Italian Anonymous Hacker Cell Arrested

jojo_it writes "Three hackers, part of Anonymous Hacker Group, have been identified and arrested after an Italian-Swiss investigation. The cell performed several attacks against Italian government websites and 'relevant Italian companies.'"

Comments

It's been said before

[SeeSp0tRun]

Once caught, you are no longer in Anonymous.
Identified =/= Anonymous

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps true, but it doesn't stop you from rolling on other Anonymous people who foolishly and perhaps unwittingly revealed their true identity to you.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

I see a lot of people using =/=, but it's stupid and doesn't make sense. Mathematically, would make more sense. Whereas, =/= is nonsense. And, since this is Slashdot, you could just say != instead.

Re:It's been said before

[MrEricSir]

In death, a member of Project Mayhem has a name. His name is Robert Paulson.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

ROBERT PAULSON!!

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Mathematically, would make more sense

And now you know why we don't use that: Slashdot, despite serving pages encoded in UTF-8, still somehow manages to screw up non-ASCII characters.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Robert Paulson......

Re:It's been said before

[Aladrin]

It's the best representation of a slashed equals sign that you can write in ASCII. It makes perfect sense.

Re:It's been said before

[TheCarp]

Unless you are familiar with C, or any of its derivative languages, all of which chose !=

Meaning that != is already pretty widely understood, and uses one less char, making it 33% better!

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

I see a lot of people using =/=, but it's stupid and doesn't make sense. Mathematically, would make more sense. Whereas, =/= is nonsense. And, since this is Slashdot, you could just say != instead.

Someone got a 2-year programming degree instead of a maths based CS degree and is acting out.

Re:It's been said before

[smelch]

No, it's just a much easier way to express "not equal to". =/= looks much more ridiculous than !=. Sure, it's a C thing, but you see the not operator (!) in tags here all the time, people know what it means. It has nothing to do with being a developer and everything to do with being widely understood, concise, and not looking like ASCII art. Add to it the fact that the original thought was a complete waste of space, and that just makes it worse. Really?! Anonymous as a literal word means you haven't been identified?! We're all fucking shocked. The poster even knew it had been beaten to death that's why they said "it's been said before". I don't blame the GP for pointing out the dumb practice of using three characters to visually mimic what two characters means to express a useless thought.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm Spartacus!

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

NERD FIGHT!!!!!!!

Re:It's been said before

[formfeed]

Oh, you are very funny, interesting, and insightful at the same time! Too bad, you're a Coward and part of Anonymous.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Go blow it out your rear. The actions they are accused of occured while they were supposedly acting as members of the group. You wouldn't discredit a hell's angel's member because his membership was terminated at the point where he was convicted of a crime.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

is symmetrical and therefore more pleasing.

Re:It's been said before

[D'Sphitz]

Unless you are familiar with C, or any of its derivative languages, all of which chose !=

Meaning that != is already pretty widely understood, and uses one less char, making it 33% better!

Yes, but the ! and + keys are on opposite ends of the keyboard, if we were going for maximum efficiency we could use <> , which can be typed with one fluid motion .

Re:It's been said before

[LordLimecat]

=/= is easier to see, unambiguous, and understood far more widely than !=.

Is this the new vi vs emacs discussion?

Re:It's been said before

[LordLimecat]

It has to do with the fact that the glyph that is closely approximated by =/= was taught in 4th grade math class to mean "not equal to", and "!=" only became an alternative (for me) in my junior or senior level classes where I began programming in C++. Im not even sure if != is the same as "not equals" on TI-BASIC, the programming language that I first learned.

In other words, =/= has a lot more history (at least for me) as being the not-equals, and I suspect the same is true for most people. Further, as a majority of the population never will see or understand C++ code, it seems silly to use an expression that is less natural to me, harder to see, and less understandable to the public, simply because some programmers on slashdot insist that language should be communicated in programming conventions rather than mathematical ones.

Re:It's been said before

[Frnknstn]

You do not understand how typing works. The fastest speeds are achieved when the letters alternate between hands.

Re:It's been said before

[TheCarp]

It is? I have never seen =/= before this very discussion, and had no clue what it meant until it was explained. It just didn't make sense how you would divide equality. I am quite skeptical of =/= being more widely understood.\

On the other hand, I have seen != in many discussions, though, still not very common. Most of the time its "not equals" or "is not"

Re:It's been said before

[matazar]

I disagree.
This is the first I've seen =/= and I've always used !=.

Re:It's been said before

[GameboyRMH]

Ten bucks says they arrested more innocent people who ran an IRC server or something.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

it's also been said by anonymous:

for everyone of us that shall fall,
ten shall arise.

