Anonymous hackers continue Operation Last Resort (OpLastResort). In the latest phase of the campaign, the hacktivists have leaked the details of more than 4,000 bank executives.

It’s interesting that the hackers haven’t used Pastebin or other similar websites to publish the data. Instead, they have hacked the website of the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (acjic.alabama.gov) and have posted the information in its “documents” folder under the name “oops-we-did-it-again.”

The file published by Anonymous contains names, titles, email addresses, physical addresses, fax numbers, mobile phone numbers, login IDs, IP addresses, password hashes, and other details. The information appears to belong to presidents, vice presidents, managing officers, CEOs, SVPs, and others.

ZDNet has analyzed the list of names and has learned that most of them show up as current employees on the banks’ websites.

Reddit users have also studied the leaked information.

“OK, I called a few of them. What must be so problematic for the Federal Reserve is not the information so much as this file was stolen from their computers at all. The ramifications of that kind of loss of control is severe,” one user noted.

Others, on the other hand, don’t agree with Anonymous.

“#OpLastResort has shown up out of nowhere to leak the have personal information of a lot of innocent people and should not be regarded as part of 'Anonymous'. There is no reason for what they did and they didn't even attempt to justify or even give meaning to their actions. They are simply destructive,” another user argued.

Operation Last Resort, a campaign that comes in response to the suicide of Aaron Swartz, was initiated around one week ago with a hack which targeted the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC).

More than 26,000 people have downloaded an operating system which members of the Anonymous hacker group claim to have created.

The software is based on a version of the open-source operating system Linux and comes outfitted with lots of website sniffing and security tools.

The "official" Anonymous group has distanced itself from the software.

In a widely circulated tweet, AnonOps claimed the operating system was riddled with viruses.

Tool box

The operating system is available via the Source Forge website - a well-known repository for many custom code projects.

The 1.5GB download is based on Ubuntu - one of the most popular versions of the Linux operating system. The software's creators say they put it together for "education purposes to checking the security of web pages (sic)".

It asked people not to use it to destroy webpages.

Soon after the operating system became available, the AnonOps account on Twitter posted a message saying it was fake and "wrapped in trojans".

The creators of the OS denied it was infected with viruses adding that, in the world of open-source software, "there were no viruses".

Code check

After downloading and running the software, Rik Ferguson, director of Trend Micro's European security research efforts, said it was "a functional OS with a bunch of pre-installed tools that can be used for things like looking for [database] vulnerabilities or password cracking".

It also included tools such as Tor that can mask a person's online activities. In many ways, he said, it was a pale imitation of a version of Linux known as Back Track that also comes with many security tools already installed.

Mr Ferguson said he was starting work to find out if there were any viruses or booby-traps buried in the code.

Graham Cluley, senior researcher at hi-tech security firm Sophos, wondered who would be tempted to use it.

"Who would want to put their trust in a piece of unknown software written by unknown people on a webpage that they don't know is safe or not?" he asked.

He warned people to be very wary, adding that some hacktivists keen to support the work of Anonymous had been tricked earlier in the year into installing a booby-trapped attack tool.

"Folks would be wise to be very cautious," he said.

Summary: The Anonymous hacktivist movement is planning to launch a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the Internet’s root DNS servers, using a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool.

According to a note left by members of the Anonymous hacktivist movement on Pastebin.com, the group is planning to launch a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the Internet’s root DNS servers, using a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool specifically created for ‘Operation Global Blackout’.

We have compiled a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool to be used for this attack. It is based on AntiSec’s DHN, contains a few bug fix, a different dns list/target support and is a bit stripped down for speed.

The principle is simple; a flaw that uses forged UDP packets is to be used to trigger a rush of DNS queries all redirected and reflected to those 13 IPs. The flaw is as follow; since the UDP protocol allows it,we can change the source IP of the sender to our target, thus spoofing the source of the DNS query.The DNS server will then respond to that query by sending the answer to the spoofed IP. Since the answer is always bigger than the query, the DNS answers will then flood the target ip. It is called an amplified because we can use small packets to generate large traffic. It is called reflective because we will not send the queries to the root name servers,instead, we will use a list of known vulnerable DNS servers which will attack the root servers for us.

Since the attack will be using static IP addresses, it will not rely on name server resolution, thus enabling us to keep the attack up even while the Internet is down. The very fact that nobody will be able to make new requests to use the Internet will slow down those who will try to stop the attack. It may only lasts one hour, maybe more, maybe even a few days. No matter what, it will be global. It will be known.

Based on a message update issued by Anonymous, the group has said that it still has the capability to target the Root Internet Servers.

