Did Anonymous Take Down CIA.gov?

jfruh writes "The CIA's website has been down intermittently since Friday, apparently the victim of a DDOS attack. One of the more interesting questions of the story is whether elements of Anonymous are behind this — a question that even prominent members of the Anonymous movement can't seem to answer with any certainty. Perhaps this is obvious, but it seems that an anarchic, leaderless grouping can be hard to keep tabs on."

Comments

XKCD

[Anonymous Coward]

I think XKCD summed up this situation best: http://xkcd.com/932/

Re:XKCD

[N0Man74]

Ah-ha! So you admit that Anonymous took down the CIA website using a slashdotting hack!

Re:XKCD

[lidocaineus]

Did you really have to explain it? This is /.

Re:XKCD

[KhabaLox]

That comic is from 28 weeks ago!

Randall is either a precog or the leader of Anonymous.

The establishment needs a target to blame

[Dainsanefh]

Any "terrorist" attack, blame it on Al-Qaeda.

Any "hacking" on any government or multi-national coroporation website, blame it on Anonymous.

Soon people will stand united against these "fringe" groups, and keep giving up their freedom in progress.

Re:The establishment needs a target to blame

[0100010001010011]

Don't forget: Any invasion of internet privacy is for child porn/piracy.

Re:The establishment needs a target to blame

[twotacocombo]

Anonymous has quite openly made asses of themselves to the point where people suspecting them is pretty justified. They've made a MO of poking angry bears with a stick to hear them growl. I'll feel not one whit of sympathy when these clowns are sitting in a courtroom getting their federal indictments.

Anonymous. They keep using this word, but I do not think it means what they think it means. It's like assuming that every Anonymous Coward is the same person. Anonymous here is really 'anonymous', not some group with structured leadership, dues to be paid, and a secret handshake. When you refer to them, you're referring to everybody and nobody in particular, so quit throwing around 'Anonymous' as if they were Al Qaeda or the New York Mets.

I keep my mouth shut when I hack the CIA

[Agent Z5q]

Do you think I would talk about it when I hack the CIA? Uh... I mean IF I hacked the CIA!

If these guys in Anonymous have a tenth of common sense as they have hacking skills, they'll keep their mouths shut about specifics.

Re:I keep my mouth shut when I hack the CIA

[noh8rz2]

If these guys in Anonymous have a tenth of common sense as they have hacking skills, they'll keep their mouths shut about specifics.

but they're in it for the lulz, remember? no lulz if it's a secret.

Re:I keep my mouth shut when I hack the CIA

[DesScorp]

Do you think I would talk about it when I hack the CIA? Uh... I mean IF I hacked the CIA!

If these guys in Anonymous have a tenth of common sense as they have hacking skills, they'll keep their mouths shut about specifics.

There are two kinds of skilled hackers: showboats and pros. Showboats brag in various places and settings about how good they are ("Look what I did!"). Pros keep their traps shut, and stay in the shadows. They also tend to have big paychecks because they keep their traps shut, and stay in the shadows. Showboats end up getting their doors kicked in by black-clad law enforcement. Though they're "Anonymous", they're still showboats, bragging to the world (and even threatening it... "We do not forgive").

Sooner or later, the Anonymous guys are going to end very, very badly.

DDoS is for script kiddies.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, who cares that they were able to overload a website with their botnet? It might be interesting if they were actually able to hack into it.

Re:DDoS is for script kiddies.

[wisnoskij]

I don't think the point was to demonstrate their skill at hacking.

Re:Truth

[Anonymous Coward]

no comment, I'm way too scared of the CIA / FBI but that's because I live in the UK...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_Act_2003
US / UK Extradition Act 2003

Authoritarians Do Not Grasp Distributed

[Bob9113]

Perhaps this is obvious, but it seems that an anarchic, leaderless grouping can be hard to keep tabs on.

I saw an article in the paper not too long ago that talked about the Mayor of Oakland having contacted the leadership of the Occupy movement to ask them to disavow Occupy Oakland. It made me want to smack my forehead. The hierarchy drones have a fundamental lack of comprehension of "distributed."

When evils progress beyond what is sufferable, you pass a tipping point where there need be no rabble-rousers. The rabble become self-rousing. These are the warning signs that our leadership has overstepped its bounds and we need to re-examine our dedication to the principles that hold us together as a free nation and people. When the rabble start rousing themselves, we would do well to assume that the more civilized among us are likewise displeased, but with more self-control. The longer we fail to correct our course, the lower the barrier to rabble-hood becomes. It's just the nuttiest x% that are genuinely acting out right now. Soon it will be the nuttiest 2*x%.

Re:Authoritarians Do Not Grasp Distributed

[binkless]

When evils progress beyond what is sufferable, you pass a tipping point where there need be no rabble-rousers. The rabble become self-rousing.

And the rhetoric will be self-parodying.

It's a .GOV

[ShavedOrangutan]

They all left early on Friday, came in late on Monday, and have been in a meeting ever since. It'll probably be back online sometime Thursday.

Re:The short answer is: No.

[drinkypoo]

No one took down the CIA.gov website. Did users "take down" Twitter when it faltered under too much load?

If it's intentional it's a takedown. If it's accidental it's a slashdotting. Either way it's a DDoS.

try the seafood platter

[Hognoxious]

Perhaps this is obvious, but it seems that an anarchic, leaderless grouping can be hard to keep tabs on

And as for Anonymous, they're even worse!

Technically speaking...

[Xacid]

Technically speaking - if they don't know the culprit(s) then the culprit(s) is/are, by definition, anonymous.