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Aaron Barr Talks About DEFCON, Anonymous Attacks
Trailrunner7 writes "Finding Aaron Barr at this year's DEFCON hacker conference in Las Vegas was like a giant game of 'Where's Waldo.' Given the events of the past year, you can hardly blame him for keeping a low profile. First there was the attack on him and his then-employer, HBGary Federal, his decision to part ways with HBGary, his work to rehabilitate his image and turn his personal misfortunes into a 'teaching moment' for the industry, and then the legal wrangling in recent weeks that threw cold water on his plans to take part in a panel discussion about Anonymous at DEFCON. Barr was courted by numerous news outlets at the show, including the mainstream media. But he preferred, for the most part, to keep his own counsel. But he offered his thoughts to Threatpost on the experience of being at the conference, what the attack by Anonymous has done to him and whether it's possible for the group to turn its attentions to more constructive pursuits."
It reads like they emailed him the questions and he replied in writing. Fuck him. I hope you're proud of what you put your family through just so you could try to thump your chest a little bit. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Reap what you sow you lying asshat.
Is he implying, by the notion of "more constructive" that crushing him and shedding some light on his creepy private-sector-spook buddies was not, in fact, a valuable use of time?
If it were possible to do so more widely and efficiently that would certainly be "more constructive"; but I'm suspecting that he has something else entirely in mind...
If I recall correctly he was attempting to attack anonymous, and once they found this out they ripped him apart.
I'm not condoning the actions of either party, but you don't walk into a pit of wolves without being fully aware of the risks you are taking. Ars has a detailed series on this saga that gives the full detail:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/anonymous-speaks-the-inside-story-of-the-hbgary-hack.ars
aaron.barr.isadouchebag.com
...Anonymous are just a bunch of thugs now. Had they stuck to their original purpose they could have been a force for good. Now they're farce - no different from every ego-centric hacker group that came before them.
Barr's world view is IMO too simplistic, the answer to "'Building a better Anonymous.’ Is that possible?" shows his black/white thinking.
the first sentences of the second paragraph read slightly rephrased like: "Anonymous is only a serious activist organization when the targets are political opportune, e.g. Egypt and Tunesia. Attacking Law Enforcement (but not the Egypt and Tunesian ones) or Sony is straight criminal"
... and I'm sharing my impression... with the hope it will save others some time so they can waste it on more intelligent news: for example, try this: Man Just Walked Into Best Buy For No Reason Whatsoever
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Anonymous's theoretical view is that anyone can join.
That means they will attract both "good" and "bad" (and perhaps some "ugly"). Therefore "more constructive pursuits, " whatever that may be- will be followed, as will more dumbarse pursuits, more juvenile pursuits, and more lulzish pursuits.
You have to think what type of people will be attracted to the un"organization" to see what direction it will take.
Outright criminals are unlikely- no profit.
Professionals are unlikely
Bored, younger, tech-savy singles are most likely
I suspect therefore their targets in general are going to continue to be more for the mischievious and disruptful.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
To me "constructive" is outing worthless government contractors who are worthless.
Shedding light on how our government throws money away on these inept (and most likely friends') contractors is what we need.
FTA: "I would have loved the opportunity to convey a few misunderstandings about me." Nothing to see here, move along.
For a minute there, I thought they were talking about Aaron Burr.
Oh shut up you filthy little geek speck of nothing.
Aaron, is that you?
so, this guy gets hacked and proven to be a failure in the security world, and scum, and it BOOSTS his career? i'm i lost? is this earth? i can't believe anyone would listen to him about anything at this point. much less large conferences, and the /. crowd...
You even quoted the very bit that has NOTHING TO DO with "it's bad". That statement that you cannot read says that the rootkit work was not defensive in nature.
This has NOTHING to do with "why do you think it's bad..." that you then follow on with.
This is known as a non-sequitor, with an added dollop of stupid in that you quote something you then ignored.
