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Wikileaks DDoS Attacker Arrested, Equipment Seized
kaptink writes "The self proclaimed hacker that waged a DDoS attack on Wikileaks has been arrested and has had all his equipment seized. What is interesting is that local police conducted the raid and not a federal authority such as the FBI. The Jester (th3j35t3r) who has a reputation for attacking websites he disagrees with is said to be trying to raise $10,000 in expected lawyers fees. If anyone is going to be alight in the whole Wikileaks debacle, its going to be the lawyers. Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated."
Try as I might, I see ZERO MENTION of the jester being arrested in the linked article. Here's the real article, pulled from the original submission:
http://www.thinq.co.uk/2010/12/1/wikileaks-hacker-raided-cops/
Interestingly enough, thinq.co.uk seems to be one of only a few, if more than one, reporting on the subject. A few quick google searches turned up nothing regarding his arrest..
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated." Have to say, I do agree here.
I won't say which, but that guy (or at least someone using that handle) would occasionally drop into an IRC channel that I frequent, trying to recruit us. When news of the leak first broke, I wondered if he was going to try to DOS wikileaks (something he had spoken about doing in the past), and then, there was a DDOS. Now he's been arrested for it, and I cannot say that I am surprised.
Now I just have to wonder if he'll receive a pardon of some kind.
Palm trees and 8
I truly hope no one is dumb enough to give him money.
So he committed a crime and tweeted about it. Stupid, but helpful for law enforcement. Durrrr....
I honestly don't care one way or the other regarding the Wikileaks mess, but common sense tells you that if you do something illegal (like DDoS'ing) and then brag about it that you will likely get caught.
Another unskilled script kiddie with a message bites the dust. I'm sure the hacker community is really broken up about this tragic loss.
A nick name like "th3j35t3r" is so unbelievably lame.
It clearly should be "7h3j3573r".
Watch it with the comments about having numbers in your nick, dude. We're both on very thin ice here.
"Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated"
This.
I honestly thought it was government(s) behind the DDoS.
Trolling is a art,
The Wikileaks twitter account is reporting/complaining that Amazon booted them from using their servers. Others are saying it was due to pressure from the US.
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
I'm sorry, you start DOS'ing anyone whose website offends you, and it's only a matter of time before you hit a site someone actually cares about enough to take action on. This guy should know this is part of the game, and take it in stride. If they found out who he was in the first place, apparently he wasn't very good either.
Well, I’m not doing it to appear leet.
I’m actually doing it in a small sort of protest to the fact that it’s virtually impossible to get a descriptive username (on AIM, originally) without having a number tacked on the end. So I made the username as non-descriptive as possible and made the number extra big.
But I somewhat doubt anyone cares.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
He choose this to wage a DDoS on? I can think of hundreds of sites better suited for this. How about taking down some known terrorists sites? Maybe the RIAA or MPAA?
If anyone is going to be alight in the whole Wikileaks debacle, its going to be the lawyers.
That's sort of an incendiary comment. You're playing with fire, here; you don't want to flame lawyers, they might get hot under the collar.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look “leet” automatically loses the ability to be called a “computer expert”.
No, but it does make him eminently qualified to call himself one.
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
That happens if it was modded "under-rated"
If someone mods it "Troll", and 4 people mod it "under-rated", you could end up with "Score: 5, Troll")
I fail to see how being an 'individual' and acquiring a moniker for one's self that 'might' not have been used to any gainful notoriety by someone else prior to this point justifies having their computer confiscated.
Alphanumeric's are practically forced down our throat at every turn, whether it's in new capture images, password requirements on a banking site or when registering with any of the other myriad companies you might be required to have a login for these days. Is it so strange for that to translate into a name that transcends the King's English?
That's weird... my last two comments have been modded but I only see the score (Score: 3) instead of the score+mod (Score: 3, Funny).
When someone uses the "underrated" mod, it simply pushes it up a notch without changing the previous tag. On the other hand, you can be modded "overrated" which will simply push your point down without touching the tag attached.
:)
There have been some rather funny cases where a mod has been +5 Troll and similar mods. Well, at least they give me a giggle
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
If you look at his mod though, it's marked funny and has +1 karma (for 3 points with my preferences) and it does not show "Funny"
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
It only took two days since the attack occurred for the perpetrator to be tracked down and arrested? I can't say I've ever heard of such a fast response time to a computer crime. I'm quite surprised.