Re:It's been said before

[DRJlaw]

Ten bucks says they arrested more innocent people who ran an IRC server or something.

Accessories to crimes are not innocent people.

Re:It's been said before

[Velex]

Well played, sir. Wish I had mod points!

Re:It's been said before

[GameboyRMH]

So if some bikers meet in a bar and discuss how they're going to kill someone, and then they go and do it, the owners and managers of the bar are guilty?

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Once caught, you are no longer in Anonymous.

So? What relevance does that have? You can't just quit a criminal organization and then be absolved of any responsibility for the crimes they committed while you were involved.

Identified =/= Anonymous

Yes we can see you can't comprehend the difference between 'anonymous' and 'Anonymous' in this context where the former meaning of unknown identity and latter being the name of a 'hacker' group. So yes it has 'been said before', but you're just propagating moronic ignorance.

Re:It's been said before

[ewanm89]

Mathematicians tend to use =/= as it looks more like the math symbol, while programmers tend to use != from C, as it more natural, easier to type, and makes sense. Of course, we could use the unicode symbol 2260, if /. would just display unicode properly.

Re:It's been said before

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't compare Anonymous to anything in Fight Club, please. I don't see them trying to clear people's debts, just "lulzing" it up at the expense of common people who did nothing to them.

Re:It's been said before

[Forty Two Tenfold]

=^.^=



padding for teh fcuking filter

chi se be frega

[Anonymous Coward]

che cazzo

Re:chi se be frega

[empty mind]

Un articolo preso da Repubblica T.T

Re:chi se be frega

[Anonymous Coward]

e in generale, nulla che dimostri la loro appartenenza ad Anonymous, a parte le loro stesse dichiarazioni.

Why did they call themselves "anonymous" ?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to a press release the mastermind of the group used a nickname that was very similar to his family name.

Re:Why did they call themselves "anonymous" ?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where "mastermind" is as meaningful here as "hackers", considering the other two were a 17-year-old girl (a violation of Rule 30 BTW) and a nobody who didn't even use a proxy...

"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

As in an implied terrorist cell

Anonymous is just a bunch kids who hang out on IRC and exercise their social conscious in a slightly unconventional manner. The only reason anybody in a position of authority gives a fuck is because they seem to be rather good at highlighting how much the status quo consists of governments indentured to abusive corporate interests.

So I'm guessing protest hacking is now a terrorism on a par with suicide bombers.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[smelch]

Oh just shut up already. You get blasted if you call Anonymous one group, you get blasted if you refer to different independent groups (which we would call cells) because terrorists have been referred to as cells. There's just no pleasing people.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

You call Anonymous Anonymous

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[tunapez]

So I'm guessing protest hacking is now a terrorism on a par with suicide bombers.

Don't you see???? These evil-doers are much more terrifying! They did not cost the Mega Corps mere human lives, they inflicted the most vile, immoral crime of all: LOSSES$$$$$

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

Social conscience? Um, no. These kids largely act out of their desire to be attention whores. Example: Lulzsec.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[carpenoctem63141]

Now watch where many waves meet and get extra-high for a short time-span.

I think Afroman did a song about this. Anyway, it seems you're the one who needs a bit of a reality check. Supposedly the people in the article acted as a group of 3 people. Since you claim anybody can act under the name of Anonymous, bam, there exists a grouping within Anonymous.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Charliemopps]

I find it hilarious that we basically said the same thing and I got modded "troll" lol

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hacker Cell"

As in an implied terrorist cell

As in incorrect terminology used by members of the press.

Members of the press being people who:

• call all guns assault weapons
• write sensational articles about violent video games
• don't really know much of anything except how to write so they write shit and try to sound like they know what they're writing about when in reality they know next to nothing about anything
• generally don't know their ass from a hole in the ground
• couldn't find their own ass in the dark if you glued their hands to their ass and then lit their ass on fire

Conclusion: Whenever a member of the press expresses a thought more complex than "Uh oh! I made poopy in my pants." then you've got to take it with a huge grain of salt.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll say this about as seriously as I can: Either you're seriously bodily ill, or you're seriously mentally ill.

How ironic that this would be coming from apk.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[smelch]

Dude.... how are you 100% positive none of these people frequently work with each other? It seems pretty bizarre of you to be faced with an article about how these three guys frequently worked together under the Anonymous name and you are insisting there is no grouping. Groupings don't have to be permanent, but you're in an article about three people who were caught working together under the name of anonymous telling me that I have a rotten brain because I don't see that none of them ever work together as a group? What the fuck, your point of view isn't even verifiable in any manner. They're anonymous, how can you know some of them don't work together frequently? You can't, so don't spew this shit at me, that I'm the one who is retarded. You're the one spouting off unverifiable bullshit that you can't know as fact, I'm the one looking at facts and commenting on them. I'm the one who is mentally ill?