But he offered his thoughts to Threatpost on the experience of being at the conference, what the attack by Anonymous has done to him and whether it's possible for the group to turn its attentions to more constructive pursuits.
For Aaron Barr, the definition of "constructive" begins and ends with making money... by whatever means available.
"and whether it's possible for the group to turn its attentions to more constructive pursuits."
Take a look at the list of charges against Aaron Barr in the comments above. How is taking him out of circulation not constructive?
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
What can be more constructive than pursuing hired whores that are out to spy on the citizens for the profit of a few private parties or a repressive regime.
Read radical news here
No, thank God, he's not. My guy is the one who wrote The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence back in the early 80s.
Schooled that bitch.
what about the rights of people like Glenn Greenwald and others? what about the invasions of privacy committed by Team Themis and others like them? What about the leaked emails that would allegedly place Barr in the position of hacker, as he experimented with his companies own 'offensive' (as opposed to defensive) tools and practices?
Team Themis was being payed, purposely, to do the kind of work that Barr was doing.
Barr's actions against anonymous were simply a logical extension of his ordinary job description. Find 'targets' who are opposed to your clients interests, and then collect intelligence on them, for purposes of character assassination.
I mean, thats what HBGary was payed to do as part of Team Themis. Not Aaron Barr, HB Gary, Berico Technologies, and Palantir Technologies.
and labor unions?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-UPDATED:-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All
PERTINENT QUOTES/EXCERPTS:
"According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated "persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online... And all of this is for the purposes of infiltration, data mining, and (here's the one that really worries me) ganging up on bloggers, commenters and otherwise "real" people to smear enemies and distort the truth... "
and
"They are talking about creating the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader... And another thing, this is just one little company of assholes. I can't believe there aren't others doing this already. From oil companies, political campaigns, PR firms, you name it. Public opinion means big bucks. And let's face it, what these guys are talking about is easy."
and
"To the extent that the propaganda technique known as "Bandwagon" is an effective form of persuasion, which it definitely is, the ability for a few people to infiltrate a blog or social media site and appear to be many people, all taking one position in a debate, all agreeing, for example, that so and so is not credible, or a crook, is an incredibly powerful weapon."
---
MAN - WHAT A PACK OF LITTLE PLASTIC WORMS & JERKS! I, for one, would NEVER trust them again, as they operate largely on DECEITS online - I personally cannot STAND that type online (they think they're "*smart*", & that they're fooling others, but they're only fooling themselves & were EXPOSED IN IT too!)
* I'd suggest reading the whole article in the link I put up above & not only because of the quotes I pulled from it to get your attention here, but also because it largely BACKS THE FACT THAT EVEN PSEUDONYMS DON'T MATTER, because they're easy to create via alternate email accounts, TOR endpoint proxies usage, OR anonymous proxy server usage on the part of those seeking to be "many from 1"!
(Yes, I'd read that folks - because it MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT YOU ONE DAY ALSO & be "levelled against you" (I hope not)... & I KNOW I've had it happen to me, here, & others spots online (I busted clone52431/clone53421 & others doing it in fact, the "trolltalk.com" pack of admitted trolls around here in fact)).
I don't KNOW if A. Barr is the one behind that specifically, but I am fairly SURE he worked for they iirc... & they're pretty damned LOW imo @ least (anyone who uses that b.s. online? Is what I call a "NOT MAN"... & a weasel!)
APK
P.S.=> That's for anyone that tries to say I am "full of it", etc./et al - though I know that most of you KNOW this type of crap really does go on online, & how/when/where/why IF NOT BY WHOM as well...
... apk
Anonymous is in fact giving voice and force to the dispossessed. Aaron Barr doesn't see it that way because he built his career working for the bad guys.
The existence of child pornography is not a serious issue we face. As reprehensible as sexual abuse of children is, mere possession of images of it should not be a crime. Child pornography is mostly used as a pretext for border guards to go on fishing expeditions.