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LulzSec Hacks the US Senate
jfruhlinger writes "LulzSec might not be as famous as Anonymous — they're really best known for hacking sites they like, to prove a point about security — but they may have just raised their profile significantly, posting what appears to be data taken from an internally facing server at the US Senate. However, the fun-loving group might find that the Senate reacts a lot more harshly to intrusions than, say, PBS did."
The group also recently grabbed data from Bethesda Softworks.
I hope these guys are as good as they claim to be, otherwise we will be seeing their faces with the caption "Further arrests from anonymous hacking group"
Apparently, Anonymous announced an intention to go after the federal reserve next: http://gizmodo.com/5811546/anonymous-goes-after-federal-reserve. It'll be quite interesting if they attempt it. I'm interested in seeing how the fed handles this.
Usually these end in tears. Only the most stupid black-hats (and that is all these morons are now) brag publicly.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
They want attention. They do not care what kind of attention. Like some emotionally disturbed kids.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
As much as I like chaos brought to the powers that be none of this hacking will have any long lasting effects. want to see some serious info leaked that damages someone with real power. I'd rather see these guy dig out info that calls out the hypocrites in positions of power.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It seems like the recent outbreak of high-profile cases of computer break-ins is almost calculated to provoke legislation locking down the internet. First the kill-switch proposal, the announcement by the US military that computer intrusion would be considered an act of war, now a constant drumbeat of reporting in the media about major cracks.
Perhaps the hacks are all just being done by people who don't see how useful such stories are to those who want to assert control over the net, but it would be foolish to think that the "problem-reaction-solution" method has stopped being used by those who are after power, or to discount the possibility that some of this hacking and the publicity it receives is actually being provoked or even orchestrated by those seeking to expand government control over the internet.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
This will be used to push forth legislation making script kiddies equivalent to terrorists.
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
And when that ass gets kicked in the Senate's IT office, you'll have LulzSec to thank. If LulzSec could hack it, so could Iran. We should be grateful for the service they are providing.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
That's not some inside server. Look at their list of files. It's the Senate's outward-facing web server, "www.senate.gov". It also hosts the public web sites of individual senators. It looks like what you can see on a UNIX system with a guest account. Big deal. Every staffer on the Senate side has that much access.
They have the complete directory of all the paintings in the Capitol. The forms for registering as a lobbyist. Pictures of all the Senators. Lots of stuff for tourists. This session's voting results, in HTML. The base Apache config. Nothing exciting.
I'm not sure if you've ever really sent an anonymous "your shit is broken" message to a site, but I bet the level of positive response would be inversely related to how big the company is.
No-one wants their management to find out their stuff is insecure. They'd be looking for a new job. So they likely bottle it and pretend it ain't happening.
I hate to say it, but I think Lulzsec is doing a disturbing but necessary deed. When no-one wants to improve the state of security, are quite happy accepting budget increases for "more security hardware" instead of doing it right the first time and externalise all security issues as vendor problems, there's no real motivation to actually pursue securely developed options. Lulzsec is outing that practice.
I only hope that somehow this crap makes its way to pointing out inherent security flaws in OSes that make it tangible enough to lawmakers to suddenly care. Not "care" as in "pursue legal options rather than fix", not "care" as in "buy more layers of badly managed and ineffective security theatre", but "care" as in "we need to hire people who know what they're doing, then keep them around and include security in all stages of planning, development and operations."
I know what they did is wrong and all but what you wrote sounds like "Look what you did, you've angered the master, now he's sure to give us all a good whippin'"
Oh, the FedRes functions buddy boy. it just functions in ways we never intended it to.
What do you mean, "we"?
Hugs and kisses,
-- Hank Paulson
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
The solution is to stop letting HR people with no technical knowledge hire technical people.
This is what results in the common practice of putting a know-nothing idiot with good social skills in charge of doing technical work they can't handle.
1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
Let me take a wild guess: number of ethicists: zero.