Is this typical these days?
That's fine and all, but it should show (Score:3 Funny) on his because there IS a funny mod. It's not simply an Underrated mod.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Let me allay any doubts.
Besides all you need to get a name without numbers is be good at mispelling things.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
1. Attack Amazon's infrastructure from their home computer
2. Post about it on twitter
3. Make videos of the attack and blog
4. Try to recruit sidekicks
5. Brag about it on IRC and the interwebs
You do any or all of the above, and you are not a vigilante or a cracker. You are just another idiot you got his/her paws on a computer.
It's not the format, it's the effort.
My nick was auto-generated by a failover in an account-request form (mumble) years ago, so there's no effort involved here. Not that any is needed.
1 \/\/4$ 4B4|\|D0|\|3D 4$ 4 (|-|1LD 4|\|D r41$3D b'/ |-|4>0r3r$, j00Z 1|\|$3|\|$171\/3 (L0D!
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
Good luck with that.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
they need to throw the book at him and than bury him under the jail.
If the guy was a patriot, they would be helping wikileaks instead of DDOSing it.
There have been some rather funny cases where a mod has been +5 Troll and similar mods. Well, at least they give me a giggle :)
I don't see anything contradictory about that-- ia post can be a troll, but a very very good one.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
lrn2bbornsooner. It's your own fault it took you this long to join the Internet. Now get off my lawn y0un6k1d154 before I get my belt out! I have a 5 digit UID and a 6 digit ICQ number, and 3 AIM names without any numbers in them!
Do you Gentoo!?
1. Attack Amazon's infrastructure from their home computer .
2. Post about it on twitter
3. Make videos of the attack and blog
4. Try to recruit sidekicks
5. Brag about it on IRC and the interwebs
...
6. ???
7. Profit!
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
SLASHDOT shame on you... in your rush to try to "scoop" everyone else you posted what is more than likely a hoax storey.
Be careful everyone before you help to "donate" $10,000 to his attorney fees. This is more than likely a scam. There is no confirmation from ANY reputable site, news or otherwise, that police actually kicked his door in today and confiscated anything.
Of course Slashdot won't post this comment because ...
1) It's a little critical of them and...
2) It's from "anonymouse"
Seems to be something funky going on with Slashdot's mod system today. I had mod points earlier today and when I moderated comments, it would increment the total score, but wouldn't show the moderation I gave it, even though it had always done so in the past. Probably the Slashdot admins running test code on the production server again.
This guy is an idiot. Wikileak's owner is on the Interpol's most wanted list and half the U.S. calling for your head. The issue is so hot right now, doing anything remotely involved with the Wikileak site - good or bad - is going to get your ass hunted by SOMEBODY.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
I think someone who uses the letter "k" instead of the letter "c" in their nickname to look kool deserves to have their komputer konfiscated. I'm looking at you kaptink.
...to stop others from breaking the law.
He is a man of genius.
Blar.
Thats even better than "-1, Insightful"
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The initial list of equipment seized is as follows:
1 Kaypro 386
1 box of 1.4MB floppy disks
1 VBS Scripting for Dummies
1 box of Star Wars Kleenex
1 bag of Peanut M&Ms
1 high-back executive desk chair with two missing casters
1 copy of Penthouse Forum from April 1986
1 Wal*Mart computer desk
4 Star Wars Attack of the Clones action figures
1 spring-loaded Star Wars Light Saber (Mace Windu model)
Please post more items when they become known/available through the press.
Thank you.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
If I’d signed up for an ICQ number on my 13th birthday, I could probably have got a 5-digit number, but I can’t say I particularly wanted to be a 5-digit number for my 13th birthday.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
I read in the comments for every story about WikiLeaks here on /. that the evil American gov't was obviously behind these attacks. Someone really needs to recheck this submission.
Cardinal numbers? How crass!
He's even gone so far as to develop his own pretty DoS tool with green fonts on black background with twitter integration that exploits uber-secret knowledge, like opening many connections that slowly feed http headers to apache, thereby using up all available children.
