Hackers attack US defence group

12 July 2011 Last updated at 11:06 GMT The stolen data was put on a file-sharing website so anyone can download it Hacker group Anonymous has released a cache of data it claims to have stolen from US defence consultant Booz Allen Hamilton.

A file containing more than 90,000 e-mail addresses plus passwords, logins and other information was put on The Pirate Bay file-sharing site.

The group said it stole the information by targeting a poorly protected server on the defence firm's network.

Booz Allen Hamilton declined to comment on the incident.

In text accompanying the download package, Anonymous said it was "surprised" at how easy it was to infiltrate the server given the consulting firm's record of working on defence and homeland security.

The attack was carried out under the banner of the "Anti Sec" campaign that was originated by the short-lived LulzSec hacking group.

That hacker collective "disbanded" in late June following a spree of hack attacks on high profile targets. Many of its members are thought to have joined up with Anonymous.

As well as grabbing e-mails, passwords and a copy of a database, Anonymous said it had also got hold of lots of other material that it planned to use to attack other government agencies and federal contractors.

Booz Allen told Reuters it had no comment to make about the alleged attack, adding that company policy meant it could not discuss "specific threats or actions taken against our systems".

Commenting on the attack, Chester Wisniewski from security firm Sophos, said the attack's significance may lie in what happens to the addresses now they have been stolen.

"...there clearly is demand for information about individuals related to the US defence that can be used to compromise their accounts and computers," he wrote.

The Anonymous hacking group came to prominence thanks to the actions it took in defence of the Wikileaks whistle-blowing website. Among other things, Anonymous helped to co-ordinate attacks on companies, including Mastercard and Amazon, which it felt did not do enough to help Wikileaks.

The latest attack follows recent raids by police forces in Spain, Turkey and Italy that resulted in the arrest of suspected members of Anonymous.

View the original article here

Copyright group targets web users

29 June 2011 Last updated at 17:22 GMT Jonathan Worth's photograph of blogger and Creative Commons supporter Cory Doctorow A campaign has been launched to help people avoid breaking the law when they post pictures, music and videos online.

Copyright group Creative Commons has published a guide to identifying material that can be used freely without getting sued.

It is also advises individuals how to protect content they have made themselves.

Some legal experts say that the system is a stop-gap measure and want to see copyright laws radically reformed.

Around 500 million pieces of work are currently covered by Creative Commons.

The free-to-use legal licenses add a range of protections to content.

At one end of the scale, a rights holder can chose to share their property with anyone, and let them do what they like with it.

Stricter versions of the licences protect material from being manipulated or used for commercial purposes.

Creative Commons' chief of staff, Lisa Green said that the campaign was partly aimed at combating the myth that it supported "giving everything away for free".

"Rather than giving away, mostly we talk about enabling legal sharing and enabling remix," she told BBC News.

Photographer Jonathan Worth explained that Creative Commons allowed him to sell his work for commercial use while still giving it free to individuals who wanted it for other reasons.

"It is very empowering because I can allow the 14-year-old blogger who has got a fan site for Casey Affleck or Heath Ledger to use the images and she becomes someone that promotes my work.

"She is never going to pay me. She is time rich and cash poor. If I don't allow her to use the images then she is going to find a way to use them anyway," said Mr Worth.

Without such licensing, the young blogger would technically be in breach of copyright law.

Creative Commons licensing terms can be "mixed and matched" to suit the rights holder. Jonathan Worth, for example, uses Attribution + Non-commercial + share alike, meaning he must be named as the creator, the image cannot be used in a commercial venture and it can be shared under the same terms.

Legal changes

While many legal observers have praised the efforts of Creative Commons to make copyright more accessible, they point out that the system is not without its flaws.

"Non-commercial is a good idea in principle, but it is incredibly difficult to define," said Dr David Berry, senior lecturer in digital media at Swansea University.

"When you think of someone putting music onto their blog, often there is lots of embedded advertising. It might only make a few pennies, but that is technically commercial."