Your attitude is exactly what pisses me off about any discussion involving Anonymous. I'm not saying they're one monolithic, top-down organization with secret decoder rings that you can send away for when you've collected 5 Guy Fawkes masks. To deny any grouping or association at all is fucking retarded in the face of proof from multiple countries of multiple people working together in the name of Anonymous. Your logic is flawed, your assertions have no backing (and by their very nature can't be proved, but can be disproved as they have been [which you ignore while accusing others of ignoring your proof by assertion]), and you sit there covering your fucking ears like a little baby, screaming at the top of your lungs trying so hard to be heard that you've long since stopped listening.

And the worst part is instead of concluding you were wrong and there are sub-groupings under the banner of Anonymous that can be taken out (especially the vocal ones that harp on a subject repeatedly) you and others like you will conclude that since there are no sub-groupings this must be false arrest. Sure, you can't defeat Anonymous any more than you can defeat "Hippies", it doesn't work that way. That doesn't mean you can't track clusters of them that commonly associate. And when you find a cluster, what should we call them? Three members of anonymous with ties to each other that are not a cell, cluster, group, clique, platoon, commune, council, panel, herd, flock, pride, or blessing [of Unicorns]?

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

So that would be anonymous attention whores then?

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely no one who wants attention is going to join a group called anonymous?

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

And why can't you just say Anonymous?

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[Ginger Unicorn]

People don't need to know who you are to give you attention, anonymous attention is like being sucked off through a glory hole.

Re:"Hacker Cell"

[ewanm89]

A cell suggests a particular network command structure that anonymous just doesn't use. Terrorists use it because 1) they tend to need a team of several agents, 2) if an agent is caught, they can only give information about other agents in their cell, and maybe the controller. Anonymous needs no such structure, of course subgroups can form and disband at will. But Anonymous literally just make a post for some kind of action in a public place, and anyone who wants to carry out the action can. There is no single leader (anyone can make a post for action), no command heirachry (everyone is allowed free choice about carrying out action) and no permanent set of members.

Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

How are they even getting caught? I'd say these people are no more than idiotic script kiddies. You really have to be completely computer illiterate to get caught for such things (even if it is the police). The police don't have magical devices that track your modem, after all.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

Um...if you think law enforcement doesn't have ways to track people online then you're a bigger fucking idiot than these kids, especially since they don't have "magical devices" to track your modem. They do. It's called a warrant to the ISP.

Beyond that, if you think they haven't filled the Tor network with their own nodes, think again. If you think they don't have their own honeypot proxies, have their fingers in other proxies, or can bust into other proxies, think again. If you think that you'll never do something completely unnoticed that might provide that one small, vital clue needed, think again. You might make yourself hard to catch. You might even get away with it. But few people are smart enough and lucky enough for that.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1. Unplug laptop from wall in your home
Step 2. Take laptop down the street
Step 3. Find open wifi connection

Commence hacking!

Re:Wow.

[dc29A]

1. Police notice suspect activities from a number of wi-fi connections in (insert area name here) owned by computer illiterate people.
2. Police start their own 'open' wi-fi connections in this area.
3. Police start videotaping people who come around this area and gather information about the people they notice coming to wi-fi connection.
4. They realize one is pretty good with computers.
5. They get a warrant and surprise this hacker at 5AM in his mother's basement.
6. Hacker has no time to destroy evidence form his machines and it's caught.
7. ????
8. Hacker gets his ass pounded after he becomes Big John's bitch in prison.

Re:Wow.

[bberens]

Not computer illiterate. Just lazy.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

8. Hacker gets his ass pounded after he becomes Big John's bitch in prison.

Don't fool yourself. Computer nerds don't get laid, not even in prison.

Re:Wow.

[jellomizer]

If your group did something to really annoy a government, and said government really wants to get you, chances are you will get caught. It may not be IT related you brag about it to your friends, they may mention that they know said person who did this, the trick is to find the 5 degrees of separation which the path will bring you to the person.

Re:Wow.

[DurendalMac]

Are you kidding? Scrawny, pasty fresh meat? They'll get passed around like currency and get out with a pair of knockers tattooed on their backs.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

You probably misunderstood me. Proxies, vpns, etc. There are multiple ways to hide your identity. The police won't be able to do much (as I said, they are not magic) if you use out of country resources to hide yourself (especially if they delete logs).

If you think that you'll never do something completely unnoticed that might provide that one small, vital clue needed, think again.

Not logically impossible.

Re:Wow.