What will be interesting, though, is his own encrypted insurance file, that supposedly contains various information about the people behind wikileaks, although - like the wikileaks insurance file - you can't really prove it contains anything but random garbage. I rather choose to believe that the guy is a bored, stupid teen who read too many articles about the fantasy anarcho-hacking world of the 90s...
:/- spoon(_).
seems like a conspiracy
Some of us made up our usernames when we were children, think of the children!
I'm sorry you came late to the game.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Now that would be a good use of The Jester's botnet!
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
+5 troll is reserved for 4chan.
To all those proposing that Palin is too stupid to be electable, what about the obligatory joke that Assange will be as hard to root out as Osama? Does that pass Palin muster?
Where does he go to blend into thousands of like-minded jihadists in the crags of the Misty Mountains? How does Assange appeal to the duplicity of Pakistan to mire the Americans in a memo generator of vanishing horizons? I'm guessing Assange has already pissed off the Royal Scimitar in half a dozen swarthy havens. Oh well, he wouldn't have blended without spending far too much dangerous time on a beach.
But have no fear, Julian, Ecuador wants you. No wait, offer rescinded. Too bad. Quito is rife with easy Swedes, and the CIA is afraid of heights. It would have been paradise.
Palin is doing a fair job of flicking the yo-yo of evil at any convenient thorn while dressed to sell with a rusty plug of tobacco in the cheek pouch of grammar. What other qualification does a republican candidate need? It's not like you have to debate Ralph Nader to become elected. He's not even allowed to enter the room.
there is one proxy to rule them all.
Read radical news here
I think it's just a call for more creative nicknames. I don't think I've put numbers in my nickname...ever. Maybe when I was 9 years old and using AOL. Plus nobody else uses this one.
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
Spaces work on some nicer systems, too. That, and a willingness to broadcast your ineptitude at FPS games.
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
I was gonna do the same thing, but you win. I for one welcome our gray bearded overlords.
Spyder
Man, I wish now I'd have spelled my nick "1y5d3x1a" back in the day. I'm really kind of sick of this computer.
:D
I care.
but this is a violation of due process if not
How would Amazon canceling an account on their own be a violation of due process?
common carrier
Common Carrier has never applied to websites nor ISPs.
Maybe you meant Safe Harbor ? -- which only applies to copyright.
Or maybe Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which only seems to cover civil matters (slander, defamation, etc).
Section 230's coverage is not complete: it excepts federal criminal liability and intellectual property law. 47 U.S.C. 230(e)(1) (criminal) and (e)(2) (intellectual property)
In any case, Amazon choosing not to carry WikiLeaks material is not a violation of Amazon's rights.
From Amazon's ToS:
We may suspend your right and license to use any individual Service or any set of Services, or terminate this Agreement in its entirety [...] if we otherwise determine that your use of the Services or the Amazon Properties [...] may subject us or any third party to liability, damages or danger
There have been some rather funny cases where a mod has been +5 Troll and similar mods. Well, at least they give me a giggle :)
Me too, still waiting on mine :D
There is a war going on for your mind.
That would imply they test changes before pushing them into production. Sounds pretty unlikely to me.
Comment of the year
How did this guy get caught? It sounds like he was bragging.
It isn't like there is an obvious way to trace this sort of attack, so if you keep your mouth shut you are home free. Of course, for this scale individual that seems to be an impossible challenge. Have to brag, have to get caught.
I see you've invoked the dual powers of slashdot-shame-on-you and I-dare-you-to-mod-down, a virtually undefeatable combination. Well played.
Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated.
\/\/hy s0 s3r10us?
Once in a while there are posts that are so exceptional good textbook cases of trolldom, that you feel they trump everything any other troll could ever write. For these cases there should be a +1 troll. Maybe not as part of the regular rating, but as an exception mod one could give once a year.
Also, for these rare posts -that should be made visible for everyone- I'd like to see:
+1 perfect strawman
+1 this is what's wrong with humanity
+1 clinically insane
+1 so dumb, I almost rated it funny
How did you get the combination to my briefcase in your sig??
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
why would the FBI comment on the arrest of a bush-league hacker
We had a Bush League President for a while.
Wow, 5 whole posts before someone said that... I expected the very next one to mention Bush... you guys are falling down on the job!
