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Spamhaus Under DDoS Over Wikileaks.info

Posted by timothy on from the you-got-the-wrong-idea-mister dept.

achowe writes "Steve Linford of Spamhaus sent this to a private anti-spam list and asked that the message get out far and wide: 'For speaking out about the crime gangs located at the wikileaks.info mirror IP, Spamhaus is now under ddos by AnonOps. As our site cannot be reached now [actually sporadic], we can not continue to warn Wikileaks users not to load things from the Heihachi IP. ... AnonOps did not like our article update, here is what we said and what brought the ddos on us.'" At the conclusion of this message: "Spamhaus continues to warn Wikileaks readers to make sure they are viewing and downloading documents only from an official Wikileaks mirror site. We’re not saying 'don’t go to Wikileaks' we’re saying 'Use the wikileaks.ch server instead.'" Here is Spamhaus's full warning.

30 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm beginning to wonder if AnonOps/Anonymous is a false flag operation. They seem to be doing more harm than help to Wikileaks. Their targeting is inept (they previously targeted the wrong DNS provider), their timing is inept, and Wikileaks doesn't need them to stay on line.

    1. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by openfrog · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm beginning to wonder if AnonOps/Anonymous is a false flag operation. They seem to be doing more harm than help to Wikileaks. Their targeting is inept (they previously targeted the wrong DNS provider), their timing is inept, and Wikileaks doesn't need them to stay on line.

      At last, this is coming out! I've been repeating this obvious thing on every Anonymous story that Slashdot has echoed out until now: we have no idea who is behind so called "Anonymous". A naive teenager is arrested from time to time to give credence to the myth that the Web is under the threat of unruly teenagers, opening the door to repressive legislation.

      Now with this, we are beginning to get to hard facts, which should help us awaken our traditional media journalist friends: press, TV, radio. Congratulation for coming up with the term AnonOps. It tells the whole story in a nutshell.

    2. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Of COURSE it's a false flag operation. The brave freedom fighters of Anonymous couldn't POSSIBLY be mistaken or misinformed in what they do. There's no way they're all just a bunch of kids with no idea what they're doing. The plan to DDOS Amazon to its knees was truly brilliant, in that it allowed the world to see how quickly Anonymous can shift their attack to new targets.

      I, for one, welcome our new basement-dwelling, scat-loving overlords.

         

    3. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Their targeting is inept (they previously targeted the wrong DNS provider), their timing is inept, and Wikileaks doesn't need them to stay

      That sounds *exactly* like the people from 4chan.

      --
      Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    4. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by HungryHobo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Forget false flag ops.
      What are the real wikileaks sites now???

      Last time I checked wikileaks used self signed certs and at this point I'd love to simply see a interview with assange where he lists the "official" wikileaks sites and reads out some of their SSL certs.

      is wikileaks.org still in the hands of the wikileaks organization or does the DHS control it now or some third party?
      Or has it just been infected with malware to add a redirect?

      Is their twitter account really them?

      is there even any way for anyone to anonymously submit documents any more?

    5. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by HungryHobo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      hell, is there even any verifiable way to communicate with any wikileaks staff any more?
      Any PGP public keys? etc etc

    6. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by man_of_mr_e · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Considering that there is no "membership" criteria to be part of Anonymous.. Anyone and Everyone who claims to be... IS. Therefore, I can go rob a bank and claim i'm part of Anonymous. It would be completely true.

      That's the problem with an organization with no real structure or chain of command, there is no way to prevent people from doing things and claiming the group being responsible.

      --
      If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
    7. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by PeterBrett · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Pirate Parties provide and administrate the wikileaks.ch network (note that the same network serves wikileaks.de and wikileaks.lu). Understandably, we all feel very strongly about the importance of whistleblowing and freedom of the press. I personally will vouch for those servers' integrity at this time. Specifically, Pirate Party members in the UK, Holland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic have all donated servers.

      I'm sorry that these servers are not currently available over SSL. As I understand it, some of these servers are hosted on IP addresses shared with other websites, and apparently this setup is incompatible with SSL. In addition, we have not yet identified a signing authority that we feel confident that would be resistant to coercion and subornation by agencies looking to discredit or manipulate Wikileaks. (Got a suggestion? Reply to this post!)

      I'll re-raise the issue with the PPI organising committee, and see whether we can organise something. ;-)

      I'm afraid that I can't speak for any of the Wikileaks-specific issues, such as document submission or the status of the wikileaks.org domain.