Despite the fact that current Internet infrastructure allows the execution of DNS amplification attacks, the Anonymous hacktivist movement is surely lacking the capabilities to execute such an attack, despite the high number of recruited users that may be participating in the attack.

For the time being, the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) ICMP flooder, and the RefRef web script remain the primary attack tools used by the Anonymous hacktivist collective.

Learn more about DNS Amplification attacks, what they are, how they work, and how can Internet Service Providers mitigate the threat posed by them.

Hackers are on a spree again with the latest infiltration of websites run by the CIA and the state of Alabama, an alarming trend that lays bare the ease and frequency with which they seem to be able to cause mischief.

Computer hackers claiming affiliation with the hacking group on Friday penetrated several websites, including those run by the U.S. spy agency, the state of Alabama and a large number of sites in Mexico. The day before, the United Nations website was also hit, although Anonymous doesn’t appear to be involved with that attack.

According to CNN, messages on Twitter and Tumbler Feb. 10 indicated members of the loosely-structured hacking network were celebrating the shutdown of the CIA's website. While the site is working now, it was out of commission for several hours Friday night.

Anonymous also accessed Alabama state servers, and said in a press release that it did so in retaliation for "racist" immigration legislation. In its diatribe against the state, Anonymous said it had gained information about more than 46,000 citizens, including full legal names, Social Security Numbers, license plate numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses and criminal records, although the group said it deleted the data.

Anonymous said its goal with the Alabama hack attack also was to point out "the amount of incompetence that is taking place within the state government in Alabama." It said "this data was not securely segregated from the Internet, nor was it properly encrypted. This is what happens when not enough resources are spent on proper design and the training that comes with it."

The U.N. has also been criticized for its lax security protocols that allowed a hacker to infiltrate its website on Thursday and release a list of the organization's potential vulnerabilities.

According to MyFox New York, the security firm Identity Finder says it looks like the U.N. was not using basic web security and that a simple SQL injection attack (SQLIA) was what enabled the hacker to gain access to the U.N.'s database.

And Friday night, one Twitter account associated with Anonymous indicated the group was responsible for taking down scads of websites in Mexico in protest of anti-piracy laws.

Summary: Anonymous took control of UFC's Web site briefly and that led to UFC President Dana White calling them 'terrorists.'

In a recent interview, mixed-martial arts chief Dana White suggested that members of the hacktivist group Anonymous were "cowards" and "terrorists."

White, who helped found the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which nation's largest promoter of mixed-martial arts fights, then engaged alleged members of Anonymous in a debate via Twitter about his support for the controversial and now dead Stop Online Piracy Act and the morality of hacking sites as a political statement.

According to a report, Anonymous got the final word. Shortly after the debate, someone posted to the Internet White's social security number, mobile phone number, address and for a brief period his wife's name.

White is only the latest copyright owner or public figure to see their personal information posted to the Web as part of hack attacks launched by Anonymous. The group is accused of circulating personal information belonging to Jeff Bewkes, CEO of media conglomerate Time Warner, and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The attacks began when Anonymous hacked into UFC's Web site a week ago and briefly redirected traffic to a site associated with the group. That's when White made his comments about cowards and terrorists. On Thursday evening a Twitter debate ensued between White and @YourAnonNews, a Twitter account closely associated with Anonymous.

The debate was heated for a while but then both sides seemed to agree to disagree and that was it. Or at least that was it until White's personal information was published.

This is what White told MMA Fighting which seemed to draw the ire of Anonymous: "The way this whole thing has gone down, them hacking our site is the best thing they ever could have done for us. Because what that does is, now, you look like terrorists and now a lot of people who were afraid of you now hate you. Is this bill (SOPA) perfect? No. No bill is perfect. I think this thing started off with the right idea. Stealing is stealing.

You can read the entire Twitter debate here.

Although we haven’t heard much from them lately, the hacktivist group Anonymous is claiming credit on Twitter that it has attacked the websites belonging to government agencies as well as the entertainment industry on Thursday.

So far, Anonymous has successfully shuttered the websites belonging to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America, and Universal Music.

On Thursday afternoon, the sites of the former three organizations were completely down, while Universal Music’s page only read “The Site is under maintenance. Please expect it to be back shortly.”

The security breaches come after several arrests this morning concerning Megaupload, a file sharing service company.

They can also be summed down to the sentiments in this AnonDaily tweet:

#StarveTheBeast Trend this. The entertainment industries will see that they can not simply censor us for the basis of profit.

These events also come one day after many websites, including Wikipedia and Reddit, went dark to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

The group is reportedly also going after WhiteHouse.gov, but that portal was still up and running normally at the time this post was published.

