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Is Eccentric Sven Olaf Kamphius To Blame For Spamhaus DDoS?

Posted by timothy on from the well-be-does-have-sort-of-a-guilty-look dept.

RougeFemme writes "Sven Olaf Kamphius, self-described 'Internet freedom fighter,' is reportedly at the center of the investigation into this week's alleged cyber-attack against Spamhaus, a group that fights Internet spam. Mr. Kamphius became incensed when Spamhaus blacklisted two companies that he runs, including Cyberbunker, a company that, earlier this week, claimed be under attack from Dutch swat teams. Though he initially solicited support for a DDoS against Spamhaus, he now disavows any direct role in the cyberattack, which threatened to slow some web traffic to a crawl."

9 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. We blaclist him too... by Delgul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I heard an interview with this guy on the dutch radio and he is obviously a moron. He managed to contradict himself three times in as many sentences and obviously has no idea about how SH works. His servers are on our blacklists too and with good reason...

    1. Re:We blaclist him too... by Zan+Zu+from+Eridu · · Score: 5, Interesting

      He's not a moron (in spite of his eyebrows), he just plays one. This guy earns a ton by providing services to well known spammers and other criminal organisations, but every time he makes the headlines and gets interviewed he either plays the naïve internet activist or the village idiot, depending on his public.

    2. Re:We blaclist him too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The moment he's prosecuted, he'll become a hero around here.

      What is it with Slashdot's (and other geek sites) support for criminals when they are geeks? Much of the vocal community supported Reiser very strongly when he was accused of killing his wife, interpreting and analyzing 'evidence' making the 'solid' case he was obviously set up - until he capitulated and showed the police where he had buried her. Same with Assange. Suddenly everybody here are experts in Swedish law, and know with certainty what did and did not happen, based on their expert analysis of select tidbits of information through secondary sources. At first a lot of people here claimed (with 'evidence') the women didn't even exist, while they were being interviewed by local media. As a Scandinavian following the US geek discussion of that case was part scary part funny. Our Kim Dotcom 'hero' has a long history of criminal activity (not the alleged copyright infringement, but real criminal credit card fraud, theft of calling cards, stock fraud, embezzlement, insider trading). Regardless of whether Kamphuis is behind the DDoS attack or not, his company has been proven repeatedly to host spammers. And still I can see the pattern repeating, just as you predict.

    3. Re:We blaclist him too... by alexgieg · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What is it with Slashdot's (and other geek sites) support for criminals when they are geeks?

      Partly a bias the name of which I forgot, in which you require extraordinary amounts of proof against a member from your own group compared to what you'd require against someone from another group; partly the fact we like their tech and are worried further developments will be disrupted; and partly because technologists are usually on the anarchic side of things and don't see much (but not all) of what these people are accused of as morally wrong even if it's illegal (the "law isn't justice" dichotomy).

      That said, there are certain technologies that are themselves disruptive to other technologies, spam being the prime example, and thus those who defend it are seen as doing something morally wrong, precisely the case here. But there's a nuance in there. Technologists, although mostly anarchic, are also meritocratic, valuing technological prowess. Thus, if a highly skilled hackers manages to invade a system managed by a low skilled system administrator, that isn't seen as a simple invasion, but as a master teaching an apprentice a hard lesson so that he can figure out his deficiencies and improve (that the apprentice's boss doesn't see things this way is of no consequence). In any case, brute force techniques such as spammer delivery systems, DDoS via botnets and the like aren't themselves displays of skill, they're just displays of brute force. Developing such a system sure, is a clear display of skill. Using it, not so much.

      --
      Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
    4. Re:We blaclist him too... by Viol8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "What is it with Slashdot's (and other geek sites) support for criminals when they are geeks?"

      A large proportion of Slashdotters are still at the Stick-it-to-the-man age - anything up to 21-22yo, (maybe 25 if they're particularly immature). Rebelling against, parents, teachers etc. So in their eyes anyone who does have a go at The Man (even if The Man is you and I) is automatically a cyber warrior hero in their eyes.

      Luckily a lot of kids, most probably, don't suffer from this self important self righteous bollocks and even the ones who do eventually grow up and see that their actions are immature and counter productive. Unfortunately in the meantime we have to put up with a small subsection of the same age group doing the same old rebellious shit thinking they're changing the world and making life difficult for everyone else in the process. Plus ca change.

    5. Re:We blaclist him too... by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "The Man is not me"

      The Man is you if your internet access or activities have ever suffered because stupid little fuckwits on yet another cyber crusade for [insert cause of the week here] have screwed it up.

      "and looting my pockets."

      No one is looting your pockets. Learn some basic economics.

  2. Cyberbunker lied about location by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those who can't read Dutch, and thus rely on second hand sources:

    http://www.automatiseringgids.nl/nieuws/2013/13/cyberbunker-niet-meer-in-bunker-kloetinge
    Claims Cyberbunker hasn't used the bunker location since 2010. I guess that explains why the claimed SWAT thing wasn't reported in Dutch news (and also why they waited to pose so nicely on the picture). The bunker location is currently property of http://www.bunkerinfra.com/ which apparently has several such locations and has nothing to do with the old occupant.

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    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  3. Re:Certainly stupid to ask the question here by thaylin · · Score: 3, Informative
    He posted to his facebook that he was behind it, of course he has sense deleted it. On marge 21 he wrote

    "Hi Spamhaus, despite allowing your crap to be back up for a day or so, i see our demands still have not been met. stand by for more.".

    --
    When you cant win, ad hominem.
  4. Ladies, start your engines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    From TFA:

    "He describes himself in his own Web postings as an Internet freedom fighter, along the lines of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, with political views that range from eccentric to offensive. His likes: German heavy metal music, "Beavis and Butt-head" and the campaign to legalize medicinal marijuana. His dislikes: Jews, Luddites and authority."

    Anyone want to put that profile on a dating site to see if it garners interest?