Continue reading the main story

It is very empowering because I can allow the 14-year-old blogger who has got a fan site for Casey Affleck or Heath Ledger to use the images and she becomes someone that promotes my work.”

End Quote Jonathan Worth Photographer Creative Commons has also been criticised as a system which masquerades as creating a common pool of content, while leaving individual rights holders the ability to alter the terms of sharing at will.

Copyright specialist Iain Connor from law firm Pinsent Masons said that any attempt to raise awareness of terms of use was a good thing.

"The general public has no knowledge of copyright. This will probably assist everybody in the creative industry," he said.

However, he added that there remained a need to re-examine all current copyright laws to make them fit for the internet age.

Mr Connor pointed out that the UK lacks an equivalent to the United States' concept of fair use, where individuals enjoy limited legal protection when re-using other people's work.

The recent Hargreaves Review of the UK's intellectual properties laws rejected the idea of replicating the US system.

Without such safeguards, say the proponents of Creative Commons, it is even more important that ordinary web users know where they can find content with easy to understand terms of use.

View the original article here

LulzSec hacking group 'disbands'

26 June 2011 Last updated at 11:32 GMT The Lulz Security group has used Twitter to draw further attention to itself A hacker group that has attacked several high-profile websites over the last two months has announced that it is disbanding.

Lulz Security made its announcement through its Twitter account, giving no reason for its decision.

A statement published on a file-sharing website said that its "planned 50-day cruise has expired".

The group leapt to prominence by carrying out attacks on companies such as Sony and Nintendo.

Broadcasters Fox and PBS, the CIA, and the United States Senate have also been cyber-attacked by the group.

As a parting shot, the group released a selection of documents apparently including confidential material taken from the Arizona police department and US telecoms giant AT&T.

Correspondents say LulzSec's announcement could be a sign that its members are nervous because of recent police investigations, including the arrest of a British man suspected of links to the group, and efforts by rival hackers to expose them.

'Microscopic impact' Continue reading the main story Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent, BBC News

The disbanding of LulzSec might seem like an important victory for the forces of law and order - after all, this is the group credited with attacks on everything from Sony to the CIA.

But in this shadowy world of claims, boasts and posturing, nothing is quite what it seems. It may have been other members of the hacker "community" - disgruntled with the antics of LulzSec - who forced the group into retreat. A document posted online in the last 24 hours purports to be a history of LulzSec, complete with full details on its leaders. "We've been tracking and infiltrating these kids," says the document, and its account goes on to name people in the UK, Amsterdam and New York, along with their social networking profiles and other details.

The document, posted by something called the A-Team, looks convincing, with logs from IRC (Internet Relay Chat) conversations amongst the group. It ends by offering the "raw logs of everything" to any law enforcement agency.

But even if LulzSec has gone offline, its members and other hackers trying to make a name for themselves may soon pop up elsewhere. And the other question is whether we should take any publicity-hungry group like this too seriously. The real damage is more likely being done by criminal groups who wouldn't dream of boasting of their exploits on Twitter or anywhere else.

The group's identities remain anonymous and it has not been possible to contact its members directly to confirm its statement.

The statement said that "our crew of six wishes you a happy 2011".

"So with those last thoughts, it's time to say bon voyage," it added.

"Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere."

But LulzSec urged its supporters to carry on.

"We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us," the statement said.

"Please don't stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve."

The group had previously told the BBC's Newsnight programme that it wanted to target the "higher ups" who write the rules and "bring them down a few notches".

In an online Q&A, the hacker known as Whirlpool, who described himself as "captain of the Lulz Boat", said that while the group had begun hacking "for laughs" - for which the word "lulz" is cyber-slang - it evolved into "politically motivated ethical hacking".

And in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, a LulzSec member said the group had at least five gigabytes of "government and law enforcement data" from around the world, which it planned to release in the next three weeks.

Ryan Cleary, 19, from Wickford, Essex, was arrested as part of a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into LulzSec and charged with hacking the website of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency.

View the original article here