Cyber Vigilantes & Hacktivists - opinion and analysis

The Cipher Brief, Cyber Vigilantes & Hacktivists: Double-Edged Sword Against ISIS - opinion/analysis "Cyber vigilantes and “hacktivists” increasingly fill the void left by governments in combating terrorist activity online. While such politically motivated non-state hackers are relatively effective at removing the presence of terrorist content, their continued operations could damage overall counterterrorism efforts by undermining intelligence operations – say by taking down a website that the CIA or NSA is monitoring. By letting these groups run loose – if even for a noble cause – the U.S. risks undermining international norms of cyber operations among states by legitimizing the phenomenon of “patriotic hackers” used as proxies by governments engaging in deniable operations."

Australian websites targets by Indonesian hackers

ninemsn.com.au, Aust websites targets by Indon hackers, 25 Nov 2013 "Indonesian hackers are targeting Australian police and other government agencies' websites as payback for spying on their president but no critical police information has been compromised."

New and noted: 'Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach'

digitalislam.eu, New Book: Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach "Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach, written by experts on the front lines, gives you an insider's look into the world of cyber-warfare through the use of recent case studies. The book examines the issues related to cyber warfare not only from a computer science perspective but from military, sociological, and scientific perspectives as well. You'll learn how cyber-warfare has been performed in the past as well as why various actors rely on this new means of warfare and what steps can be taken to prevent it."

'Iranian gov't pays paramilitary hackers, bloggers to bring you Islamic Revolution 2.0'

arstechnica.com, Iranian gov't pays paramilitary hackers, bloggers to bring you Islamic Revolution 2.0 "Iran has significantly stepped up its use of corporate acquisitions, online propaganda, and hacking capabilities in recent years, according to an open source intelligence expert."

Malicious Simurgh copy

citizenlab.org, Iranian anti-censorship software ‘Simurgh’ circulated with malicious backdoor "It has recently come to our attention that this software is being recommended and circulated among Syrian Internet users for bypassing censorship in their country. This information led to the discovery and analysis of a back-doored version of this software.

"The malicious copy will install the Simurgh software, but will also install an undesirable backdoor on the victim’s computer. This software is distributed as “Simurgh-setup.zip” and is identifiable via the following md5 and sha256 hashes:"

Read the advice on this page. Download the software from simurghesabz.net, which is the official site.

'Pro-Palestinian hackers apologise for cyber attack on Haaretz newspaper website'

The National, Pro-Palestinian hackers apologise for cyber attack on Haaretz newspaper website, 27 Jan 2012, "The group claimed responsibility shortly after the attack, tweeting: "haaretz.co.il Tango Down :)". But yesterday morning an apology appeared on the same Twitter account "@haaretzprint we are sorry, we didn't know that haaretz is a good newspaper, we sorry about this, and be sure no one will attack u again"."

'Hackers expose defence and intelligence officials in US and UK

Guardian, Hackers expose defence and intelligence officials in US and UK, 9 Jan 2012 "Among the huge database of private information exposed by self-styled "hacktivists" are the details of 221 British military officials and 242 Nato staff. Civil servants working at the heart of the UK government – including several in the Cabinet Office as well as advisers to the Joint Intelligence Organisation, which acts as the prime minister's eyes and ears on sensitive information – have also been exposed."

'Saudi hackers target Israeli credit details'

Channel 4 News, Saudi hackers target Israeli credit details, 4 Jan 2012, "Saudi Arabian hackers have claimed a successful cyber attack on Israeli computer servers, publishing the financial details and mobile phone numbers of an estimated 400,000 people."

'Iran says Internet now a 'battlefield''

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin/WorldNetDaily, Iran says Internet now a 'battlefield': New army of 'cyber-jihadists' working on disruption strategy, 16 Dec 2011

Syrian cyber warfare

Zeina Karam, Associated Press/SFGate, Syria wages cyber warfare as websites hacked, 27 Sep 2011 "Pro- and anti-government activists in Syria are increasingly turning to the Internet, hacking and defacing websites in an attempt to win a public relations victory."

