Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Anonymous Steals 10,000 Iranian Government Emails

Posted by Soulskill on from the must-be-bored-of-sony dept.

Several readers have sent word that Anonymous has hacked servers belonging to Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, making off with over 10,000 emails. "The Ministry’s website is still down as of this writing, and the servers are under Anonymous control. ... The email archive includes approvals and rejections for a variety of visas and passports, among other requests and correspondence. 'It’s near the election’s anniversary. We had to do something,' said one of the Iranian members of Anonymous from #OpIran. He said they take down Iranian government servers on a regular basis for operation days, but that obviously retrieving information required a different approach to the group’s signature DDoS attack. He also indicated an as-yet unannounced attack. 'For the election’s anniversary, we have a complete DDoS attack day' planned, he said.

74 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. A la Gibson by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm happy that Panther Modern basically exists now.

    1. Re:A la Gibson by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

      The fact that it was possible is of political interest, isn't it?

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    2. Re:A la Gibson by pnewhook · · Score: 2

      Not really. I'm getting tired of Anonymous' childish antics

      --
      Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
  2. Not so anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let me see, so that would be CIA, NSA and Airforce cyber-command behind an astroturfed smokescreen of scriptkiddies...

    LOLZ

    1. Re:Not so anonymous by Nikker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree this is getting to be a bit much. Every time a wrist watch goes out of sync "Anonymous" gets the blame. It's just too easy for anyone with any motivation to say "ummm Anonymous did it!!". My guess is every country will be getting "hacked" under this guise because it's convenient and because well they want to stay anonymous ;) It will be even easier now to scare Joe Sixpack into going along with stupid laws because the internet is out to get them. Most of these companies get hacked not because of their status as a target but because of their amateur level of security standards. I'm surprised stuxnet didn't get blamed on Anonymous as well there would have been lots of lulz involved in that one.

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    2. Re:Not so anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am pretty sure that if the CIA, the NSA and the cyber command hacked an Iranian website they would not tell anyone about it at all. Why would they advetrise what they could do and what they had gotten their hands on? That's kinda the opposite of what spies are famous for.

      Also I don't think you know what astroturf means.

  3. Re:first by toastar · · Score: 5, Funny

    10,000 emails? What is that after you filter out the spam, like 50?

  4. And now the bad news by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Unfortunately, what they had managed to acquire was just the last year's worth of lunch menus of all Iranian embassies.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    1. Re:And now the bad news by mangu · · Score: 3, Funny

      Unfortunately, what they had managed to acquire was just the last year's worth of lunch menus of all Iranian embassies.

      Even that could be a good propaganda weapon against the regime. Imagine if the menu included bacon and champagne.

    2. Re:And now the bad news by otaku244 · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's Viagra and Prozak advertisements along with several desperate attempts by the "Prince of Nigeria" to wire money into a "safe account"
      -Iranians get all the good emails

      --
      Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
    3. Re:And now the bad news by ImprovOmega · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If it didn't before, I'm sure it does now!

  5. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by teslafreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So some Americans are slanted against Iran, and your slanted against Americans. Hardly gives you any room to speak.

  6. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by chill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Google hack targeted, among other things, the accounts of human rights activists which is what made it despicable.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  7. Ironically Enough by drpimp · · Score: 4, Informative

    When I hit the /. story I got the following message below and I was curious if there were links to the email and Iran hacker #1 equal to 1000 hacker was retaliating

    Error 503 Service Unavailable Service Unavailable
    Guru Meditation: XID: 798461344
    Varnish cache server

    --
    -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
    1. Re:Ironically Enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When I hit the /. story I got the following message below

      Been happening to me, too, since about 11 o'clock central.

    2. Re:Ironically Enough by itchythebear · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can also confirm this is happening to me. This is terrible, I've gotten so much work done :(

      --
      If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
    3. Re:Ironically Enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Me as well

    4. Re:Ironically Enough by MarkGriz · · Score: 1

      Same here. Was getting that on all the stories for a while.