      --
      Pirate Party UK
    8. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by Dan541 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a chain of command behind AnonOPs ddos attacks. The people running the anonops IRC network appear to be pulling most of the strings.

      Some script kiddies have lone wolfed targets to no avail and some have organised independently to attack in groups. These small attacks always fail but the large one's are coordinated by a command hierarchy within the IRC network.

      Although there seems to be allot of confusion amongst the script kiddies; some even claiming "We have no leader!" yea then who is setting the !lazor command?

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
    9. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by dbIII · · Score: 4, Funny

      hell, is there even any verifiable way to communicate with any wikileaks staff any more?

      Hitting one of them with a court order on charges of something like being a two-timing bastard in Sweden works.

    10. Re:AnonOps part of the problem, not the solution by Anthony+Mouse · · Score: 5, Informative

      So I'm going to post this near the beginning of the thread since the OP is correct but confusing and the signal to noise ratio in the comments is terrible. It appears the general consensus is this:

      1) Russian criminals have control over the wikileaks.org and wikileaks.info domains and are distributing malware. The current real wikileaks website is wikileaks.ch.

      2) Spamhaus has been telling people about (1).

      3) The Russian criminals are now retaliating by using their botnets to DDoS Spamhaus under the flag of AnonOps.

      4) Some of the people who call themselves Anonymous may or may not also be participating in the DDoS against Spamhaus because they are idiots.

  2. As if a DDoS wasn't enough... by e9th · · Score: 5, Funny

    now they're slashdotted, too.

    1. Re:As if a DDoS wasn't enough... by PatPending · · Score: 4, Informative

      Was it really a good idea to post that link on slashdot - to a DDoS:ed site?

      In general, no. However in this case, it is worth noting this:

      Spamhaus is currently under a 2.1Gbps DDOS attack which began at 05:20 CET. As we are used to DDOS attacks from cybercriminals our anti-ddos defences are holding and our web servers are still operating, a little slower than normal.

      --
      What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
  3. Say wha? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just asked anonops about it, they're not attacking spamhaus.

    1. Re:Say wha? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I just asked them and they say they are.

  4. kids these days by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When you have a large DDoS tool at your beck and call, who has time to bother with accuracy and trifling details like the truth? This is just further evidence that "anonymous" is some unemployed young adult.

    The profile of anonymous becomes less and less one of sophistication and intelligence and more that of teenage angst and a limited understanding of technology daily.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:kids these days by openfrog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When you have a large DDoS tool at your beck and call, who has time to bother with accuracy and trifling details like the truth? This is just further evidence that "anonymous" is some unemployed young adult.

      The profile of anonymous becomes less and less one of sophistication and intelligence and more that of teenage angst and a limited understanding of technology daily.

      From TFA:

      The Webalta 92.241.160.0/19 netblock has been listed on the Spamhaus Block List (SBL) since October 2008. Spamhaus regards the Russian Webalta host (also known as Wahome) as being "blackhat" - a known cybercrime host from whose IP space Spamhaus only sees malware/virus hosting, botnet C&Cs, phishing and other cybercriminal activities.

      I sympathize with your impatience with the idiocy that is Anonymous, but what this goes on to show here is that Anonymous, or now better referred to as AnonOps, is NOT unruly teenagers as media have been dutifully reporting, but something else.

      The poster above referring to Anonymous as a potential 'false flag' operation has it right. Whether it was started by real teenagers or not is inconsequential: it plays in the interests of those wanting to swerve public opinion in the direction of repressive legislation and it is all too easy to attribute any kind of stunt on "Anonymous", whomever is really behind it.

  5. I don't think so by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think they are just angry idiots with too much time on their hands. There's a reason why vigilantism is so frowned upon and force out in a civilized society: Vigilantes suck at justice. They shoot first, ask questions later. They are all about the Great Cause(tm) whatever that cause happens to be and don't do a good job thinking about any trouble they cause.

    Now this is made even worse by the /b/tards because they are not very organized, operate with what they believe to be impunity, and are often kids.

    So my bet is not a false flag op, just a bunch of dumbasses causing trouble. They've decided that Wikileaks will be their Great Cause(tm), until they get bored and find something else, and lash out at any perceived enemies of it without thinking about it.

