Anonymous Hackers Pay Back FBI Snitch with 50,000 Leaked Emails

[No Limit]

Right now you can download a 4.7 gigabyte file full of about 50,000 emails stolen from a computer security expert named Aaron Barr. That's what happens when you cross the hacking collective Anonymous.

Hackers from Anonymous, best-known for attacks on Scientology and Wikileaks detractors, trashed Barr's online life Sunday evening after learning he planned to meet with the FBI tomorrow and hand over information he'd gathered about them. They defaced the website of HBGary Federal, the D.C.-based computer security firm Barr works for. Then they took over Barr's Twitter account, tweeting his social security number and a file containing 50,000 HBGary company emails. They even claim to have wiped his iPad.

Barr became a target of Anonymous after he appeared in a Financial Times article this weekend claiming he'd "penetrated" the group, identifying members by watching their chats and analyzing social networking profiles. He described a hierarchy of 30 core Anonymous members along with 10 who "are the most senior and co-ordinate and manage most of the decisions." Barr said the information could help authorities make arrests in their ongoing investigation into Anonymous' "Operation Payback" attacks against Mastercard and Visa in December; he cast Anonymous as an organized crime syndicate about to be blown open.

This pissed off Anonymous. They see themselves as an utterly democratic mass of untraceable Internet users who come and go as they please. It didn't help that members' confidence in their anonymity had already been rattled by a series of high-profile FBI raids.

http://gawker.com/classic#!5753570/anonymous-hackers-pay-back-fbi-snitch-with-50000-leaked-emails

Some computer security expert. I must admit, I'm starting to like these guys.

 

[StarBob]

Democratic? I'd say more Anarchistic...

 

[No Limit]

Maybe a little. But when our government refuses to go after wrongs done in our name I can't really complain when citizens decide to do it themselves. In this case a guy pretending to be a security expert was going to sell false information to the FBI and got bit in the ass for it. I say great.

 

[Krynn72]

I must admit, I'm starting to like these guys.

Why ?

 

[No Limit]

Because eventhough it's 4chan what they can do is truly amazing. These weren't some simple DDOS attacks, they totally compromised the internal network of a company claiming to be a computer security group. The guy wanted to profit by exposing them and got totally bitch slapped in the process.

No matter where you stand on this issue I think you really have to appreciate this quite a bit.

Screenshot of the site they hacked:

http://i.imgur.com/em14R.jpg

 

[Krynn72]

So they hacked some servers that had shitty security measures. That says to me "the security company is shit" and not "Anonymous is great."

 

[CptStern]

apparently the CEO of the security company is a colossal ****** ..according to his linkedin profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tedvera

 

[No Limit]

Even if they had shitty security measures (something you and I don't know) to exploit this at the level they did isn't something that any newbie with a computer can do. It really does take a lot of skill to do what they did, especially since they did it on various levels including hacking the website, the emails, and the computer where all his files were stored. Not to mention they got his social security number and posted it on his own twitter feed. You can try to down play this but it really is significant.

apparently the CEO of the security company is a colossal ****** ..according to his linkedin profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tedvera

Ahahahahaha

 

[Krynn72]

Even if they had shitty security measures (something you and I don't know) to exploit this at the level they did isn't something that any newbie with a computer can do. It really does take a lot of skill to do what they did, especially since they did it on various levels including hacking the website, the emails, and the computer where all his files were stored. Not to mention they got his social security number and posted it on his own twitter feed. You can try to down play this but it really is significant.

First off, they said themselves that HBGary had shitty security, so I'll take their word for it. Secondly, this is no more than any other hacker group. Do you think any hacker group that can find their way past lame security measures is cool?

And this is to say nothing of thinking criminals are cool because they do stuff thats hard. I mean, hey, I guess I like the Zodiac Killer, because its impressive that he was never caught.

 

[No Limit]

You are trying to downplay the significance of this by saying big deal, the guy had shitty security. Again, even if it's shitty security that doesn't mean that getting around that security is automatically easy. Especially since they did this on his website, his computer, his iPad, his twitter, his linkedin profile, and even managed to get his social security number. Very few people can do something like this.

Do I think any hacker group that runs around the internet hacking outdated phpBB message boards is cool? Nope. But when a guy claiming to be a security expert tries to sell information to the FBI on a certain group and the group responds by hacking just about every aspect of the guy's digital life then yea, that's pretty ****ing cool.

And well done comparing this to serial killers. Obviously it's similar. And just because something is a crime doesn't automatically mean it's wrong.

 

[<RJMC>]

sont know about you but this is starting to look like in die hard 4 where some hackers got control of the world and all that stuff "omg they hacked the stoplights!" and dont give that good image to 4chan anyway

 

[Raziaar]

Hacking Collective? Come the **** on... most of the members of Anonymous are simply riding on the coattails of anybody in the group that has specific talents that are exercised in such a fashion. The rest simply don masks and protest Scientology(and do similar relatively minor things of that same style.)

 

[Krynn72]

A lot of people can do that actually. The internet has a lot of them. It also took a group of them to do this, not just one person. There have been several people who hacked Department of Defense networks, all by themselves. Thats sorta cool, this however, isn't.

 

[No Limit]

A lot is a relative term. Out of the billions of people online very few can do something like this. If you think hacking the department of defense networks is cool I don't understand why you wouldn't think this was cool even if it slightly easier. I agree with Raz that a few people there know what they are doing and everyone else tries to jump on the bandwagon. But having this many people capable of something like this in one place is cool. Especially if they use their skills to try and enact political change instead of simply pointlessly hacking small personal websites.