      Anyone else seeing a blank space at the top of the main page (running FF 3.6.x on XP)

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
    5. Re:Ironically Enough by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      See: homage.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    6. Re:Ironically Enough by elrous0 · · Score: 2

      Clearly slashdot is just encouraging us to seek a guru, to learn meditation.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    7. Re:Ironically Enough by Nikker · · Score: 1

      How can I get any work done if I'm hitting refresh every 5 seconds!

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    8. Re:Ironically Enough by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      For those who don't get the reference this was the original error message you got when an Amiga computer crashed. It originates from an unusual gaming device that the developers had in the office when they were writing the OS. It was a sort of Wii style balance board, and they found you could sit on it and meditate when getting frustrated by frequent crashes. The developers, being computer gurus, put the message in as an instruction to go meditate on the error.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  8. encrypted archive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    These places need to encrypt their archives remotely.

    A new open source project, Cyphertite, does just that. They have a beta test.. and so far it works great for me.

    1. Re:encrypted archive by chill · · Score: 2, Informative

      Epic fail.

      Quote the site:

      The security of our proprietary process...

      Tour data is fully sheltered by our unique encryption process.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    2. Re:encrypted archive by slackbheep · · Score: 1

      Get them to prove that without releasing source and we'll talk.

  9. The conversation goes something like this by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 5, Insightful

    U.S.: Anonymous is completely rogue! They attack everyone utterly at random!

    Anonymous: Not everyone, just the bad guys.

    U.S.: What are you talking about? You've been attacking us, too.

    Anonymous: *cocks eyebrow*

    --

    Technoli
    1. Re:The conversation goes something like this by Simon80 · · Score: 1

      That reminds me of this brilliant comic. I wish the authors had kept working on it, it was consistently hilarious.

    2. Re:The conversation goes something like this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, those bastages at the Epilepsy Foundation for America are true villians!

    3. Re:The conversation goes something like this by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1

      humorous and insightful but also serving to underscore the problem. When you trust a group of people to pick and choose your good and bad guys for you, and that group has no accountability... it's like distributing loaded guns in your local preschool then telling the preschoolers to all work together in picking out the bad guys before anyone pulls the trigger. Sometimes, they'll get it right.

    4. Re:The conversation goes something like this by ErikZ · · Score: 2

      I think you've summed up every society that has ever existed in a nutshell.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    5. Re:The conversation goes something like this by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Interesting

      humorous and insightful but also serving to underscore the problem. When you trust a group of people to pick and choose your good and bad guys for you, and that group has no accountability...

      Ah, a group like say, your own government?

      FYI -- Anonymous is the anti-thesis of the "group" of which you speak. They can't choose a bad guy for you, they can't even choose a bad guy for themselves. What they can do is cooperate with each other if&when the individuals' ideas of who the bad guys are happen to be aligned.

      The fact that so many individuals attempt to hide behind the name Anonymous in order to make trouble for the traditional groups who decide your bad guys for you is very telling indeed.

      it's like distributing loaded guns in your local preschool then telling the preschoolers to all work together in picking out the bad guys before anyone pulls the trigger. Sometimes, they'll get it right.

      Yes. Invariably, if you hand them guns they'll shoot the ones that molest and abuse them. A few accidental deaths may occur, because they are too inexperienced -- but the others would quickly take note of the consequences.

      Additionally -- this is a bad analogy, because a single member of Anonymous has very little power, much less than a child with a gun. It would be more like giving them small stones and sticks. Alone the child can not truly harm the adult abusers, but in numbers they can -- Hint: the number of children that lash out are proportional to the number of children, friends, and family that have been abused.

    6. Re:The conversation goes something like this by suomynonAyletamitlU · · Score: 1

      When you trust a group of people to pick and choose your good and bad guys for you, and that group has no accountability...

      The problem is, history has shown that given enough time, people will stop being held accountable even if their position is supposed to be. Presidents, congress, military, press, police, various kinds of management, etc. Unless an outside force or event (including a halfway decent person getting elected to the position and starting a legacy, though that doesn't necessarily stick) forces a new spate of being held accountable, it can go seriously downhill from there.

      It is to be feared that otherwise decent nations, states, etc may be on this path.

