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Anonymous
With Fridays on the Internet now a virtual Mad Libs game of which government website Anonymous will take down next, the director of the National Security Agency wants the White House (and no doubt anyone handling the NSA budget) to know that the hacker collective could very well cause at least a limited power outage in the next two years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The article explains that the concern is real, but has not yet been expressed directly:
Gen. Keith Alexander, the director, provided his assessment in meetings at the White House and in other private sessions, according to people familiar with the gatherings. While he hasn't publicly expressed his concerns about the potential for Anonymous to disrupt power supplies, he has warned publicly about an emerging ability by cyberattackers to disable or even damage computer networks.
*cough cough*
Boy Howdy! That'd be one heck of a DDoS assault!
DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks remain Anonymous' chief weapon in bringing down websites — generally achieved by overloading a website with access requests so that it no longer has the dedicated resources to function properly. Security experts believe this was the method behind a series of Friday attacks for which Anonymous claimed credit, including the Department of Justice, the U.S. Copyright Office, the FBI, the CIA and the Federal Trade Commission.
Even Anonymous will tell you that, unlike taking out a power grid, such takedowns are not that hard to do.
Speaking with Wired.com via an online chat as the February 14 attack on the FTC website commenced, an Anonymous source readily stated the whole operation was easy-peasy: "As one remarked, 'own & rm and move on.' (rm being a unix command to delete data.)"
Why so easy? Hmmmm ...
Well, there's this! Following that first smackdown on a FTC website earlier this month, the PR firm in charge of that and other .gov sites never got around to safeguarding the rest, Ars Technica notes. Indeed, the U.S. government's public-facing websites have notoriously weak security — and that by comparison, no hacking collective has ever managed to take out a place where real coders work (such as, you know, Facebook) for any discernible amount of time.
And so, attacks on government sites "are going to happen more and more frequently — they’re unstoppable," Jerry Irvine, a member of the National Cyber Security Task Force, told the New York Times following the CIA website attack. "Why can’t they be stopped? Because security technologies have not kept up with the extent of the vulnerabilities that exist.”
But attacks on government sites are not the same as attacks on government networks. The real threats to the power grid are limited, according to U.S. intellegence officials, and not coming from Anonymous.
"The countries that could most quickly develop and use cyber means to destroy part of the grid — such as China and Russia — have little incentive to do it. Those who might have more incentive, like Iran or North Korea, don't have the capability," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Officials already have found what they say is evidence of Chinese and Russian cyberspies snooping in computer systems that run the electric grid, possibly in preparation for a conflict with the U.S. The governments of China and Russia have denied any involvement."
Anonymous, for its part, has never mentioned any threat against the power grid — just more website attacks each and every Friday, culminating in Operation Global Blackout on March 31, which is about shutting down the Internet, not the power grid. Such a plan may be over ambitious, but not without meaning.
"The Internet should be able to absorb the attack the group outlined, said Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer at computer-security company Mandiant," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The announcement, however, shows the network's intent to wage more destructive attacks."
More on the annoying way we live now:
- CIA site back up after Anonymous claims attacks on it and Alabama state sites
- How Facebook keeps the porn, gore and hate out of your News Feed
- Report: These tech companies sell spy tools to dictators
- 7 signs we're living in the post-privacy era
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.
Leave a Comment:
Absolute fear mongering.. Cutting power would hurt people not our corrupt government.. so it would not be done.. they are yanking the money chain to get more money for the security state.. Down with the tyrants. Liberty for the people!
Was thinking a long the same lines. Anonymous isn't a terror cell, the governments of the world are trying to make them out that way.
The sad part is there's a chance the politicians really don't understand that.
Absolutely fear-mongering by CIA, et al. Anon. does things to send a message and "for the lolz." Taking down the power grid accomplishes neither. Too bad most of America doesn't know this, so as it gets breathlessly reported more and more people will believe the "Anonymous is an organized group of terrorists" garbage.
I think you guys are missing the broader point- the progression of cyber security has not been commensurate with the detection of security flaws. The threat of cyber attacks is a national security issue. Anonymous is only important in this respect because they've brought attention to the fact that we're less secure against cyber attacks than we thought.
