WikiLeaks cyberwar: hackers bring down Swedish government site

[Turborama]

Source: Telegraph (UK)

The official site, regeringen.se, was offline for several hours overnight and only a message saying the site could not be reached was visible.

Commercial websites including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal have already been targeted by co-ordinated action on one of the busiest shopping days of the year after the firms said that they would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks.

A group calling itself Anonymous and operating under the banner "Operation Payback" was behind some of the attacks and there were concerns that Twitter could become a target because it removed Anonymous' listing.

A 22-year-old software engineer who called himself Coldblood said: "The campaign is not over, it's still going strong. More and more people are joining. "I see this as becoming a war - but not a traditional war: this is a war of data."

He added: "We are trying to keep the internet free for everyone."

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8190871/WikiLeaks-cyberwar-hackers-bring-down-Swedish-government-site.html

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Related OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9731476">Twitter & Facebook Ban WikiLeaks’ Hacker Avengers. Here Comes The Cyberattack

[newfie11]

1. LOL So take that Sweden

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[ejpoeta]

2. i always figured that we don't even need bombs.... computers is the way to attack someone.

i guess we are seeing that. the scary thing is how the US can pressure sites like amazon to stop hosting and paypal to stop allowing funds for someone. i mean.... dick cheney release the name of a covert CIA agent and nothing happened to him. and scooter libby never saw a day in jail. yet there is this all out assault on this guy who is releasing documents... one could argue that the diplomatic communications are no big smoking gun..... but to go after this guy for such bs leaks. i am sorry but they are. they sure make us look bad. but they aren't locations of black ops operations are they? it's kind of scary this all out attack on this guy. i hope he does release something really bad about the banks. i know he must have something big or else why would they be going after him so bad.

[BlueMTexpat]

10. The thing is that he has done only what any reporter with spine

would do. He is releasing information that has been leaked to him.
Such an action used to be called a "scoop" - but that was before reporters were essentially defanged and now subsist on press handouts so that they merely repeat the information that they receive.
Do not doubt for a minute that had these revelations come from the Kremlin's diplomatic service or that of China that the USG would be defending Assange as a champion of freedom of the press.
But when it's the other way around - not a chance.
**********
And yes, it is scary to see how sites can be pressured - without even evidence of wrongdoing provided or a court order - it is frightening indeed.

[molly77]

15. ejpoeta

You would understand if Hitler did it? We need to , as a country, allow the word fascism in our collective consciousness. The overt take over occurred in 2000. How can WE deal with a problem unless it is named?

[indimuse]

3. KNR! n/t

[dipsydoodle]

4. I think the original of this was the atttack on the Mexican Government in 1998

The Electronic Disturbance Theatre (EDT), formed in 1998, are an Internet Performance Activist group. EDT are considered Hacktivists, one of their most notably Hacktivist based events being a "virtual sit-in" on the Web sites of the Pentagon and the Mexican government to bring the world's attention to the plight of Indian rights in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Electronic Disturbance Theatre can be broken down into various sections, other areas you may want to look at are: Hacktivism Electronic Civil Disobedience Critical Art Ensemble

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Disturbance_Theatre

In those days you could download Floodnet software, the purpose of which is to occupy a site by repeatly hitting reload, to join in the the fray. In doing so you obviously neededd to recoginise you would be repsonsible for your own individual actions.

I also remember them attacking a US toy company who'd stolen the domain of a Scandivanian design company. The attack was timed for the Xmas sales period and the US company soon buckled , gave the name back and paid damages too.

[Duppers]

5. look out world.

Full force /b/ is coming.

[cutlassmama]

18. +4

[Turborama]

6. Reuters: WikiLeaks supporters vow to step up cyber attacks

Thu Dec 9, 2010 6:35am EST

* Spokesman "Coldblood" says Internet freedom at stake

By Keith Weir

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - More cyber attacks in retaliation for attempts to block the WikiLeaks website are likely in a "data war" to protect Internet freedom, a representative of one of the groups involved said on Thursday.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said the Swedish government's website was down for a short time overnight in the latest apparent attack. Sweden has issued an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange over sex crimes and he is in jail in London, awaiting an extradition hearing.

=snip=

"Anonymous has targeted mainly companies which have decided for whatever reason not to deal with WikiLeaks. Some of the main targets involve Amazon, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal," a spokesman calling himself "Coldblood" told BBC Radio 4.

"The campaign is not over from what I've seen, it's still going strong. More people are joining, more and more people are downloading the voluntary botnet tool which allows people to command dos (distributed denial of service) attacks," he added. The speaker, who had an English accent, said he was aged 22 and was a software engineer.

From: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6B80US20101209

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. Viva la Hackers!!!

[JackInGreen]

8. GENTLEMEN

Let us not make TOO much noise out in the streets? keep to the bramble.

[sabrina 1]

9. The Revenge of the Nerds!

I know it's not nice to be happy about a war, even a cyber war, but I LOVE what they are doing. The little people demonstrating that they do have power.

Wikileaks has troops! :applause:

Turborama you post the most interesting and exciting news! Thank you for keeping up with all this. It is moving so fast I would never be able to keep up if it were not for your great posts.

Take That Swedish lapdogs. Learn to stand on your two feet and not be a lapdog of t he U.S. I hope the citizens of Sweden are getting a good look at their so-called Sovereign country. It is nothing more than a cringing acolyte of the U.S. gobernment.

[saigon68]

11. a cringing acolyte

Love the comparison

as in -----When they reached the shrine, acolytes removed the pall.

[sabrina 1]

17. Lol, now I am picturing that scene, at the shrine I mean.

[Myrina]

13. +10

Same here!

[bitchkitty]

12. SMACK! LOL n/t

[CJvR]

14. And this...

...has helpes Assange how?

[captain jack]

16. "Sounds like good news to me." nt

[NoGOPZone]

19. "There's a war out there, A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets"

"It's about who controls the information. "