Perhaps the government now has you under surveillance?

We are dealing with more than "a few news articles". The drumbeat that Anonymous is somehow a criminal organization has been going on for three and a half years and I see an increasing predilection for the media to associate Anonymous with any hacking incident (or incident of vandalism, if you will). It serves no useful purpose for the Critics to remain in denial, saying "Oh, this has nothing to do with us. Anonymous is not really an organization, doesn’t have any leaders, etc”. It does not matter that it’s true. The media is not buying it. And if the media doesn’t buy it, the public won’t buy it. You can pick your reasons why - CoS propaganda, Anons taking down websites over Wikileaks, etc. Whether you like it or not the media shapes public opinion. Serious “Public Opinion” manifests itself more subtlety than an offhand response on the street – such as a turning away from readily accepting Anonymous’ argument that the CoS is the bad guys.

I maintain that Anonymous is damaged goods because the media and by extension the public do not differentiate between “good” Anonymous and “bad” Anonymous. This point was being argued three years ago on this board and I didn't agree then. I have since changed my mind. The true test of who has won or lost a PR war is the ease with which those who are being targeted slip into accepting the argument of one side or the other. Anonymous has lost the media. Anyone who thinks it doesn't matter is living in a fantasy world.

"Focus, Troops."

HCOPL Targets, Defense

T1 through T4 and T6 and T7 are exactly the strategy the cult is using. I will concede that the comments I'm seeing on WWP concerning how to respond to the Ocala, FL vandalism incident indicate that at least some Anons understand what I'm getting at.

PPD

It is characterized by at least 3 of the following:

1-excessive sensitivity to setbacks and rebuffs;

2-tendency to bear grudges persistently, i.e. refusal to forgive insults and injuries or slights;3-suspiciousness and a pervasive tendency to distort experience by misconstruing the neutral or friendly actions of others as hostile or contemptuous;

3-a combative and tenacious sense of personal rights out of keeping with the actual situation;

4-recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding sexual fidelity of spouse or sexual partner;

5-tendency to experience excessive self-importance, manifest in a persistent self-referential attitude;

6-preoccupation with unsubstantiated "conspiratorial" explanations of events both immediate to the patient and in the world at large.

Hacker group LulzSec says it is disbanding

(CNN) -- LulzSec, the gleeful and secretive band of hackers who appear to be responsible for a string of high-profile and sometimes embarrassing Internet attacks, said it was disbanding.
"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could," the group said Saturday in a statement posted on multiple websites.

It did not cite a reason.

If true, the collective's final act was the posting of what it said were internal company documents from AT&T along with private data from other companies.
LulzSec claimed recently to have attacked the CIA website, and took credit for hacking into the website of American public broadcaster PBS and posting a fake story saying the rapper Tupac Shakur was still alive. He was killed nearly 15 years ago.

It is unclear whether LulzSec members played a role in the Sony PlayStation Network breach, where hackers broke into Sony Pictures' website, compromising the accounts of over 1 million users, and the gaming company Sega, stealing the details of nearly 1.3 million users.

But it posted what it claims is proprietary information from Sony Pictures and other Sony properties' websites.
It also claimed responsibility for bringing down the Brazilian government's website earlier this month.

When British police announced the arrest of a teenager suspected of hacking into systems and mounting denial of service attacks against a number of international businesses, LulzSec downplayed down his role in the collective.

In one post, the collective seemed to suggest that by making its attacks public, it'll push websites to increase security. But it also said releasing people's information is sometimes worth doing because it's fun.

Analysts said the group appears to be some sort of spin-off of "Anonymous," the loose coalition of hackers that grew to prominence through their support of the whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

But while Anonymous has its own set of moral codes and is largely politically motivated, LulzSec seems to be random.
For every hack like the one on PBS, which the group said came out of anger over a documentary about WikiLeaks, there's the cracking of a porn site -- and a subsequent public list of members' e-mail addresses and passwords.

LulzSec quits being LulzSec, Jumps (back) onto Anonymous

LulzSec, the high-profile hacker group that dominated the attention of media and social media alike, has surprised its fans and enemies by announcing its game over, and they will shut down operations. June 25 would mark an end to 50 days of cyber havoc, but the group called on supporters to continue fighting its anti-government movement via Anonymous.