[ewanm89]

That's what the cantenna with a 1000ft range is for.

he wasn't that anonymous

[Verunks]

his nickname was his last name "Frey"

Mainstream media bullshit...

[Anonymous Coward]

First the hackers have been identified not arrested ( only 3 of them ). The italian media has given an image of anonymous as a terrorist organization and they have said that the italian police arrested the head of anonymous and dismantled the organization.

After all this is the country of mr. Mediaset!!!

Oh and media said nothing about the new censorship laws http://www.tomshw.it/cont/news/agcom-la-magistratura-e-lenta-colpiamo-noi-i-pirati/32322/1.html

Re:Mainstream media bullshit...

[empty mind]

Please mod parent up. They are depicting anonymous as a criminal/terroristic organization with a central control (they use words like "boss" and "hacker cell"). Mainstream media simply don't get it. As parent said, there's a more important thing happening here. AgCom, the italian autority guarantor of the telecommunications, will soon have the power to "black out" websites suspected of hosting copyrighted material without a trial. So they will be able to bypass the legal system and a lot of people here believe they'll use their power to censor websites... You know, TPB here has been blocked for some years now. They blocked the access to Btjunkie citing the economical damage made to Dahlia TV because of the transmission of football matches. Needless to say, Btjunkie is just a torrent search engine. Only some journals are talking about this and have organized an event to be transmitted over the internet in streaming.

There's a seriously stupid thing there

[erroneus]

Once again, I always thought it was too obvious to even talk about it because I presumed Anonymous participants (I hesitate to say "member") were smart enough not to hack on things within their own country. So like, if you were in the US, don't go hacking on US servers... (additionally, don't hack from a country with an extradition treaty.) So Italians were caught hacking on Italian servers... brilliant. I never thought anyone would be that stupid.

Re:There's a seriously stupid thing there

[Anonymous Coward]

"ciao a tutti", anyone form irc should recognize that and the madness that can ensue.

Re:There's a seriously stupid thing there

[jellomizer]

Interpol?

Re:There's a seriously stupid thing there

[Dinghy]

Having worked in customer service I can say that every time someone says "I never thought anyone would be that stupid," someone will prove you wrong.

Re:Cell?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cell as in cell. The word can stand on its own and not mean terrorist cell.

Look it up.

< is an HTML special character

[tepples]

Under Slashdot's HTML comment system, it's a lot easier to type != than to type &lt;&gt;.

Re:Cell?

[empty mind]

I'm italian and from what I read from many sources it's used as in terrorist cell.

A hacker "cell"

[ub3r n3u7r4l1st]

So when bin Laden is gone, the authorities are equating script kiddies with terrorist, and refer to their hideout as their "cell".

Re:A hacker "cell"

[krizoitz]

Um, no, "cell" refers to a group of people not their physical location. And whether or not they are 'script kiddies" they have been engaging in serious illegal activity in multiple countries affecting the privacy of thousands if not millions of people, so yeah I think the authorities are justified in treating them as significant and referring to them as such.

Re:A hacker "cell"

[exomondo]

So when bin Laden is gone, the authorities are equating script kiddies with terrorist, and refer to their hideout as their "cell".

You aren't aware words have multiple meanings? In this instance 'cell' is used in the same way it is used to describe 'terrorist cells', as a a small group acting as a unit...nowhere did i see anyone referring to the 'hideout' of such people as a 'cell' so i'm not sure where you're getting that from.

Re:A hacker "cell"

[Anonymous Coward]

ummm... yaaa.... these guys were just hacking a couple servers in their own country.... not "in multiple countries affecting the privacy of thousands if not millions of people"..... couple of kids do not a terrorist cell make.

Re:A hacker "cell"

[krizoitz]

Right, just a couple kids: http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/07/anonymous-vows-revenge-after-15-arrested-in-italy-antisec-hacks-continue.ars

Uh-oh.

[L1B3R4710N]

Looks like "Antisec" is shaking in their boots now that their great leaders (read: Lulzsec) abandoned them.

Re:Uh-oh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Abandoned or joined?

Depends on which article you read, I guess...

Internet Room for Criminals

[formfeed]

So if some bikers meet in a bar and discuss how they're going to kill someone, and then they go and do it, the owners and managers of the bar are guilty?

Only if they're running an IRC server!

----------
....and before one of you idiots marks me as a troll again: </sarcasm>

Re:Cell?

[exomondo]

Cell?

Yes.

As in terrorist cell?

Yes, Cell: a small group acting as a unit.

REALLY?

Yes, really, how hard is it to understand?

the bs as i see it

[KingBenny]

the loose collective has cells and is organized ? these people don't know anything but scapegoats do they ?