Turkey: 1000+ websites hacked

Alastair Stevenson, ibtimes.com, Hacking Boom: On the anniversary of the Sivas Katliamı Anonymous and allies RedHack deface 1000 websites, 5 Jul 2011 "As a part of Anonymous Operation Anti-Security and to mourn the anniversary of the Sivas Katliamı, the RedHack hacker Group has claimed responsibility for a slew of hacks defacing 1000 websites."

Hacking Magazine

Aaron Y. Zelin, Jihadology, New magazine released: “Magazine of Supporters of the Technical Base for Information Security and Hacking #1″, May 29, 2011 [posted retrospectively]

Stuxnet report

Kim Zetter, Wired, Threat Level, Report: Stuxnet Hit 5 Gateway Targets on Its Way to Iranian Plant, 11 Feb 2011 "Attackers behind the Stuxnet computer worm focused on targeting five organizations in Iran that they believed would get them to their final target in that country, according to a new report from security researchers."

Stuxnet claims

Morag Lindsay, Press & Journal, Cyber-terrorists could use supervirus to attack Britain, 26 Nov 2010 "Reports yesterday suggested the Stuxnet worm – a computer virus which targets control systems found in industrial plants – had been traded on the black market and could be used by terrorists to target power stations, food distribution networks, hospitals, traffic lights and even dams."

"Iranian Cyber Army"

Dan Kaplan, scmagazineus.com, "Iranian Cyber Army" cons fellow crooks with honeypot, 4 Nov 2010 "Maybe the "Iranian Cyber Army" hasn't created a botnet as potent as first believed and simply is trying to put one over on white hats and fellow criminals."

'Iranian Cyber Army'

Shaun Waterman, Washington Times, Hackers shopping malware network: Suspected of backing Iran, 26 Oct 2010 "Most researchers regard the Iranian Cyber Army (ICA) as "hacktivists" — politically motivated pro-Iranian hackers — and there is no evidence they are linked to the Tehran government. Almost a year ago, a group using that name attacked U.S.-based social networking platform Twitter, and then Chinese search engine Baidu, briefly diverting visitors to those Web pages to a different page decorated with an Iranian flag, nationalist slogans and anti-U.S. and anti-Israel images."

Also see, by the same author:

Shaun Waterman, Washington Times, U.S. tries to detect Muslim radicals at home: Al Qaeda calls jihad their 'duty'

Iranian distributes Trojan

ZDNet UK, Mapping Babel (blog), Webroot: Iranian distributes free Firefox password logger, 11 Oct 2010 "Upon analysing the Trojan's source code, Webroot found that it contained the creator's name and email address. With this, they were able to track the creator to a message board, where it became apparent that he had distributed the Trojan as a free download. Webroot eventually found his Facebook profile, and discovered that he was based in Kiraj, Iran."

Iran and "internet terrorism"

isna.ir, Iran calls virus in nuclear system "internet terrorism", 13 Oct 2010 "Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi called virus in Iran's nuclear system "internet terrorism." "

Stuxnet

Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes, Worm in Iran marks new era of cyberwarfare, 4 Oct 2010 "A sophisticated computer worm that infested Iran’s nuclear facilities marks a new phase in cyberwarfare: the first time a cyberweapon has targeted a country’s infrastructure."

Round-up on the Stuxnet issue, widely reported elsewhere. For example, in the Washington Post, Iran struggling to contain 'foreign-made' 'Stuxnet' computer virus, 27 Oct 2010 ""We had anticipated that we could root out the virus within one to two months," Hamid Alipour, deputy head of Iran's Information Technology Co., a part of the ministry of communication and information technology, told the Islamic Republic News Agency. "But the virus is not stable, and since we started the cleanup process three new versions of it have been spreading," he said."

Hacking conference

aljazeera.net, Computer hacking: Who benefits?, 19 Sep 2010