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'Project Vigilant' Recruits At Defcon To Track You
angry tapir writes "A secretive volunteer group that tries to track terrorists and criminals on the Internet went to the Defcon hacker conference in hopes of recruiting information security experts, but it will first have to overcome some skepticism. That's because most information security professionals have never heard of the group, called Project Vigilant."
It would be no less obvious.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Just have to tell /b/ that the target is a scientologist. Or has hot nudes hidden on their facebook account.
So I take it that "Spot the Fed" is a little more interesting this year?
So, I got curious and clicked the link to the article. Then I clicked the link to the project's website, which beyond a splash screen with an INGSOC-esque logo with a half-assed latin slogan, you find a cheap-ass Drupal site which requires an OpenID account to log into. The list of logged-in users includes such gems as a guy named "poopcracker."
If this is cointelpro, its either extremely terrible, or extremely brilliant for looking so shoddy. Chances are, its just misguided vigilantism by people who read "gray hat python" and now think they can 'hack the Gibson'. I'm not sure which would disturb me more.
where it is definitely a good idea to take the blue pill!
I need trepanation like I need a hole in the head.
EU already has a simular technology in place.
You can get the analysis at wikileaks: EU social network spy system brief, INDECT Work Package 4
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Smart money says this is a sting operation to bag hackers who are a bit too keen to use their tech savvy to spy on their neighbours!
The former hacker who turned in the Army person for the Wikileaks papers was a member of Project Vigilant. A group of wannabe spooks and terrorist fights who don't want to leave the comfort of their living rooms.
Two links with some more reading on Project Vigilant.
:)
"that it monitors the traffic of 12 regional Internet service providers, hands much of that information to federal agencies, and encouraged one of its "volunteers," researcher Adrian Lamo, to inform the federal government about the alleged source of a controversial video of civilian deaths in Iraq leaked to whistle-blower site Wikileaks in April."..
but said that because the companies included a provision allowing them to share users' Internet activities with third parties in their end user license agreements (EULAs), Vigilant was able to legally gather data from those Internet carriers and use it to craft reports for federal agencies.
from:
Stealthy Government Contractor Monitors U.S. Internet Providers, Worked With Wikileaks Informant
http://blogs.forbes.com/firewall/2010/08/01/stealthy-government-contractor-monitors-u-s-internet-providers-says-it-employed-wikileaks-informant
"Elite US cyber team courts hackers to fight terror"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hKoXQdL-L1HFYObz0_UUHMactSWg
Top tip, stop chatting to strangers, try a sneaker net gap and again stop chatting
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
He must have the world's most awesome popped collar!
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
So when does the US get some of this help to circumvent government^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H protective spying and allow the free transmission of information. Oh, wait. I see now.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
wannabe's trying to recruit talent that they obviously lack, in a convention that is arguably a good percentage of wannabe's too
this is the future of our computer security people, be afraid
This is one case where it is definitely a good idea to take the blue pill!
I don't see how will taking Viagra do any good here.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
You know, as crazy as this may sound to some of you, working in the US intelligence field or the peripheral fields is not akin to being evil.
This really doesn't worry me too much to be honest. I'd rather have these people out there working then not. It's not as black and white as some would like to paint it. When the US Army Intel analyst Manning got busted leaking documents to wikileaks, he broke a Federal law and the authorities, working with an informant through this program, found out. This program was directly responsible for helping find the source of those leaks. Why is that a bad thing?
Also, this is the world of black hats. You think everything is as it appears? If you get duped then well that's on you huh.
When I was a MIRT Handler at Castlecops I heard of a secretive invite only organization that coordinated and worked on tracking online criminal activity. I was not told the name of this group. The deal was: if they wanted you then you would hear from them.
I wonder if this is the same group.
If so, then I assume their shadowy invite-only policy isn't working so well for recruiting.
Won't help those people to reach the goal, though.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
"Seedy company hires hackers to commit felonies" -- Yawn.
"A person or entity providing an electronic communication service to the public shall not intentionally divulge the contents of any communication while in transmission on that service to any person or entity other than an addressee or intended recipient of such communication or an agent of such addressee or intended recipient."
