FBI Reports US Agencies Hacked By Anonymous

Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters is reporting that the FBI has issued a warning to several U.S. Government agencies that the Anonymous collective has hacked their systems. Included in the list of compromised agencies are the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and potentially many more agencies. The avenue of attack: Adobe Cold Fusion."

Comments

Huh, that's surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the only people left in Anonymous were FBI informants.

Re:Huh, that's surprising

[pieterh]

The War on the Internet is as much about creating an environment of fear that will justify increased spending, as it is cracking down on the young smart kids who are the real threat to the corporate para-State.

So it's fairly likely that the FBI/NSA and their legal or criminal subcontractors are heavily involved in any dramatic security-related event. The fact that government websites are targeted makes no difference. Simple little false flags that keep the pressure up on legislators.

It's easy to mock all this but the threat to our digital lifestyle is real and serious. We're a few years away from a fully regulated Internet where if you don't conform -- by running approved hardware, approved software, approved monitoring -- you simply won't get access, period. Clipper chip, remember that?

And the only way to convince the mass of "who cares?" public are a series of dramatic, dangerous, unacceptable attacks on websites, infrastructure, transport, etc.

Re:Huh, that's surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

I was about to post something that would go line by line of your post arguing the usual things against conspiracies that I'd parrot from Skeptics like Michael Shermer.

Then, I though about the latest events, the PATRIOT Act. the lobbying by big IT firms and defense contractors, and just the pathetic power hungriness and narcisism of our elected officials.

So, I said to myself, "What the parent has suggested is completely probable in this day and age."

It's not an individual super villian, but it is bunch of sociopathic people all working towards the same goal as stated in the parent's post. And they have the greatest weapon on Earth - people's irrational fear and desperation to feel safe.

We are all fucked.

Re:Huh, that's surprising

[Velex]

Yes... the NSA is going to assassinate Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds

That's not the point. If they did that, they'd lose a great deal of credibility, and I mean real credibility---the kind of credibility loss that wakes the people up, sparks real debate, and gets congress critters elected that really will defund this crap on a meaningful level. Of course they wouldn't do that.

If I were going to compare the NSA to a character from The Matrix, I'd rather pick the Architecht. The Architecht is an interesting character because of his complete disinterest in how the goal of funneling bio-energy from the humans in the matrix to the machine city is accomplished as long as it's accomplished. In the same way, the NSA/FBI/CIA/TSA/DHS/OMG/WTF/BBQ seem to be in a role, domestically at least, of ensuring that a steady stream of tax revenue find its way to the military-industrial complex.

The average person has absolutely no idea how web pages are served or what the infrastructure of the internet looks like beyond the physical of copper and fiber, and they have no idea how to gauge whether their sensitive, private data is being stored according to best practices or whether there are some serious concerns to be had. Sure, when somebody "breaks in" to a computer system and gains access to sensitive information, it's not right, but it's not always a crime either. Did the stewards of that information use best practiceses, was there a lapse and somebody forgot to lock a door behind them, or did they leave it out on the sidewalk with a giant "take one!" sign next to it? The public, at present, is completely unequipped to evaluate that, because networked computers are sufficiently advanced technology. They're indistinguishable from magic.

That may not always be the case, and there's definitely room for improvement in primary education to include basic introductions to what constitutes information security and how the internet works.

The point is that "hacking" is a scary thing to the public. If government websites are being hacked, there must be some very scary enemies out there, and it might even be an act of war. Our lifestyle might be under attack once again in the same way it was during the height the cold war.

That's a very profitable thing for the military-industrial complex.

The last thing they'd want is a public that, weary of over a decade of security theater, might actually question whether all the military spending is necessary, especially given national debt and budget deficits and the revelations that the NSA might not be making the best use of its funding, and start cutting that funding.

(The argument of whether that would be effective or not in balancing budgets is beyond the scope of this post.)