    7. Re:The conversation goes something like this by MikeBabcock · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's a reason being a vigilante is often illegal. While we revere our comic book super heroes acting this way, the total lack of supervision and accountability makes even the nicest vigilante dangerous to human rights and civil liberties.

      Yes, the police often ignore those too, but they actually have someone keeping records, and if they don't, those people have someone keeping records too. When you go to the polls, you don't get to vote out Anonymous. No matter how much they may attack something you actually value personally, Anonymous and other vigilante groups aren't about democracy. They're about their own form of totalitarianism.

      That's right, when you decide your way is right and other should suffer for not agreeing with you, you've just become yet another totalitarian regime like Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Anonymous has no *right* to attack people, and we shouldn't celebrate them doing it outside the law even if they get the results you like. Some day it might be you they're coming after.

      To rip off a famous poem:
      When they came for the corporate overlords, I didn't stand up because I wasn't one.
      When they came for the foreign governments I didn't say anything either, because I wasn't one.
      When they came for me ... *muffled scream*

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    8. Re:The conversation goes something like this by dontbgay · · Score: 1

      Who says they're picking our good and bad guys for us? Just because Iran's not on my BFF list doesn't mean Anon is speaking for me. Maybe the people involved are there voluntarily, which means they are complicit in the selection of a target. If that were not the case, there wouldn't be a story in the first place.

      But I can't say this isn't even a little bit entertaining. Maybe they'll declare a jihad on computers next?

      --
      Sig not found.
    9. Re:The conversation goes something like this by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      Aren't you using the poem incorrectly? It's originally about people not protesting about mistreatment/killing of individuals by the all-powerful government, when this case is about the actions of individuals against powerful organizations/governments.

      The direct harm this hack will to the government of Iran can be compared to neighborhood kids breaking one of your basement windows - annoying but not exactly life wrecking ---- unless of course that broken window reveals your daughter/sex slave that you were keeping prisoner in there. If that happens you deserve everything you get.

    10. Re:The conversation goes something like this by sjames · · Score: 1

      Government is little more than a formalized vigilante group.

      I have a better chance of voting Anonymous out than I do the U.S. government. Go ahead, just try to get a referendum to secede on the ballot in your state.

      If it passes, good luck carrying it out.

      That said, I don't prefer vigilante action. I prefer appropriate civil action, but in it's absence, perhaps vigilantes are better than nothing.

    11. Re:The conversation goes something like this by surveyork · · Score: 1

      I see what you did there... and I like it. :)

      --
      2019 is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop.
    12. Re:The conversation goes something like this by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      You're sadly mistaken if you believe that.

      There is no way to vote out Anonymous. None. At least there is some formal even if disfunctional way of changing your government.

      In fact, your government also requires registration of citizenship and such, and you can hunt each person down and yell at them in person if you like. Anonymous requires no such thing. You can't even figure out who to get mad at when Anonymous screws over the wrong person in your opinion.

      Do yourself a favour and read up on how various democratic governments have come into being and why. Its always been known to be faulty, but better than total Anarchy.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    13. Re:The conversation goes something like this by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      The poem is being used perfectly. "Them" doesn't have to be anyone specific, and in fact, most of the people involved in the Nazi attacks referenced by the poem were not government agents at all. They were just citizens doing what they thought was right because of government propaganda.

      The moral of the poem is and always was stand up for others' rights, because you want someone to stand up for yours too.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    14. Re:The conversation goes something like this by sjames · · Score: 1

      WHOOSH!

      I am aware that I can't actually vote Anon out, but I have a better chance because I can suggest it and even try to do it without being chucked into some hellhole or shot. I suspect I would also have a better chance of talking people into not supporting Anon if they went wrong than I would of dissuading the federal government from any of the many things it shouldn't be doing.

      As I said, I don't PREFER vigilantism, I would prefer a functional government that is actually of, by, and for the people.

      Most governments arise when enough people decide the current one is NOT better than Anarchy. Then, as people mill about wondering what now, respected members of the community (deserving or not) stand up and say follow me. Usually, they were also leaders during the process of tossing the old government out. This leads (in the case of a democracy) to organizing a vote which frequently ratifies the chosen leader for the first round or two.