Given the abuse and buzz power that that word has seen in the last couple of years, I tend to treat anything that comes with 'terroris.+' in the subject with a grain of salt. Well, actually more than a grain: I start giving credit starting at the absolute bottom of the scale when that regex matches, and it usually doesn't get very far. There is just too many people out there trying to make a living, if not easy money, out of scaring people and leveraging the politicians with that fear. Take a look at "The power of nightmares", a BBC documentary readily available on YouTube, about the latter.
Why aren't they focusing the same attention on elections in the USA?
Monitors the traffic of 12 regional Internet service providers? Is there a list posted anywhere? My ISP has a EULA, and there's are a few references to third party providers, but it doesn't seems to mention monitoring or sharing of activity or usage details.
Here's their business license registration. It's only a year old.
Florida Limited Liability Company
BBHC GLOBAL L.L.C.
Registered Agents: Steven Ruhe & Susan Van Der Gaast Document Number: L09000077415
FEI/EIN Number : 270717413
Date Filed: 08/12/2009
The address provided for contact is someone's HOME ADDRESS in a middle income suburban gated community.
This is run out of someone's f***ing house...
This company fails the Slashdot test and their website is an utter joke. They're just a bunch of noobs playing around with their Dell Inspirons from home.
This thread has gotten just too silly. Please move along to the next thread, a fairy story about the police.
A EULA for consumers, a EULA for costumers and a EULA from the gov to be an isp/bell/telco?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Looks like an American copy-cat of the n3td3v group which has been around since the late 1990s. http://sites.google.com/site/n3td3v/ n3td3v group has over 10,000 volunteers, whereas these guys only have 600. n3td3v group has proper connections with the authorities, whereas these guys haven't. n3td3v group has over 10 years experience, whereas these guys haven't.
Given that they are being shilled by Wired and associated with Adrian Lamo, I think a lot of people are assuming they are just as fake.... esp people familiar with the cozy relationtionship Lamo had with Wired and the personality/mythos they manufactured around him...
Trying to get their name out there via association with a fake hacker and his sob story via the same publication that was used to bring attention to his 'exploits'.. really does not give them good PR.....
Lamo? Uber? Seriously now, don't they have more creative writers than that? This sounds like life is starting to emulate art (if you can call the assorted CSI:* series such).
Capability based security has been patiently waiting for people to get fed up with the broken mess that is user based security.... it's time to end this mess by properly securing everyone's computers.
"Two Guys from Quantico Pizza"
More on-topic: I certainly do hope hackers take up the offer. The more Wikileaks, the better for Democracy and Freedom.
In Soviet Russia, YOU track Project Vigilant!
Wait, so a dozen large ISPs are handing private user data to Project Vigilant which in turn hands it to parts of the US gov't, and this is "legal" because the ISPs have EULAs which allow sharing with unspecified third parties???
Way to bury the lede, slashdot. Some mainstream journo needs to find out which ISPs are participating.
http://www.examiner.com/x-27653-SF-Technology-Examiner~y2010m6d22-Big-names-help-run-Project-Vigilant
Chet Uber for Project Vigilance? ..
Sounds a lot like Christian Valor (se7en) if anyone remembers him..
My money is on him being bullshit artist looking for some speaking gigs before he gets found out to be a fraud.
My guess is the Uber's are incompetent spies. Both are listed as "accountants" on LinkedIn. Lisa speaks 3 languages fluently and Chet is trying to recruit domestic hackers. If our Intel services aren't parked outside their house and tapping their phones then I have little faith in what our guys constitute suspicious activity. There is something very wrong with this whole situation. The Uber's are trying to gain trust within the Intel community while at the same time hiring blackhats. Seriously, there had better be some alarm bells going off somewhere.
I just figured out where Uber came from!
He went to http://www.hackforums.net/ and paid his $30.00 to become an Ub3r member
In addition to the commentary posted here, Cryptome and another blog have both come to the conclusion that this is little more than a publicity stunt.
There's exactly one article on examiner.com that seems to form the foundation of whatever credibility this group may have. That article breathlessly enumerates some of the "big names" on their roster, but doesn't seem to either vet their credentials or even confirm their membership.
Snow job.