It's time to say "bon voyage," the group stated.

"We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us," said LulzSec in a statement released on June 25.

"While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently," the group said.

"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself," the group stated.

50 Days of Lulz

Since May, LulzSec has embarked on a stunning spree of hacking attacks against Sony Corp., the U.S. Senate, an FBI affiliate, the Public Broadcasting System, gaming sites, and online porn sites. The group also claimed responsibility for bringing down the Brazilian government's website earlier in June.

After the group stepped up its hacking from corporations to the US FBI on June 3, two of its members lost their nerve and quit, fearing reprisals from the US government.

Their fears reached a climax last Monday when UK police arrested 19-year-old Ryan Cleary and later charged him with a cyber attack in connection with a joint Scotland Yard and FBI probe in to a hacking group believed to be LulzSec.

The group downplayed Cleary's role in the collective, saying, "Ryan Cleary is not part of LulzSec; we house one of our many legitimate chatrooms on his IRC server, but that's it."

According to Analysts, the group appears to be spin-off of "Anonymous," another infamous hacker group known for its attacks against government sites. LulzSec and Anonymous have sailed on what they call "Operation: Anti-Security" earlier this month.

Calling it "AntiSec," they intended to expose corrupt, abusive governments by protesting and combating any and all institutions' or governments' attempts to censor or moderate the Internet.

The first casualty was Arizona police website as LulzSec leaked dozens of internal documents over the Internet with the headline"Chinga La Migra," Spanish for a more profane way of saying "Screw the Immigration Service." The group said the leak was retaliation for Arizona's controversial immigration bill that requires Arizona immigrants to carry registration documents at all times.

2 Brazilian government websites - Brasil.gov.br and Presidencia.gov.br - were also hacked.

Meanwhile, Anonymous posted the names of 2800 of the right-wing Columbian Black Eagles Special Police Unit's members online. The published data has been credited as part of it and LulzSec's ongoing Operation Anti-Security.

Civil War of Hackers

As LulzSec continued its hacking attacks, several hacker groups threatened to expose LulzSec's identity and eventually to take them down.

On June 21, a website believed to be run by a Dutch member of LulzSec has reportedly been hacked by a group "TeaMp0isoN."

"Stop telling yourself that u are hackers, putting a ip into a irc is NOT hacking nor is using pre-made tools and scripts to grab databases... you do not represent the anti-sec movement," TeaMp0isoN said in a statement.

Earlier, Web Ninjas, a supposed hacker vigilantes with possible ties to Th3j35t3r, has published several names and personal information of alleged LulzSec members on its website LulzSec Exposed.

On June 24, 2011, IRC chat logs were leaked, along with personal information on LulzSec members including Kayla, Topiary, Joepie and many more. LulzSec confirmed that their logs were leaked, but claimed that the log were not from one of their core chatting channels.

According to The Guardian that published the logs, "LulzSec is not, despite its braggadocio, a large - or even coherent - organisation. The logs reveal how one hacker known as "Sabu", believed to be a 30-year-old security consultant, effectively controls the group of between six and eight people, keeping the others in line and warning them not to discuss what they have done with others; another, "Kayla", provides a large botnet - networks of infected computers controlled remotely - to bring down targeted websites with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks; while a third, "Topiary", manages the public image, including the LulzSec Twitter feed.

On Tuesday, LulzSec threatened m_nerva, who was the alleged source of the leak, "Remember this tweet, m_nerva, for I know you'll read it: your cold jail cell will be haunted with our endless laughter. Game over, child."

On June 25, Web Ninjas, on its website, declared their accomplishment in taking down LulzSec.

"A week back, only few of us like Ninjas, Jester, Awinee and few others in close circle knew who were Lulzsec but now whole world knows who are the leaders and members of this group.

"We have provided enough evidence to prove that LulzSec were Anonymous

"We have published the chat logs of LulzSec so that Security Analysts, Investigative reporters and other Enthusiasts can work on the logs and confirm for themselves. We are 99% sure that our dox are correct but still there would be 1% error in anything.

"We made LulzSec accept that the logs are real and not fake or disinformation campaign as many thought earlier.