    1. Re:I don't think so by HomelessInLaJolla · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's a reason why vigilantism is so frowned upon and force out in a civilized society: Vigilantes suck at justice

      The United States of America is obviously not a civilized society. My personal experience with La Jolla, CA, indicates that vigilanteism is the general rule--and not vigilanteism to combat high profile violent crime or high cost white collar crime ... no, people like to be vigilantes just to go around playing surrogate parent against the homeless, or hoping to be the next one to call the police on street people.

      Vigilanteism isn't about justice. It's about being the person with the juiciest gossip.

      just a bunch of dumbasses causing trouble.

      A very good description of the retired folks, the dog-walkers, the neighborhood watch, and the wealthy snobs around my area. Their entire method of life involves: provoke problem where there was none, call police.

      If they happen to catch one of the actual drunks or dumpster diving troublemakers then they give themselves extra credit. Maybe harassing me is practice for them. :-(

      --
      the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
    2. Re:I don't think so by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The United States of America is obviously not a civilized society. My personal experience with La Jolla, CA

      So you've drawn conclusions about an entire society based on your experiences in one city?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    3. Re:I don't think so by MakinBacon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're just a bunch of stupid teenage script kiddies who think they're being "1337 haxxors" by running scripts other people made. They don't care if they're actually doing more to silence free speech than the US government is, as far as they're concerned, they're "sticking it to the man".

      I'd wager that most of them have never even read the comic book that V for Vendetta (the movie) was based on.

    4. Re:I don't think so by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 5, Funny

      He's generalizing from a small subset to the entire group of people.

      Everyone does it.

      Or at least, I do.

  6. Spamhaus announcement by pinkushun · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the case of it getting /.'ed or DOS'd (like TFA link to nanozen.info)

    Wikileaks Mirror Malware Warning
    2010-12-14 17:00 GMT, by Quentin Jenkins

    On Monday Spamhaus became aware that the main Wikileaks website, wikileaks.org, was redirecting web traffic to a 3rd party mirror site, mirror.wikileaks.info. This new web site is hosted in a very dangerous "neighborhood", Webalta's 92.241.160.0/19 IP address space, a "blackhat" network which Spamhaus believes caters primarily to, or is under the control of, Russian cybercriminals.

    Important: this warning is issued only for wikileaks.INFO, NOT Wikileaks itself or any other Wikileaks site. Wikileaks.info is NOT connected with Julian Assange or the Wikileaks organization. For a list of real Wikileaks mirror sites please go to wikileaks.ch

    The Webalta 92.241.160.0/19 netblock has been listed on the Spamhaus Block List (SBL) since October 2008. Spamhaus regards the Russian Webalta host (also known as Wahome) as being "blackhat" - a known cybercrime host from whose IP space Spamhaus only sees malware/virus hosting, botnet C&Cs, phishing and other cybercriminal activities. These include routing traffic for Russian cybercriminals who use malware to infect the computers of thousands of Russian citizens.

    The fact that recently some unknown person or persons decided to put a Wikileaks mirror on Webalta IP address 92.241.190.202 should raise an alarm; how was it placed there and by whom. Our concern is that any Wikileaks archive posted on a site that is hosted in Webalta space might be infected with malware. Since the main wikileaks.org website now transparently redirects visitors to mirror.wikileaks.info and thus directly into Webalta's controlled IP address space, there is substantial risk that any malware infection would spread widely.

    Spamhaus also notes that the DNS for wikileaks.info is controlled by Webalta's even more blackhat webhosting reseller "heihachi.net", as evidenced by the DNS records for the domain:

    wikileaks.info. 14400 IN A 92.241.190.202
    wikileaks.info. 14400 IN NS ns2.heihachi.net.
    wikileaks.info. 14400 IN NS ns1.heihachi.net.

    Spamhaus has for over a year regarded Heihachi as an outfit run 'by criminals for criminals' in the same mould as the criminal Estdomains. The Panama-registered but Russian/German-run heihachi.net is highly involved in botnet command and control and the hosting of Russian cybercrime.

    We also note that the content at mirror.wikileaks.info is rather unlike what's at the real Wikileaks mirrors which suggests that the wikileaks.info site may not be under the control of Wikileaks itself, but rather some other group. You can find the real site at wikileaks.ch, wikileaks.is, wikileaks.nl, and many other mirror sites around the world.

    Spamhaus takes no political stand on the Wikileaks affair. We do have an interest in preventing spam and related types of internet abuse however and hope that the Wikileaks staff will quickly address the hosting issue to remove the possibility of cybercriminals using Wikileaks traffic for illicit purposes.