 

[Krynn72]

Except they rarely use their skills to get political change. The only time they do anything is when they feel offended. I don't think this is cool because a collective of people hacking a poorly secured series of networks isn't cool. A single person doing it might be slightly more cool, but its still all poorly secured. Call me back when they hack the DoD and get classified information.

 

[No Limit]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on how cool it is. I do look forward to your upcoming guide on hacking computer networks that have shitty security. Let me know when it's ready.

I also don't agree with the fact they rarely do things for political reasons. I think they do it all the time. From hacking muslim websites because they called for a fatwa on South Park to shutting down Master Card and other bank sites for days in some cases because they shut down the bank account of wikileaks. Some of these attacks might not be all that sophisticated but many times they are meaningful.

 

[Raziaar]

You're reading HL2.net, the community that doesn't condone the cool crime of hacking.

 

[Krynn72]

I also don't agree with the fact they rarely do things for political reasons. I think they do it all the time. From hacking muslim websites because they called for a fatwa on South Park to shutting down Master Card and other bank sites for days in some cases because they shut down the bank account of wikileaks. Some of these attacks might not be all that sophisticated but many times they are meaningful.

I guess you're just not all that familiar with Anon. Look up their other attacks. Two-four 'well intentioned' attacks versus the god knows how many spiteful ones doesn't make them noble.

Also, lol @ the thinly veiled "i'd like to see you do better" argument. Such a classic.

 

[Yorick]

The only time that I really support Anon doing stuff as a collective is when they go after people who hurt animals and such.

 

[No Limit]

I guess you're just not all that familiar with Anon. Look up their other attacks. Two-four 'well intentioned' attacks versus the god knows how many spiteful ones doesn't make them noble.

Also, lol @ the thinly veiled "i'd like to see you do better" argument. Such a classic.

I'm sure there are spiteful attacks, and we don't know what individuals are responsible for those. Just as we don't know which ones are responsible for the good ones. So when bad attacks happen lets all condemn them, when good, or even funny attacks happen (such as this one) then don't try to dismiss what they did by saying the guy should have had better security.

My point with the lets see you do it better argument was that you keep dismissing how complex an attack such as this one is. It's by no means easy and it does take a great amount of skill. And I think in this case the attack was perfectly appropriate.

 

[Krynn72]

It's by no means easy and it does take a great amount of skill. And I think in this case the attack was perfectly appropriate.

How do you know? Anonymous was making fun of them for having shitty security. Seems to imply that it was rather easy.

 

[No Limit]

That doesn't imply that at all. Having shitty security doesn't mean that it's easy to get around that security, it simply means that it's possible to get around it without having to identify zero day exploits. You can use existing vulnerabilities that are well documented but not necessarily easy to execute.

I haven't seen the exact details of what they had to do but I can gurantee you that it took days of careful planning and plenty of time and concentration to execute. That's the only possible way they could have stolen that much data without ever being noticed.

 

[Dinnesch]

Some computer security expert. I must admit, I'm starting to like these guys.

Why ?

I think, despite sometimes a bit reckless, Anonymous is doing good keeping people alert of how powerful of a weapon information is.
Yes I know how cliche it is to mention 1984/mass media/censorship, but that's no reason not to take them serious.
We in the western world laughing at how easily north koreans/chinese are influenced by media doesn't mean we're immune to it, because simply everyone forms his opinion on anything based on what he sees/hears/reads.(duh)

 

[ktimekiller]

Krynn is full of shit

there i said it

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Although unethical and illegal, I assume they took the invasive approach in attempt to defend themselves from the false information this guy was going to publish AND because he was intending to sell it and make a healthy profit (for himself or his company). In their eyes, it was a reaction from his actions against them. Probably a little excessive but I do like the romance of the whole hacking affair. I'd like to think there is a real Lisbeth Salander out there somewhere.

 

[Danimal]

Anonymous only need to know about the NWO and things will be pretty lol

 

[lord_raken]

I just think their letter was F**king awesome!

Anonymous' ability to get information, find people, and exact vengeance is pretty impressive and a little scary.

 

[Kula Meenur]

I love Anon so goddam much right now.

 

[15357]

Maybe a little. But when our government refuses to go after wrongs done in our name I can't really complain when citizens decide to do it themselves.

.............What? I'm a bit concerned.

In this case a guy pretending to be a security expert was going to sell false information to the FBI and got bit in the ass for it. I say great.

Oh. That makes it alright. Nobody crosses FedGov.

 

[Vegeta897]

Guys, don't you know that hackers can turn your computer into a BOMB? You can't tell me that's not cool.

Anonymous isn't really a hacking 'group'. Anonymous is just a label they choose to apply to themselves and work under. Sure there are small groups of people that are actual coordinated teams of hackers or whathaveyou, and sure they can communicate to other 'members' of anonymous in one manner or another, but it's really pointless to talk about 'the things anon has done' as a whole. The 'group' has no leader and no requirements to be a part of it. Anyone can do anything under the name anonymous. It's a meaningless label that's just used because it's an interesting idea, but you can't talk about it like the way you have been, referring to anonymous as 'them' as if that means anything. The story should not be advertised as "anon hacked this guy". Some people hacked this guy, and they happened to be people who want to operate under the 'anonymous' label. Nothing more. Throwing around the word anon like they're a group and talking about them as a group is only perpetuating the silly ideas that the media and this guy had about them. That there's some sort of leading elite members and shit.

Bleh, what a mess of a paragraph. I hope someone understands what I'm trying to say.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Well, the media have a vested interest in perpetuating that notion because it makes these stories much more interesting to follow. If it was just some random dudes, who we gonna hate?