It doesn’t take a computer expert. It just takes a botnet.
And personally, I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look “leet” automatically loses the ability to be called a “computer expert”.
Yeah, tell that to 7of9...
I don’t have a sig, you insensitive clod.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
Is it just me, or does this story make No Damned Sense Whatsoever?
I mean. . , what the hell?
The governments all want Wikileaks dead, so clearly the obvious tack is to arrest and punish those who, um, support the government?
I guess vigilantism, people displaying any kind of power or initiative rather than staying meekly inside their little assigned boxes, is an even bigger crime than leaking state secrets. -Even IF you're doing it with your own Bat Computer and a snappy Gotham City identity handle.
And seriously? "The Jester" spelled with numbers? That's like my grandma's perception of computer hacking. Which is appropriate, as this whole performance is being put on for the benefit of retarded people. That's why it plays out like something from a (very) badly written Bruce Willis script. -As was the entirety of 9/11. (Planes into skyscrapers? Come on.) I suppose the trailer park Americans just won't accept anything as real if it doesn't feel like a WWF match.
And this latest twist is like the reality TV version of one of those extra Oswalds running around to confuse and complicate the issue; a favorite tactic of the creeps who organize this kind of psychological warfare bullshit. (And yes, this whole Wikileaks thing utterly stinks to me of psyops, through and through).
So please, after all this jumping up and down is over with, can we all still try to remember that this is about Israel looking to manipulate other countries into destroying the Arab populations for them?
After all is said and done, when you clear out all of the bullshit from these "Leaks", we note that nothing being touted in the media as significant is anything we didn't already know, but that in amongst the driftwood, the "New" intelligence happens to paint Iran and Pakistan and the various other people on Israel's hit-list in a bad light. It's the lie seeded in with the truth. People are being played like an entire string section to love and trust Wikileaks, so that when the warmongers who want to "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb. . , Bomb, Bomb, Iran" (Remember that sick little Bushism?) want to offer up proof, they need only point to any of the lies being included in the Wikileaks fiasco which people will simply assume are part of the pre-existing landscape of established fact. That's what Israel does. The American Army School of Advanced Military Studies in a study drafted to examine the Palestinian/Israeli problem noted of the Mossad: "Wildcard. Ruthless and cunning. Has capablility to target U.S. forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act."
THAT is what is going on with all of this shit.
The simple surface movie-reality we've been trained to accept is totally script driven. It's a lie.
Thank-you.
-FL
or roller skate. Someone should tell him that the movie Hackers was just for entertainment. Hope he takes it ok.
SLASHDOT shame on you... in your rush to try to "scoop" everyone else you posted what is more than likely a hoax storey.
Be careful everyone before you help to "donate" $10,000 to his attorney fees. This is more than likely a scam. There is no confirmation from ANY reputable site, news or otherwise, that police actually kicked his door in today and confiscated anything.
Of course Slashdot won't post this comment because ...
1) It's a little critical of them and...
2) It's from "anonymouse"
Slashdot is a news aggregator, not a news source... at least it's supposed to be.
Someone needs to say it, so.......... YEE-HAW! Jester's Dead!
Burn the land and boil the sea........
It isn't "leet" unless you spelled it something like c10n3. Just tacking numbers on the end of a normal word isn't the same thing at all.
Also, this is the internet. Somebody always cares.
Knowledge != Intelligence
Noob.
-- jay@aol.com
I saw Lamo in person and he certainly seems to be pretty lame.
Or just accept that in English, spelling doesn't have to be tied to pronunciation. Also, vowels are overrated.
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Paul.Hampson@Pobox.Com
The nation and the world are slowly getting over the trauma and damage caused by that administartion.
Give it a while.
I gave up my aol.com name when I moved off aol in '94.
Do you Gentoo!?
$10,000 for legal fees isn't going to go very far... it would cover about 2 DWIs... maybe a few days in federal court. Must be a scam.
Good. What an idiot. His twitter stream brags about taking down websites he thinks are "jihadist" but if you actually use google translate on the links they're nothing more than Free Qurans or a Muslim Dialogue BBforum or scholarly discussion on the proper etiquettes of prayer. Seems like a vigilante islamophobe to me, let the idiot get the book thrown at him.