"Media guys can now reach out to the top members of LulzSec (For e.g Wired)

"We neither wanted fame nor publicity, then why did we publish their dox and chat logs inspite of sending info to security agencies? - We did this to humiliate them in the same way they did with hack victims.

Game over?

However, it may be too early to reminisce the past glory.

In its "50 days of lulz" announcement, LulzSec said,

"Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.:

"Thank you for sailing with us. The breeze is fresh and the sun is setting, so now we head for the horizon," was LulzSec's last words, reminding us that unless and until they are caught, the group will always have the opportunity to strike again.

LulzSec, Anonymous show Latin America unprepared for cyberwarfare

This week the Brazilian arm of the hacker group LulzSec announced they had taken down two Brazilian government websites, including the website of the president. The attack comes after the group Anonymous threatened to take down websites in Chile and Peru.

The Brazilian government says the sites were only down for a few hours and quickly restored. However, the sites appeared to continue having problems as of yesterday morning.

In recent days, LulzSec has threatened to break into government sites and steal sensitive or classified information. If that was the case, it would be a serious attack on the Brazilian government. However, right now this appears to be a simple hacking attack that shut the website down, not a security breach into the government servers.

RELATED: What is LulzSec?

O Globo reports that a few days ago a separate attack by a local hacker broke into Brazilian Army servers, stole personal information of soldiers, and published that information online. That information included the email logins and passwords for at least 300 soldiers. That is a much more serious breach of security and a real attack that the Brazilian government must take seriously.

Yesterday LulzSec hackers in Brazil also targeted the Petrobras website and briefly took it down.

Meanwhile, the group 'Anonymous' threatened to launch cyberattacks against the governments of Chile and Peru in what they call "Operacion Andes Libre." Their complaint is that the two governments are violating the rights of Internet users by monitoring blogs, Facebook, and Twitter and tracking users' opinions and locations (El Comercio, La Tercera). The attack was announced on a YouTube video read by someone with an accent from Spain.

Anonymous previously threatened Venezuela and Nicaragua for their support of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, but never seemed to get around to attacking them. The group has conducted several successful DDOS attacks against corporations and government websites around the world over the past few years.

Latin America is unprepared for cyberwarfare. There are no standing policies in place as to how the region should respond to an attack, certainly nothing from a non-state group simply looking to cause havoc. That said, the threatened DDOS attacks by Anonymous against government websites are more of an annoyance and a form of protest than an attack against critical infrastructure. Over the past few years both governments have seen hackers attack and deface websites from time to time. The governments of Chile and Peru should be able to handle the event, recover from whatever damage they face, and will hopefully learn a bit about their own cyber-defense and coordination issues in the process.

Anonymous also claims they took down the Colombian Senate website for a full day earlier this month.

--- James Bosworth writes the blog, Bloggings by Boz.

EXCLUSIVE: 16 Suspected 'Anonymous' Hackers Arrested in Nationwide Sweep

Sixteen suspected members of "Anonymous" were arrested this morning in states including Florida, New Jersey and California, in what appears to be a nationwide takedown of the notorious hacking group, FoxNews.com has exclusively learned.

The arrests and the 30 to 40 search warrants issued by the feds Tuesday are part of an ongoing investigation into Anonymous, which has claimed responsibility for numerous cyberattacks against a variety of websites including Visa and Mastercard.

Fourteen of the arrests were identified in the same indictment, while two separate criminal complaints filed out of courts in Newark, N.J., and Tampa, Fla., name the two other alleged hackers. All are believed to have been involved in carrying out nationwide coordinated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on multiple high-profile, billion-dollar companies.

Some of the arrests were out of the San Francisco field office, sources said, activity that followed searches earlier in the day in the New York area at residences believed to be associated with members of the hacking collective, FoxNews.com has learned.

“I can confirm that we’re conducting law enforcement actions relating to a criminal investigation,” said Alicia Sensibaugh, a spokeswoman for FBI’s San Francisco office, out of which sources said multiple search warrants were executed Tuesday morning.

Earlier in the day, the FBI executed search warrants at the New York homes -- two in Long Island, N.Y., and one in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- of three suspected members of Anonymous, FoxNews.com reported.