You are acting as if Anon has shown restraint when common folks could be harmed. They have not. They went public with credit info of a lot of private citizens. I have no doubt some script kiddy would think how fun it wold be for him to shut down a power grid.
Distributed Denial of Service. Can you stop getting 90 yr olds who have no clue what there talking about to write your tech articles?
well anonymous wouldnt mess with powergrids because powergrids arent taking away rights and pushing unconstitutional laws in case you havent noticed they only go after governments who are corrupt and businesses that buy thier way into congress
Somebody has been watching "Live free or Die Hard"
Bet the CIA is keeping a close eye on Timothy Olyphant...
everyone who has an idea what sex appeal is keeps an eye on timothy olyphant
Sorry Helen but it's 'Distributed' and not 'Designated'.
Anonymous goes after whoever they feel like. Sometimes they suggest it is in protest over corruption or abuse of power, but that is hardly their only motivation. They frequently release private financial data of individuals, not just the corporations or government entities they are supposedly targeting. They are just a group of cyber-thugs with a half-decent PR person able to convince the naive, romantically-inclined to believe everything they do is "to fight the man!" Get real...
Bunch of pot smoking flakes who have no real jobs and who probably live at home with mommy and daddy.
Yeah...And they are 10x smarter than you! dummy!
Spoken like a true basement rat, go back and get some cheese rat Plastic Bag
Just because you have a piece of parchment paper from a collage doesn't mean you know squat. Watch the movie "Good will Hunting" with Brad Pitt and you will understand where I am coming from. The government should fear the people. There are a lot of us. Just because we couldn't afford an education doesn't mean we're stupid.
I love collages! All the pretty pictures all bundled into one. Magnificent.
I think it is great what they are doing. i just hope they wait until it is warmer weather for a power outage.
A laughably poor move by the US Government to turn the public against Anonymous...then again, I can expect nothing less from a government that considers Ketchup a vegetable...hah.
Simple fix for this.. don't connect any of our power grid to the internet. Wow, how hard is that for a fix? There is absolutely no reason that any of it needs to be connected to the internet.
Not only that, many system operators never change their default passwords. When anonymous hacked into top Syrian officials' email, they used the password "12345" to do it. It worked for a lot of accounts.
Do we see a "FIRE SALE" on the horizon...? OH, I didn't just say that did I..?
Seriously what is the government good for besides lying to the public.
Shut it down Anonymous They`re are many, many,many people on your side. power goes down i still got power. I`m with you guys. And to hell with the rest of the haters
Does this mean that the NSA the largest and best funded intelligence agency in the world is scared of Anonymous and thinks they are a major threat ? WTF .... What about the string of attacks on US by China or mercenary hackers stealing bank account information, now that's a threat.
The author seems to be defending Anonymous and their purposely disruptive behavior. Get a clue, honey. These juvenile delinquents will do anything and everything to get attention. It's the teenage ego at work here, the same sort of people who light bums on fire to see how it feels, or play that knockout king game. They don't have the maturity to take their victims into account. It's all about them and their 'power', which they weild from the comfort of mom's basement, hiding behind their keyboards like cowards, instead of standing up and speaking out like an honorable citizen working for change would do. Defending them makes you look like a naive fool.
I actually believe these individuals realize what can be harmful and not. If they use power grids as a statement I believe they will do it in a way that would provide no predictable harm to people. Of course if they do there will be many different presentation of the story. :)
Take this fear mongering piece of s@#t article down. I knew when I saw the author it would be a shot from 1945 with the commies storming my house and raping my family with nuclear waste. Do the world of journalism a favor and retire. Never touch a pen, pencil, chalk, charcoal, spit again. Anything you could use to write more tripe should be taken away from you. Find a nice home somewhere in Iceland and live there knowing you are the first author to ever illicit this kind of response from me. Truly pathetic.
I'm No. 1! I'm No. 1!
Ditto to you. How offensive. Is no one allowed to speak but you?
Helen, A big Kudos on responding! More authors should do it even if it is just something silly. Particularly since it's not in your best interest to do so.
Anyone can call themselves anonymous, even the C.I.A. This is probably the old scare, promise to protect us , then take away more of our rights b.s that worked a few years back and was so effective.