I was going to make idle threats about using mine, but that's just a way to ensure it happens.
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated
Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
Are you me?
Sorry, that story just sounded so familiar...
I may be a bit late to this discussion, but I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on the technical side of Wikileaks, instead of the politics.
- Why is it called Wikileaks when it's not a wiki? .gov to compromise wikileaks, and ferret out the informers/insert wrong data/track down Julian?
- How do they ensure confidentiality of leaker's identities?
- I know they have a group of volunteers working around the world, how do they communicate securely?
- How hard would it be for the US/Other
Yes, Slashdot, well known for its up-to-the-minute coverage of breaking events...
Let me allay any doubts.
Besides all you need to get a name without numbers is be good at mispelling things.
Yup. It's a tradition with me now to have a misspelling in my handle. I find it has two advantageousness. You can usually get the name you want. People can't find you just hearing your handle, you have to literally spell it out for people to find you. I need to put a misspelling in my last name.
Uhmm... the three of us.
The saddest poem
"Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their [sic] computer confiscated."
Personally I think anyone who uses the word "nick" instead of "nickname" deserves to have his computer confiscated.
Fata viam invenient.
Frankly, I'm disappointed nobody's made a bush/pubic hair joke.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I see you've invoked the dual powers of slashdot-shame-on-you and I-dare-you-to-mod-down, a virtually undefeatable combination. Well played.
Hmmm...shame on you slashdot for daring to mod me down for something.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
There have been some rather funny cases where a mod has been +5 Troll and similar mods. Well, at least they give me a giggle :)
I don't see anything contradictory about that-- ia post can be a troll, but a very very good one.
Very very good trolls are something other than a troll, i.e. they will also be funny or insightful. There are very few really good trolls any more, of course, the GNAA et al have ruined it for everyone, trolls just get ignored completely.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
people can't find you just hearing your handle, you have to literally spell it out for people to find you
How often do people hear your handle but not see it written down? Do you and your friends go around calling yourselves things like "Neo1337" in everyday conversation?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
people can't find you just hearing your handle, you have to literally spell it out for people to find you
How often do people hear your handle but not see it written down? Do you and your friends go around calling yourselves things like "Neo1337" in everyday conversation?
When I'm at a bar, writing utensils are not always handy, and here (Buenos Aires) e-mails are more useful that phone numbers because no one likes to use minutes on their phone. In that case I may speak my handle.
But you're right, I don't think I've heard someone else say my handle out-loud in forever.
Or you could put a bunch of adjectives before your name that you don't really want.
this guy was't a "haockavist", he was nothing more than a script kiddie or a "bot herder"
Also, I'd really like to see his credentials as an IT security expert. I find it rather amusing
that he was caught so fast (it usually takes out government months to find someone like this).
so, there are three primary possibilities here:
1. he was incredibly stupid and bragged to everyone about it
2. our government suffenly got a lot smarter
3. this is a diversion (unlikely).
in any case, it appears out government views the wikileaks scandal as more of a first amendment issue than anything else
(note that the wikileaks founder is only wanted on a sex charge).
Understanding is much like a 3-edged-sword. in this: there are always 2 sides and the truth.
Even better played since he's an AC, and seems ignorant of how /. works -- "Of course Slashdot won't post this comment because"
Of course it'll be posted. Post a comment and it's posted. Now, it may start at -1 for an AC, and nobody will see it unless they're browsing /. at -1, but it's posted.
Free Martian Whores!
http://current.com/1kuq54c
"UPDATES: Reports of the raid and confiscation of equipment are most likely a hoax or an elaborate social engineering scheme to capitalize on current news events.
Details are still few, and sympathizers should exercise caution before donating funds allegedly for "attorney fees".
The original text requesting donations, as quoted below, and the corresponding link have been deleted from the "suspect" site.
The "suspect" site is no longer available for viewing at the URL provided - but the "suspect" Twitter account is still active.
More Details to follow as soon as they are available. "
*Content copied from website*
- A Frog in a pond utters an azure cry. -
I would assist with that. It would be hilarious to me.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
+1 funny to you and GP. I wish I had the points.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Hey admin can I sell my nick? And naw I am NOT going to dig thru the TOS for an answer.. sheesh!
wabi-sabi
matthew