Anonymous also threatened (and successfully thus far) launched mass DDoS attacks against music royalties firm BMI and the U.S. Copyright Office.

Previously responsible for many other notable attacks and inciting protests across the globe last year, Anonymous boasted today’s events as its “the largest on scale attack ever” at a record of 10 sites in 20 minutes.

Based on Anonymous’ Twitter feed, we can also expect attacks the sites of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Viacom, The Regents of the University of California, former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (also chairman and CEO of the MPAA), and any organization that has publicly voiced support for SOPA.

A defacer affiliated with Anonymous vandalised Sony's online front door this week over the corporate behemoth's support of SOPA, a hated anti-piracy law proposed in the US.

The Sony Picture's website was defaced and clearly unauthorised comments were posted on the media giant's Facebook page. The digital graffiti was scribbled by a hacker who uses the Twitter handle s3rver_exe. Both acts of vandalism were rapidly purged, while the YouTube video illustrating the hack was quickly pulled.

Neither cyber-assault was significant as the perp readily concedes. Even so, the latest security breach doesn't reflect well on Sony's much vaunted efforts to bolster its electronic defences following last year's PlayStation Network hack, which forced Sony to take down its gaming platform for weeks.

In an ironic twist, the Twitter account of @s3rver_exe was hacked on Friday in the wake of the #OpSony pawnage.

"Sony was hacked because the admin panel was not encrypted ROFL. And I have got my account back," s3rver_exe said. "I don't know why the hacker hacked me. I think he did it for the lulz."

"The hack wasn't big but still the servers were vulnerable and I got access to the admin too," he later added.

The hactivist group Anonymous plans to take down the Fox News Web site on November 5, according to a new video released recently by the group.

The group said it targeted the network for what it called biased news coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests occurring in cities across the country.

The network's "continued right-wing, conservative propaganda against the occupations" is the group's catalyst for its intention of "destroying the Fox News Web site," a digitally generated voice on the video explains. "Since they will not stop belittling the occupiers, we will simply shut them down."

The group had earlier vowed to take down Facebook on November 5 as well, although there was some question about the credibility of that threat within the hacktivist group.

The date--November 5--is commonly referred to as Guy Fawkes day in honor of the Brit who tried to blow up parliament in the Gunpowder Plot of 1604. Fawkes was immortalized in "V For Vendetta," a 2006 movie about a freedom fighter who uses terrorist tactics against a totalitarian society, and the mask that Fawkes wears has become a symbol for Anonymous.

An Arizona man was arrested today for allegedly stealing data from Sony Pictures Entertainment earlier this year, and two others were indicted on charges of participating in a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that temporarily shut down Santa Cruz County servers late last year.


Cody Andrew Kretsinger, 23, of Phoenix was indicted September 2 by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer, the FBI said in a statement. Kretsinger could not be reached for comment.

Separately, 47-year-old Christopher Doyon of Mountain View, Calif., was arrested and appeared before Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement released this afternoon. Lloyd ordered that a bail study be done and set a court appearance for September 29 at 1:30 p.m. PT.

Doyon, who allegedly uses the alias "Commander X," and Joshua John Covelli, 26, of Fairborn, Ohio, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, causing intentional damage to a protected computer, and aiding and abetting by participating in a distributed DoS attack on Santa Cruz County servers December 16, 2010, shutting down the Web site. A criminal summons was issued to Covelli, aka "Absolem" or "Toxic," to appear before Magistrate Paul Grewal in San Jose on November 1.

In the Sony case, Kretsinger is accused of using proxy services via the hidemyass.com site, designed to offer anonymous Internet access, to probe Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer systems in May, according to the indictment, which was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles today.

He and other co-conspirators looked for vulnerabilities and exploited them by means of a SQL injection attack between May 27 and June 2, the indictment says. They then allegedly compromised the Sony system, making "tens of thousands of requests for confidential data," and released the information from Sony on a public Web site and on Twitter.

Kretsinger permanently erased the hard drive of the computer he used to conduct the attack, the indictment alleges. He is due to make an initial appearance in federal court in Phoenix today. The U.S. government will request that he be transferred to Los Angeles to face prosecution. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

He is alleged to have used the hacker handle "recursion" and is believed to be a member of the LulzSec hacker group.

The LulzSec group, believed to be a spinoff of the Anonymous group of online activists, had bragged about breaking into Sony Pictures' system, posting a statement on Pastebin on June 2 and proof of their attack. "We recently broke into SonyPictures.com and compromised over 1,000,000 users' personal information, including passwords, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts," the statement said. "Among other things, we also compromised all admin details of Sony Pictures (including passwords) along with 75,000 'music codes' and 3.5 million 'music coupons.'"

