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Vigilante Hackers use Old West Tactics for Justice
dismorphic writes "Angered by the growing number of Internet scams, online 'vigilantes' have started to take justice into their own hands by hacking into suspected fraud sites and defacing them. These hackers have targeted fake websites set up to resemble the sites of banks or financial institutions in recent weeks, and have inserted new pages or messages. Some say 'Warning - This was a Scam Site,' or 'This Bank Was Fraudulent and Is Now Removed.'" So maybe it's not a posse of horsemen, but it's still kinda cool that someone is taking care of those who would defraud the public.
I truly often wish that sort of justice were legal... When the law can't back itself up and the people can...
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Remove the Greed which plagues mankind.
If it's common sense, regardless of the law, the people (in the form of a jury) can make it legal.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
did the hackers that defaced the KKK and other Raciest websites several years ago ever get caught? Sometimes I think that the govt turns a blind eye to things that relieve the pressures of trying to regulate the internet. Self regulation can work in small doses.
Come on... post the script!
Agile Artisans
I wouldn't be surprised if law enforcement actually used this technique.
Seriously, how hard is it to find a phishing site's servers and the owners? I forward links, emails w/headers, whois info (one guy had his real name, address, etc. in the whois for the domain!), etc. to the authorities any time I get the emails. If you can find the hosting company, server, etc. and track down the account owner, that might work.
But if that information is false, giving them a valid account with a "honeytoken" like you describe would be a great way of continuing your search. It's more likely that the scammer has taken precautions on their hosting account than they will when they try to use the invalid account information.
#!/usr/bin/perl
# This is a perl script I wrote to piss off the phishers. What this
# script does is generate fake credit card numbers that look like real
# credit card numbers. This way, I can add bogus information to
# phishing sites that looks legitimate
# License: Public domain
sub verify {
my($cardnum) = @_;
my($a,$b,@cc);
for($a = 0;$a < 16; $a++) {
$cc[$a] = substr($cardnum,$a,1); }
for($a = 0; $a < 16; $a+= 2) {
$b = $cc[$a] * 2;
if($b > 9) {
$b -= 9;
}
$cc[$a] = $b;
}
$b = 0;
for($a = 0 ; $a < 16; $a++) {
$b += 0 + $cc[$a];
}
return $b % 10 == 0;
}
for(;;) {
$d = "54"; # Some phishing sites only accept cards where the
# first numbers look like they come from a bank
# This looks like a generic US MasterCard number
# (MasterCard is actually 5[1-5], but I'm too
# lazy to make the second digit a random number
# from 1 to 5)
for($c = 2 ; $c < 16; $c++) {
$d = $d . int(rand(10));
}
#print $d . "\n";
if(verify($d) == 1) {
print $d . "\n";
sleep(1);
}
}
I see this as another example of the self-policing that goes on here on the internet. Slashdot is another example on several levels. For example, this forum provides a means for people to express their feelings about a variety of subjects. And this forum is not mob rule, we moderate each other, and we moderate the moderations. Inflammatory and extremist talk is not tolerated silently.
On another level, Slashdot is the pulpit where the topic of freedom gets a lively and ongoing discussion. Freedom to use and create software, freedom to exchange ideas, data, tools, freedom of expression, etc., etc.
The 'net is not quite the free-for-all that some believe. And this self-regulation, self-policing, self-examination that is already the norm, is proof of the responsibility and maturity of so many here who make the net what it is; a cool place now, and a thing of hope for the future. So the idea of people going out and disrupting bad behavior on the 'net is a virtual tradition. To me this is a very good sign.
Let's continue working to keep the gummint's clumsy hands off the 'net. I know they made the net, but it has grown in size and importance because of public involvement.
Best regards.
#!/usr/bin/perl //, $cc) { $sum += $digit; } /.(.)/, $cc) { $sum += $digit; }
do {
my ($cc, $sum) = '54' . (join '', (map { $_ = int rand 10 } (1..13))) . '0';
foreach $digit (split
foreach $digit (split
$cc =~ s/.$//;
print $cc, 9 - ($sum % 10), "\n"
} while (sleep 1);
Get rid of everything Micro and Soft: Buy Viagra and/or Linux
One question:
What if you generate and submit a valid, existing, card number by accident?
Wouldn't it be ironic if one of your randomly generated entries actually turned out to be a real person, with all the correct information, and he got it stolen because of that? Highly, highly unlikely, but interesting to think about.
http://www.aa419.org/vampire/ladvampire.html
Just repeating the URL for clarity's sake.
EVERYBODY, open that URL in a new window/tab and let it run. You can have it in the background or minimise it. In fact, make it your start page if you don't already have any useful start page.
Let's use the Slashdot effect for something good - overloading nigerian scammers' fake websites.