @telegram. Use it against them.”

French cybersecurity expert Olivier Laurelli warned the Anonymous action against the jihadist organisation could interfere with police efforts to identify and track its members.

“It’s counterproductive,” he told AFP. Actions that force Islamic State operatives “to close accounts just renders police investigators blind and dead for certain things.”

It is helpful, for example, to know that certain accounts are based in France, Syria or Iraq, he said.

Being able to identify connections and communications between individuals is also critical. But if Anonymous forces accounts to shut down, investigators are left with dead ends.

Besdies, the impact is only temporary, he added. “An account closed here, is just another one opened over there,” he said.

The nearly three-minute Anonymous clip opens with thundering orchestral music, displaying the Anonymous logo of a suited figure with a question mark for a head.

The speaker, seated like a news presenter, is flanked by the logo on one side and black-and-white news footage of the aftermath of the attacks, on the other.

France led a minute’s silence observed around the world on Monday in memory of the victims of the worst-ever terror attacks on French soil.

President Francois Hollande and his cabinet, all dressed in black, bowed their heads at the Sorbonne University in Paris, surrounded by scores of students.

The attacks — at six locations in and near Paris — came less than 11 months after jihadists struck satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket, killing 17.

source: interaksyon.com

#ALDUB, IWAS MUNA? | Netizens advised against clicking links off Yaya Dub’s hacked Twitter

MANILA, Philippines — Users should avoid clicking links posted by the hacked Twitter account of Maine Mendoza, popularly known as Yaya Dub, to avoid having their social media accounts similarly hacked.

Some unsuspecting links, now deleted, were reportedly posted on Mendoza’s Twitter after it was hacked early this morning. The hacker group Anonymous Philippines have owned up to the breach, saying they wanted to use Mendoza’s popular Twitter handle to air their grievances.

Anonymous Philippines has since received much flak on social media for their stunt, with netizens condemning their act as preying on an innocent well-loved celebrity for their political means.

On their Facebook page, Anonymous Philippines wrote: “…Gusto lang namin ipromote yung (We just wanted to promote the) Million Mask March sa Nov 5. Kita kits na lang tayo. Maraming salamat sa lahat, sa (Let’s see each other there. Thank you to all) Aldub Nation.”

E-commerce advocate Janette Toral, however, said in her Twitter handle: “No matter how right you are, if you use illegal means, all your right reasons disappear. You become the perpetrator,”

Toral also retweeted a number of warnings advising users against clicking any link posted by Mendoza’s hacked account.

source: interaksyon.com

Maine Mendoza’s Twitter account hacked by ‘Anonymous Philippines’

A group of hackers who claimed responsibility for the hacking of numerous government and even Chinese websites since 2012 has found a new target.

The Twitter account of Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub which currently has 2.4 million followers was hacked by Anonymous Philippines, a group of “hacktivists” Tuesday night. The group, which has justified its hack attacks as a form of protest against the Aquino government, initially posted a link to its Facebook page that included links to numerous government websites (mostly microsites) that it had also defaced.

Clicking the websites revealed a video and message urging people to join their #MillionMaskMarch on November 5 in front of Malacañang Palace. The group later tweeted an apology to AlDub fans for its intrusion and promised to give the account back to Maine.

“Sorry po if napadaan kami sa account ni yayadub, ibabalik din namin to sa tunay na may-ari.. Nagmamahal, Anonymous Philippines,” the group said in a tweet that it had deleted along with its other messages around noontime Tuesday—which suggests that Maine has regained access to her Twitter account.

On its Facebook page, Anonymous Philippines also posted this “press release” to explain its actions:

“Dear fans of Aldub, we sincerely apologize for the recent intrusion of your beloved Idol’s Twitter account. You can rest assure that we don’t have any malicious intent towards the said individual or any programs pertaining to that person. We just wanted to send a message to the public, and using Maine’s account is one of the easiest way we could find. Rest assured that we are doing our best to contact the respectful owner of the said twitter account with the purpose of giving them back their access.

We already know we will get a lot of negative comments.

But sometimes, you must give a sacrifice for the cause.”

As the group had expected, many fans were outraged by the hack on Yaya Dub’s account, which was recently declared to be among the top five fastest growing Twitter accounts, alongside those of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Ellen DeGeneres.

source: interaksyon.com

Hackers attack more govt websites as Cybercrime Law goes live

MANILA, Philippines — As the Cybercrime Prevention Act goes into full effect on Wednesday, October 3, local hacktivist groups changed their mode of protest by launching Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against several government websites.

As of early Wednesday morning, government websites such as that of the National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Senate, Social Security System, and the Official Gazette were rendered inaccessible to Internet users.


Malacañang, however, denied that the Official Gazette was a victim of a DDoS attack, saying heightened interest for the controversial bill was the reason for the surge in the website’s server requests.

“Folks, according to @govph team, they had to tweak some server settings to optimize site to accommodate the surge in traffic,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte tweeted. “Interest in full text of RA10175 mostly driving traffic.”

On its Facebook account, PrivateX, one of the local hacking groups responsible for defacing government websites in the past week, posted a DDoS tool where interested Internet users can jump in and join in overwhelming government servers.

“Let’s support anonymous, if you have your vpn with you.. turn it on
kung wala po kayong vpn, it’s a dare to us netizens. it’s like sacrificing for our country,” the group said.

DDoS is a form of cyber attack used by hacking groups to take down particular websites, which involves overwhelming the website’s server by executing external commands from a number of terminals, subsequently crippling the server indefinitely.

Unlike site defacements, DDoS attacks leave no trace of intrusion into the website and are virtually untraceable because it uses a huge number of computer systems and users to carry out the attack.

This means that by making the tool available to the public — and encouraging them to use a Virtual Private Network to mask their true IP address and location — the hacktivist groups could have several computers on its employ to overwhelm government website servers.



As of posting time, the official website of the President has installed an anti-DDoS tool after going down and being rendered inaccessible earlier in the day. The DDoS tool is currently targeting the website of Senator Vicente Sotto III, the one who allegedly inserted the libel provision in the controversial law.

While the new law punishes misuse of devices for purposes of a DDoS attack, having a distributed network of systems used for the attack means law-enforcement agencies would have a harder time going after its originators.

The same method was used by international hacking group Anonymous in crippling the services of Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal in late 2010, after the three companies blocked people from donating to WikiLeaks, a group that leaked confidential US government communications.

The government had earlier denounced the defacement of government websites by local hacking groups, saying they do very little in terms of making their issues known.

“There are proper avenues for expressing their indignation rather than committing cybercrime to protest a bill that aims to prevent cybercrime,” said Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) Executive Director Louis Casambre.

“[The defacements] underscore the existing vulnerabilities in some government websites that need to be addressed in a national cybersecurity plan,” Casambre added. “In the meantime, we would like to request our government systems administrators to review their own policies and utilize industry best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.”

Signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III on September 12, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 seeks to curb the increasing incidents of cybercrimes in the country, particularly those involved in organized cybercrime syndicates.

Violators face a punishment of prison mayor or reclusion temporal and/or a fine (between P200,000 to P1,000,000) depending on the offense as stated under the new law.

Aside from defacements and DDoS attacks, protests against contentious provisions of the Cybercrime Law took the form of black-out campaigns in social media sites as well as street protests in the Supreme Court.

source: interaksyon.com