More than 10 FBI agents arrived at the Baldwin, N.Y., home of Giordani Jordan with a search warrant for computers and computer-related accessories, removing at least one laptop from the premises.

The Anonymous group is a loose collection of cybersavvy activists inspired by WikiLeaks and its flamboyant head Julian Assange to fight for "Internet freedom" -- along the way defacing websites, shutting down servers, and scrawling messages across screens web-wide.

The Anonymous vigilante group recently turned its efforts to the Arizona police department, posting personal information of law officers and hacking and defacing websites in response, the group claims, to the state's controversial SB1070 immigration law.

While Anonymous is largely a politically motivated organization, splinter group LulzSec -- which dominated headlines in the spring for a similar streak of cyberattacks -- was largely in it for the thrills.

The metropolitan police in London arrested the first alleged member of the LulzSec group on June 20, a 19-year-old teen named Ryan Cleary. Subsequent sweeps through Italy and Switzerland in early July led to the arrests of 15 more people -- all between the ages of 15 and 28 years old.

The two groups are responsible for a broad spate of digital break-ins targeting governments and large corporations, including Japanese technology giant Sony, the U.S. Senate, telecommunications giant AT&T, Fox.com, and other government and private entities.

Source: At least 14 arrested in operation targeting Anonymous

New York (CNN) -- At least 14 people have been arrested as part of an ongoing operation targeting the notorious hacking collective known as Anonymous, a federal government official said Tuesday.

The arrests have taken place in locations including Florida, the San Francisco area in California and New Jersey, the official said.
Earlier, a senior federal law enforcement official said up to 15 total arrests are expected following the execution of more than 15 search warrants.
The warrants were being executed in New York and several other states Tuesday by the FBI as part of the investigation, according to the federal government official.

FBI agents spread out to about a half dozen locations on Long Island, in Brooklyn and in the Bronx, where they seized computers and other records, according to the federal government official, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the investigation.
In the past, Anonymous has launched attacks on websites belonging to the Church of Scientology, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

However, the hacker collective vaulted to worldwide fame in December, when it disabled or disrupted the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal in what the group said was retaliation for the companies' cutting ties to the WikiLeaks website following the arrest of Julian Assange. Assange founded WikiLeaks, which facilitates the release of secret information. He is currently out on bail in England and is fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crime charges.

In addition, Anonymous has been linked to cyber attacks at the CIA, Sony, Fox News, the Arizona Department of Corrections and a well-known consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, among others.
The group is implicated in denial-of-service attacks, in which large amounts of traffic are directed to a website, overloading it and, in effect, shutting it down.

The FBI in New York refused to confirm Tuesday's actions involved Anonymous. "These search warrants are being executed in connection with an ongoing FBI investigation," said FBI spokesman Peter Donald.

Last night my local news covered the the big arrest of a number of anonymous hackers in the U.S. The unfortunate thing is that during the news story, they showed a photo of masked anonymous protesters wearing the Guy Fawkes masks. I hate that the two anonymous groups are so linked in the news.

Last night my local news covered the the big arrest of a number of anonymous hackers in the U.S. The unfortunate thing is that during the news story, they showed a photo of masked anonymous protesters wearing the Guy Fawkes masks. I hate that the two anonymous groups are so linked in the news.

'Anonymous' hacks U.S. police websites, posts data
Nomaan Merchant,Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press
Sunday, August 7, 2011

'Anonymous' Hacker Group Claims Attacks on U.S. Law Enforcement Websites

Internet Evolution: The War on Web Anonymity

I'm sure law enforcement realizes that the so-called anonymous hacker group is unrelated to the people who call themselves Anonymous and protest Scientology. Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

Nevertheless perhaps it is time for the anti-Scientology Anonymous movement to distance itself from the original meme. I swore to myself that when I was able to I would don a Guy Fawkes mask and join a picket demonstration, but given the increasingly criminal activity of these hackers I'd now think twice. Perhaps the size of pickets and public opposition would increase if they appeared a bit less counterculture.

That the cult has successfully linked cyber terrorism to peaceful Anonymous protests is a reality that cannot be ignored. It is a win for them. After all there is no true Scotsman either.