      It seems to be mostly downhill from there, it's just a matter of how quickly it becomes necessary to repeat the process.

      Perhaps Anon is nothing more than the cycle getting going again. Perhaps it's just a bunch of kids in it for the lulz who had the good sense to choose targets most people don't like much anyway.

  10. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 2

    True, but who is hit by this hack? Visa and passport applications, amongst various other correspondence? Nothing of importance there, then, else they'd have mentioned it. Only the dealings of ordinary citizens with their government. Great act of resistance there.

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  11. I'd like to participate in a DDOS, but... by t33jster · · Score: 2

    I'm not sure about the consequences. We've seen/heard of FBI raids against DDOS participants when the target is Western financial services, but does law enforcement care at all when Anons mess with Iranian or other rogue states' sites? I'd imagine that the legality is the same in either instance, so it's really the response that I'm concerned with.

    --
    Take off every 'sig' for great justice.
    1. Re:I'd like to participate in a DDOS, but... by Renraku · · Score: 1

      The government will likely only get involved if there are diplomatic problems that will come from it. Most likely they'll just hand wave like China and promise that they aren't groups sponsored by the government with specific targets and goals and training, and Iran will hem and haw and threaten but in the end we have them by the balls anyway.

      Kind of like China having us by the balls. They know we can't do anything to make them stop, and Iran knows they can't do anything to make us stop.

      --
      Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
    2. Re:I'd like to participate in a DDOS, but... by Zalbik · · Score: 1

      I'd imagine that the legality is the same in either instance, so it's really the response that I'm concerned with.

      Well, just imagine that the response was the same and you would have nothing to be concerned about.

      The legality is not the same.

    3. Re:I'd like to participate in a DDOS, but... by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

      Unless Iran calls its big buddy for help and China tells us to leave them the fuck alone.

      Iran imports a significant fraction of China's weapons, China buys a fuckload of Iran's oil and has their back in the Security Council when it comes to Iran's nuclear program. (Wikipedia)

  12. West vs East difference by Script+Cat · · Score: 2

    Having would be kings squabbling to be in charge of your life -> western
    Having an uncontested king undoubtedly in charge of your life -> eastern

  13. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Plenty of Slashdoter's supported the wikileaks cable release. I think you find a general distaste among Slashdoters for big governments doing oppressive things even when its their own. I don't see the "Western Hypocrisy" at least among the main stream Slashdot crowd, which I admit is not exactly main stream.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  14. And what does... by itchythebear · · Score: 2, Funny

    And what does the postmaster say about the amount of emails stolen?
    "It's over NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!"
    "WHAT?! NINE THOUSAND?"

    --
    If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
  15. Torrent. by FooAtWFU · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here.

    Besides the obvious political angles, releases like these are probably a boon to academics doing work with text mining and the like. Public releases of email data sets have been hard to come by, something about "privacy". Of course, they're probably unlikely to all be in English, so your mileage may vary...

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
    1. Re:Torrent. by schlachter · · Score: 1

      we data/text mining researchers are mostly funded by government grants...we're not likely to access, let alone use, stolen data in any traceable way.

      --
      My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
    2. Re:Torrent. by Weaselgrease · · Score: 1

      we data/text mining researchers are mostly funded by government grants...we're not likely to access, let alone use, stolen data in any traceable way.

      Emphasis on those last four words, there.

    3. Re:Torrent. by LoganDzwon · · Score: 1

      privacy? whats that? when did they invent that?

    4. Re:Torrent. by mistiry · · Score: 1

      I think Al Gore did, a few years back...

  16. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by Ritmaxer · · Score: 1

    One hack is very different from the other. If you can not tell the difference, you may want to go back to Freedom 101 or Freedom for Idiots.

  17. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by alendit · · Score: 2

    Is the difference between goverment agencies (as in case of the "Chinese" hacking gMail) and loosly organised individuals really that hard to graps? Basically, it's "induvidual people attracking centrilised organisations = good", "centralised organisation attacking individual people = bad".

    Btw, inb4 "goverments are made of people".

  18. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by chill · · Score: 2

    Maybe. If our State Dept. got hacked, people would freak out even if it was just a bunch of "where are we going for lunch" messages.