    More information on the SBL listing of Webalta's 92.241.160.0/19 is here:
    http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/sbl.lasso?query=SBL68370

    Spamhaus is not alone in issuing this Wikileaks mirror malware caution. On Sunday researcher Feike Hacquebord at fellow anti-spam system Trend Micro issued a similar warning in the Trend Micro Malware Blog. (http://blog.trendmicro.com/wikileaks-in-a-dangerous-internet-neighborhood/)

  7. my guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    the russian criminals are using the whole wikileaks/anonymous affair as a cover to attack one of their archenemies: spamhaus, while trying to paint spamhaus as the bad guys.

  8. Re:Doesnt look like anon to me by haderytn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I trust them to be unable to keep a secret.

  9. Please note: by guruevi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1) This DDoS attack does not seem to be originating from Anonymous but from AnonOps which is a cybergang-related IRC server and the DDoS seems to be originating from a real botnet of hijacked Windows computers, not LOIC.
    2) Spamhaus warned about wikileaks.info which seems to be hosted by the same criminals and is posting false Wikileaks statements.
    3) Wikileaks.org has been taken over by these criminals and is redirecting to http://mirror.wikileaks.info/ which is NOT sourcing from wikileaks.ch (and other mirrors like http://www.wlmirror.com/)

    It seems to me the US Gov'mint has 'fixed' their Wikileaks problem by a campaign of misinformation and probably paid these Russian criminals to host the false Wikileaks site. It wouldn't surprise me if the wikileaks.info sites started to have certain damning documents disappear or specific ones infected just to track who's reading what.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  10. Yeah Yeah Blame AnonOps by Haedrian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anonymous is very weird to understand. It functions similar to a terrorist bloc (note I am not calling anyone a terrorist).

    If I toss a bomb in the middle of a street and kill 50 people - and I write "Terrorist Group X was here" - who's to say it wasn't them? Or if say a terrorist group decides to take credit for the BP spill - who's to say its not?

    Its impossible to work out whether it was anon or not. Its impossible to actually call 'anon' a group. Its just a bunch of people who - at will - decide to partake in DDOS attacks. Its not a collective body, its a number of individuals - and its stupid to think otherwise. If I'm in a group with 100 people, and someone says "Lets DDOS Bank of America", if I agree with it, I'll take part. If someone says "Lets DDOS Spamhaus", and I disagree, I won't take part. There's no real leader. Its all chaotic.

    So enough with blaming anonymous for this ddos. For a start you have no proof. To continue, anon isn't a group - its a bunch of people following 'random' leaders, and the ranks change frequently depending on who feels like 'some lulz' that day, and who agrees or not.

    In fact how do you determine an action as being done by Anon? Done by the 'leader' ? No real leader. Done by a large amount of the group? Not a very good measure.

    If I succeed in telling (say) 50% of anonymous that attacking this site is for their better - then will 'anonymous' be attacking the site? Does it matter?

    Summary: Anonymous isn't a rigid structure with leaders, anonymous is an amount of individuals who individually follow a leader at that point in time because they agree with that leader at that point.

  11. Hanlon's Razor strikes again! by splerdu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
    +1 for you, sir.

  12. ok well lets take a wikieak here + have a look by bpsheen · · Score: 5, Informative

    Screw all this talk, lets look at the page source code and go from there. I booted Knoppix, and pulled up Iceweasel and copy and pasted the page source from wikileaks.info. My html and Javascript skills are not the sharpest. My skills are best in other areas. However, I noticed there is too much talk and not enough transparency here so I posted the page source so hopefully someone would analyze it and talk about the contents rather than jumping on sides of the arguments like some deranged trolls. Lets have a discussion that not owned by a bunch of drama queens, True geeks work with logic, not Drama. End of anti-troll rant.. Heres the pastebin link. http://pastebin.com/dyMkdZEG

    --
    My first computer had 1024 bytes of ram
    1. Re:ok well lets take a wikieak here + have a look by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      mirror.wikileaks.info actually seems to be more useful than wikileaks.ch at the moment. It contains all the old leaks in the old (better imho) wikileaks format, together with the wikileaks analysis articles. It also contains links to the new leaks found on wikileaks.ch. I've checked a few of the articles there, and they all look just like I remembered. I couldn't see anything wrong.

      I agree that it is strange that the site still uses the old format. It is also strange that the old leaks (from before the Afghanistan, Irak and Cable stuff) aren't available at wikileaks.ch. I'm not sure what to think, but I am far from convinced that there is anything wrong with the .info mirror.