Hacker Admits To Scientology DDoS Attack

lbwbl writes with news that a New Jersey man will plead guilty to one felony count of 'unauthorized impairment of a protected computer' for his distributed denial of service attacks on Scientology websites as part of 'Anonymous' earlier this year. From Wired: "He faces a likely sentence of 12 to 18 months in prison based on stipulations in his plea agreement, which also obliges him to pay $37,500 in restitution. ... Friday's case, in US District Court in Los Angeles, marks the first prosecution of an Anonymous member for a series of attacks against the Church of Scientology that began in mid-January. The secretive religious group strayed into Anonymous' sights after trying to suppress the publication of a creepy Tom Cruise video produced for Scientology members."

Comments

scientology needs a worldwide campaign launched

[TheSovereign]

against them. Its high time these scammers got whats coming. Its time for a new age of reason! inspiring eh?

Re:scientology needs a worldwide campaign launched

[Anonymous Coward]

Sample E-meter questioning:

Holden: You're in a desert, walking along in the sand when all of the sudden-
Leon: Is this the test now?
Holden: Yes. You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down-
Leon: What one?
Holden: What?
Leon: What desert?
Holden: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.
Leon: But how come I'd be there?
Holden: Maybe you're fed up, maybe you want to be by yourself, who knows? You look down and you see a tortoise, Leon, it's crawling toward you-
Leon: Tortoise, what's that?
Holden: Know what a turtle is?
Leon: Of course.
Holden: Same thing.
Leon: I've never seen a turtle. (pause) But I understand what you mean.
Holden: You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back Leon.
Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden, or do they write them down for you?
Holden: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun beating its legs trying to turn itself over but it can't, not without your help, but you're not helping.
Leon: What do you mean I'm not helping?
Holden: I mean, you're not helping. Why is that Leon? (pause) They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response. (pause) Shall we continue? Describe in single words, only the good things that come in to your mind about: your mother.
Leon: My mother?
Holden: Yeah.
Leon: Let me tell you about my mother. (shot fired)

Re:scientology needs a worldwide campaign launched

[Anonymous Coward]

Good deal. That Anonymous guy has been all over slashdot for years. He's a total racist.

Re:Anonymous

[owlnation]

Xenu sees all.

Oh, and sues all too.

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[Anonymous Coward]

Corporations are people too!

Easy defense....

[Anonymous Coward]

Xenu made me do it Your Honor. I plead not guilty by reason of following commands of the Galactic Overlord. Hail Xenu!

Re:This anti-scientology campaign is well meant

[Nerdfest]

If you're going to make spelling mistakes, at least have some fun with them. Instead of 'a registerd church', try 'a registurd church'.

Just tryin' to help out.

business practices

[paniq]

scientology is not a religion, it's a business. if you want to drive them out of business, compete with them. make up a story that is even crazier to woo film stars and rake in the big rewards.

Join the just founded Roflology. we believe that God, who actually DID create the earth, was in turn created by a being named GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence from the future which traveled back in time, to the moment before time was about to be created. since then, many men are being born with a device attached to the inside of their noses called the Super-Human-Inhibition-Transponder, which, as the name suggests, inhibits superhuman abilities that men actually possess, like reading minds, seeing into the future and doing the dishes. This device powers itself from the resonant properties of metal threads in paper sheets, which come disguised as dollar or euro bills.

Roflology promises to help you regain your superhuman abilities. The first step is to store your money in a safe place, where it can't hurt you. The second step is a 120 years training process, which helps you to achieve immortality. Once you can no longer die, there follows another 50 years of training (piece of cake for an immortal), until superhuman qualities emerge. As a finale, you will receive a certificate and a little present.

Do one of our tests today to find out whether you are full of S.H.I.T.!

Re:Link to creepy Tom Cruise video

[mweather]

Anyone have a link to the creepy Tom Cruise video?

You're going to have to be more specific.

Far more dangerous than Scientology

[Anonymous Coward]

Now here is a cult I am much more scared of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYEnDepMKwE

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[kurzweilfreak]

Soylent Green is corporations?

Re:Anonymous Script Kiddies

[meringuoid]

Recently, we have the guy using cTunnel to access Palin's email account, when he could have easily used TOR and had essentially 0% chance of being caught, or if that's to hard, at least multiple web-based proxies.

I never understood how he made that mistake. It's standard Anonymous procedure in such operations to be behind at least 7 proxies.

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[jmickle]

How is it not fair? What about bandwidth charges for the network? THe time that he took away from some engineer's life to get up at 2am to go and mitigate the attack? what about all the people who were affected simply by his attacks? Who cares about the website..... This should be a lesson for all the script kiddies out there. i think the sentence should be 5 years..... this guy is not a hacker... hes just another person who got a computer for christmas and learned some tricks.... now he thinks he is all so powerful and think hes the best developer in the world.....

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[Requiem18th]

Don't be silly, corporations ain't no people, there are some minimal requirements like a heart and minimal morality.

Re:This anti-scientology campaign is well meant

[horza]

What are the results from my Bayesian troll filter:
* lie, they "do not hurt anyone" - check
* contradiction, they are a "group nobody pays attention to" but they have "grown in ridiculous numbers" - check
* straw man argument, citing Heavens Gate and gang warfare - check
* invoking Godwins Law by mentioning Nazis - check
* mentioning vi or emacs - negative

Troll rating 4/5 - post rejected.

Phillip.

Re:This anti-scientology campaign is well meant

[jonaskoelker]

'a registurd church'.

I would've went with 'a registard church'.