The political powers would be the ones most likely to do this, blame Anomymous and then take the last of our Civil Rights away in the name of protection and security.
Patriot Act, TSA, NDAA, EO13575, UN 21, ACTA, SOPA v2, etc... NWO
Ron Paul 2012!
Just wait and see what happens when Anonomus gets tired of playing and really uses the web to bite some serious ass.
The genie is out of the bottle and no one can escape it's capabilities.
I love how this non-story is being reported as if they've threatened to do this. "Oh noes, teh Anonymous might be able to shut down our power!" Well, I might be able to ride a unicycle backwards across the Bay bridge, but it doesn't mean I'm going to!
I actually appreciate articles like this. It gets people talking and thinking even if its against the central point of a ridiculous article. Is it possible Annonymous could do something like shutting down the power grid? Not really. You can't shut it down or even effect it remotely, ie via the internet. The most they could do is collect some information on it. This could give a location to go physically shut it down and possibly the pass codes to do so, sure, but good luck with that. Thank you Second Amendment and the overall spirit of humanity to vengefully protect itself. Fortunately Die Hard wasn't just a bit of movie magic. To actually shut down any grid, pipeline, water filtration plant, pretty much anything that would directly impact national security, you have to actually be at the site and know the right codes. Even then there are back up systems to protect the systems in case of failure or in this example in case of threat. Pretty much the only ways to shut these sites down remotely involve an EMP(ElectroMagnetic Pulse) or GMD (GeoMagnetic Disturbance). Both of these wouldn't exactly leave a population worried about power or the like as much as simple survival given that one is most often produced in a nuclear blast (EMP) and the other involves Earth being blasted with gamma rays (GMD) which consequentially involves very high radiation as well.
I'm almost offended with reporting and the media these days, but I'm an optomist... I see the obvious misinformation and it gets me motivated to find the truth and I see the new knowledge as a positive even if its accruement came from a negative means. The reason articles like this anger me is that not everyone is like me. Some will believe anything they are told without question. Actually, the majority will.
Makes one wonder since they can not do it via the internet, who is leading the sheep to think they can and why.... Who has the ability.... Seems to me they have been trying to stop the internet for some time now and I don't mean Annonymous.... They keep trying to get bills passed etc....Don't be a sheep and allow them to con the public it's for their own good....
It's obvious really. The power of fear has been shown over and again. It has the ability, more then anything else, to make even the most logical person think and act illogically. This is a built in survival trait all conscious living creatures share. The interesting part is that it is fear that drives the use of fear. Those with power use fear to intimidate those without, but those without power ultimately intimidate those with power and cause them to be afraid. Afraid of losing power, afraid of becoming irrellavent, afraid that those under them will rise above them, afraid that if people were truly free they would no longer be needed. Even in the combat of fear, fear is the weapon of choice. Fear of reprucussion. The most obvious choice is almost always the correct one. Why would a government want to place restrictions on the internet? Easy. They can not control it, although they can filter it if you are uneducated in how to circumvent the filters. And just look at what this interconnection of the masses has accomplished. Toppled governments, led to the exposure of serious corruption, forced governments to stand for their commitments, made the creation of laws that affect an entire country transparent as well as those creating the legislature, exposed major threats to privacy, opened up the knowledge of history in a way not even imaginable before, spread ideas as fast as light, decentralized trade, connected the world, and these are only a few of the things the internet has accomplished in its relatively short life span. My guess is there are a lot of people interested in the destruction of the internet and/or its total control and for pretty obvious reasons. You want to know who is leading the parade? Simple look up to where your being "trickled on". Those with power almost always will try anything and everything to protect it. Education is the best defense for what one fears. An ominous and dark room is never as scary when the lights go on and you can see that all those "monsters" were merely an illusion.
Pathetic! I'm sure the NSA would hire these guys if they actually had the skills to identify them. Our flagship intelligence service at it's finest!
im starting to think these hackers paid by chinaese govenment or russia because majority of them are hire by them. They talk friendship but bash us any chance they get and hack us every turn. maybe when it comes to military stuff maybe they should keep things on disk instead of internet when it comes to high tech secrect stuff
u notice anymous never goes after china military websites or russia or any dictator ones????? Makes me think they paid by china and russia