    With luck, Anonymous will dump the load over to Wikileaks.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  19. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by Hatta · · Score: 1

    Who says the Chinese hack on Google was a horrible, evil thing? Google, sure. And the US government, sure. Personally, I couldn't care less either way.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  20. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by Dunbal · · Score: 1, Troll

    No, what's despicable is that some individuals consider themselves to be above the law, in the name of human rights.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  21. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by chill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bullshit.

    Arresting people for holding opinions and saying things that the government doesn't like is despicable. Just because those with guns make it a "law" doesn't make it moral or just.

    (And no, I'm not talking about yelling "fire" in a crowded theater type speech.)

    Putting people in jail, without formal charges or even notifying anyone outside the jail that they are being held is despicable -- even if it is the law.

    Yes, there are laws that EVERYONE should be above -- if they had a brain and a backbone.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  22. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by robot256 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, what's despicable is that some individuals consider themselves to be above human rights, in the name of the law.

    FTFY.

  23. Photoshop anybody? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think that a variant of the trollface, with a turban, "the Ayahtrollah", would be a suitable mascot for such activities.

  24. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by Nadaka · · Score: 2

    So... you think that hacking google, to get the login credentials and email history of human rights activists for the express purpose of identifying them and their associates so that they can be imprisoned or executed for daring to ask that people be treated with some basic human respect isn't evil?

  25. War.... by steppin_razor_LA · · Score: 2

    Spats between hackers and international corporations is one thing. When you attack a foreign government, that starts to get awfully close to war which is a matter for governments and not their citizens.

    It is also easy to imagine military and intelligence agencies behind these sorts of attacks and hiding behind their citizenry as an excuse.

    This sort of thing is going to continue to escalate and I predict that lives will eventually be lost..

    --
    Evolution: love it or leave it
    1. Re:War.... by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      Bold prediction!

      Unlike a future where no lives will be lost whatsoever?

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    2. Re:War.... by Skidborg · · Score: 1

      You act as if such a thing hasn't happened regularly throughout history. Things aren't new just because they take place on the internet.

      --
      Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
    3. Re:War.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      close to war which is a matter for governments and not their citizens

      I would say that war is very much a matter for citizens given that they are the ones who have to fight them.

  26. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by mr1911 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just like the Chinese hack on Google?

    Not at all. One was a government attacking a private company. The other is a group of people attacking a government.

    You may argue that the Anonymous attack is wrong, but the premise that the Chinese attacking Google is equivalent is incorrect.

    If you are against the Western hypocrisy it would be more correct for you to prove China's innocence than for me to prove its guilt.

    --
    This post comes with a double-your-money-back guarantee!
    Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
  27. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by MaxEmerika · · Score: 1

    However modded parent Troll completely missed the point.

  28. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by creat3d · · Score: 1

    Isn't it great how anyone can be "from Anonymous", even those they target?

    --
    Grammar nazis are to this community what excrements are to gold.
  29. as opopsed to Team Themis taxpayer funded antics? by decora · · Score: 2

    we were basically paying whats-his-name, head of HB Gary, to go around running script kiddie stuff and fantasize about quitting his job and building an MMO.

      you can read about it in the anonymous dumps.

  30. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by mobby_6kl · · Score: 1, Informative

    Maybe. If our State Dept. got hacked, people would freak out even if it was just a bunch of "where are we going for lunch" messages.

    It would also be considered an act of war by the US, and some assholes will certainly call for retaliation with cruise missiles.

  31. Re:Congratulations by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Eurodif in France during the 1980's?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  32. Re:So this is a horrible, evil thing, by digsbo · · Score: 1

    Your point is well taken, and you should not be modded down as flamebait. I am so tired of mod -1 "disagree".

  33. Count by pgn674 · · Score: 1

    In the torrent is 10,356 email files. If you filter out all file names that contain the words warning, failure, visa, request, failed, or reservation, you're left with 58 files, some of which appear to be spam. So, not a great treasure trove.

    The commands I used are
    ls | grep -vEi "warning|failure|visa|request|failed|reservation" | wc
    ls | wc -l