A week later, Sony said that actually personally identifiable information of 37,500 customers had been exposed in the breach. The breach was one of a series of attacks targeting Sony and its affiliate sites globally that started in May following a legal spat Sony had with a hacker who had modified his Sony PlayStation 3.

In the San Jose cases, the indictments allege that the attack on Santa Cruz County servers was orchestrated by the People's Liberation Front (PLF), which is associated with the Anonymous group. After the city enacted a law restricting camping in city limits, protesters occupied the courthouse premises and several were charged with misdemeanors, the Justice Department said. In retaliation, the PLF organized the DoS attack, the statement alleges.

Covelli is also separately under indictment in U.S. District Court for the Northern District for allegedly participating in a distributed DoS attack on PayPal in December 2010. His next court appearance in that case is set for November 1 at 9 a.m. PT before Judge Lowell D. Jensen in San Jose. Neither Doyon nor Covelli could immediately be reached for comment this afternoon.

The Justice Department and FBI said they could not comment on the San Jose cases beyond the indictments and statements, so it is unclear exactly where Doyon was arrested. Earlier today, Fox News reported that a hacker who is believed to be homeless was arrested in San Francisco on charges of participating in attacks allegedly carried out by activist group Anonymous on Santa Cruz County government Web sites, and that search warrants were being executed in New Jersey, Minnesota, and Montana. An FBI spokesman said that the agency does not typically comment on search warrants.

Hacktivist group Anonymous is planning to hold a special "Day of Vengeance" in several cities around the U.S. on Saturday.

Late last night, Anonymous--or at least people claiming to be from Anonymous--posted a press release on Pastebin, saying that Saturday will be marked by peaceful protests in cities across the U.S. combined with cyberattacks on "various targets, including Wall Street, Corrupt Banking Institutions, and the New York City Police Department."

The group suggests following Twitter account @PLF2012, which it says will publish “ongoing reports” throughout the day.


The full press release:

Wednesday – September 21, 2011

On September 17, 2011 approximately 15,000 peaceful demonstrators
in dozens of cities around the USA gathered, marched – and occupied
public space to protest the unjust policies of the US government
and the corruption in our financial institutions. The central
protest site was in the financial district of New York City, where
peaceful protesters faced phalanxes of heavily armed paramilitary
police officers from local and federal jurisdictions. The arrests
began almost immediately, many for violating the 1845 so called
“mask” laws.

Later that day, and according to plan – many of these protests
ended with a peaceful occupation of public space. Again, the
central occupation occurred in NYC. More arrests continued to take
place. All of this was expected, it is part of progressive
activism. Anonymous was content to challenge these stupid “mask”
laws in court. Not only is the Guy Fawlkes mask covered under
freedom expression as a symbol of our movement, but we believe that
everyone has a right to protest anonymously using bandanas, masks -
etc.

But then on Tuesday – September 20, 2011 everything changed in a
flash of police instigated violence. As rain began to fall on the
NYC encampment, heavily armed police moved in; Removing tarps used
to cover media equipment, arresting independent journalists,
confiscating media equipment – and using excessive force against
and arresting innocent peaceful protesters, several of whom were
abused and injured.

http://youtu.be/dyvbI6Eq-qA

This year, we heard President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary
Clinton say over and over in country after country from the Balkans
through the mid-east to Africa that the right to peacefully protest
and occupy public space is a right that MUST be respected in every
instance. And they are correct, and this also applies to the USA.
In fact, even more so. In the USA of all countries in the world,
the police should have been deployed to PROTECT the protesters -
not a giant brass bull that is the ultimate symbol of greed and
corruption in America. And yet we were treated to the grotesque
picture of dozens of armored police surrounding this brass bull,
while thousands more police were deployed solely to harass, arrest -
and abuse peaceful protesters.

http://bit.ly/qdvYAj

Anonymous & the other cyber liberation groups around the world
together with all the freedom loving people in the USA will NOT
stand for this. We will peacefully yet forcefully resist the abuses
of the NYC Police Department. And so Anonymous announces a
nationwide “Day Of Vengence” to take place in dozens of cities
across the USA on Saturday – September 24, 2011 at High Noon.

Poster – http://t.co/BSuXCdRR

Video – http://youtu.be/2svRa-VSaOU

In coordination with these protests across the USA on September
24th, Anonymous and other cyber liberation groups will launch a
series of cyber attacks against various targets including Wall
Street, Corrupt Banking Institutions – and the NYC Police
Department. We encourage the media to follow the Twitter feed
@PLF2012 for ongoing reports throughout the day.

We Are Anonymous – We Are Everywhere – We Are Legion – We Never
Forget – We Never Forgive

EXPECT US — Anonymous