Anonymous hackers attack US security firm HBGary

[frigidmagi]

BBC

[quote]Online activist group Anonymous has targeted an American security firm that claimed to know the identities of its leaders.

The secretive organisation is being investigated in several countries over strikes on Visa, PayPal and others.

Over the weekend Aaron Barr, head of HBGary Federal, said he had discovered the names of its most senior figures.

The group retaliated overnight by breaking into the company's website and hijacking his Twitter account.

Anonymous, known for being a loosely-knit group, has been involved in a number of high profile online protests and attacks in recent months.

In December, the group launched a campaign in support of Wikileaks that disrupted services at MasterCard, Visa and other companies that had withdrawn support the whistle-blowing website.

The strike led to police investigations around the world, and a number of arrests in Britain and the Netherlands.

Although the individuals who make up the collective claim they do not have a traditional hierarchy, Mr Barr told the Financial Times that he had infiltrated the organisation and uncovered the names and addresses of several senior figures.

He said he did not intend to hand the information over to the authorities unless forced to, but did plan to present his findings at a conference in San Francisco later this month.

The attacks began shortly after his claims were made public, with a sustained attack that targeted him both personally and professionally.

Mr Barr's Twitter account was filled with a sequence of racial and sexual slurs, along with a string of personal details such as his mobile phone and social security numbers.

Meanwhile, a message on the company's website said that Anonymous had "seized" HBGary's operation in order to defend itself.
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"You brought this upon yourself. Let us teach you a lesson you'll never forgetâ€

[The Minx]

"Key" individuals for Anonymous would presumably mean those who are more active than their peers, I guess. If they get the most prolific hackers from the group faster than new ones sign up, they might make a dent. Of course, if that happens the potential new recruits will simply move to other online communities instead and reorganize. The real danger to people like these are things like the "online ID" that is being spoken about.

[SirNitram]

Anonymous is best considered a hornet's nest in the internet. It's loud, vexing, but a little sensibility means things are fine. Now if you stick your dick directly into the hive, you have no one to blame but yourself when they go berserk on you.

Anyway. Thinkprogress was handed some of the documents that were yoinked after the idiot who managed to get in made the fatal error of bragging about it on the internet. Probably because Anonymous decided it'd be fun to hand the targets of some of the corporate espionage to one of their targets. Link

I expect more to be revealed.

[Charon]

I have few doubts that there are some "key" figures behind the round of attacks on Visa and what not. I can say with some certainty that these are not the same "key" figures that are now behind the attacks on ThinkProgress. Arresting "leaders" is just going to involve those leaders being replaced with barely a blink of an eye.

You cannot stop Anonymous, because it is everyone and it is no one.