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Liberal Hackers at it Again
Powerline ^ | March 11, 2009 | John Hinderaker

Posted on 03/12/2009 4:00:38 AM PDT by drellberg

""Wikileaks" explained in an earlier email that it was making public the information on Coleman's donors, including their credit card numbers, because of the "Coleman campaign's effort to impugn the election processes in the State of Minnesota." As a result of Wikileak's mass email of a spread sheet containing credit card information for thousands of Coleman donors, the Coleman campaign sent an email to its supporters today suggesting that they cancel their credit cards."

(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: coleman; cyberterrorism; democrats; dncbrownshirts; election; electionlaws; feclaws; federalcrime; fraud; hacked; hacker; hackers; liberals; liberalterrorism; mexesota; privacyrights; taxcheatparty; tm
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I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but how is this not a direct, immediate, overwhelming, EXISTENTIAL threat to democracy? When hackers do this, the message is that if you exercise your right to free speech, they will make it possible for thieves to rob you blind? These terrorists have ruined the finances of thousands of Coleman supporters. How is this not a NYT above-the-fold, Drudge red siren story?
1 posted on 03/12/2009 4:00:38 AM PDT by drellberg
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To: drellberg

You’re not being hyperbolic at all. It is a threat. It’s also criminal.


2 posted on 03/12/2009 4:05:54 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: drellberg
When are the repubics going to start fighting back as hard as the libs are fighting us? We have the means... and America will be Zimbabwe soon if this crap does not stop. These people need a dose of their own medicine plus a bunch more! Fight fire with nukes!

LLS

3 posted on 03/12/2009 4:05:57 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: drellberg

It sounds like Coleman supporters (whose information has been stolen) should contact their local police and file charges against the owners/operators of wikileaks.


4 posted on 03/12/2009 4:07:10 AM PDT by writmeister
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: drellberg
It merely accentuates the stupidity of electronic money. Anyone stupid enough to buy anything on-line with a real credit card deserves what's coming to them. Kinda' like flashing a wallet full of $100's in a seedy bar.
6 posted on 03/12/2009 4:14:27 AM PDT by roamer_1 (Proud 1%er... Reagan Conservatism is the only way forward.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny
"It’s also criminal."

Yes, it is. One "wonders" what Eric Holder's DOJ plans to do about it. My guess is "nothing at all".

7 posted on 03/12/2009 4:14:58 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog ( The Hog of Steel)
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To: Wonder Warthog

“Yes, it is. One “wonders” what Eric Holder’s DOJ plans to do about it. My guess is “nothing at all”.”

The Democrat party is a criminal organization.


8 posted on 03/12/2009 4:20:13 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (“Are you better off than you were a month ago?”)
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To: Wonder Warthog

There is a quote engraved above one of the entrances to the DOJ, it reads, “Where Justice Ends, Tyranny Begins.”

So now you have the answer. Question is what are Americans going to do about tyranny?


9 posted on 03/12/2009 4:24:04 AM PDT by stockpirate (A people unwilling to use violent force to defend liberty deserves the tyrant that rules them SP)
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To: drellberg
Didn't one of Biden’s boys on the democrat senatorial campaign committee hack and release Michael Steele's credit info during the MD senate campaign?

IIRC, the rat was fired. No charges filed.

10 posted on 03/12/2009 4:26:17 AM PDT by Jacquerie (More central planning is not the solution to the failure of central planning.)
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To: drellberg

I got the e-mail from wikileaks. My card was already cancelled, after being used on ‘adult’ sites (and, NO, it was not by me).


11 posted on 03/12/2009 4:26:50 AM PDT by mathluv ( Conservative first and foremost, republican second)
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To: drellberg

The left still hypes Watergate while their squalid terrorism against dissidents continues with impunity.


12 posted on 03/12/2009 4:29:52 AM PDT by SolidWood (Palin: "In Alaska we eat therefore we hunt.")
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To: drellberg

One way to protect yourself — and I’m going to do this in the future — is to open up a separate bank account at a separate bank (from all your other accounts) and get a debit card (with no credit) and keep the account balance very low, close to zero.

When you want to donate $500 to someone, transfer the $500 from one of your “real” accounts and use the debit card to give that $500 to the candidate of your choice.

For a little effort (it’s easy), you not only protect yourself but you have the satisfaction of thwarting potential political attacks on your money.


13 posted on 03/12/2009 4:30:34 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: drellberg

The cardholders won’t take the big hit, the card issuers will. No doubt, the hackers use this logic to justify their crimes.

That’s the way liberals think.


14 posted on 03/12/2009 4:34:24 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hey, Obama! Where's my check?)
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To: Wonder Warthog

“It’s also criminal.”
Yes, it is. One “wonders” what Eric Holder’s DOJ plans to do about it. My guess is “nothing at all”.

Only if it was done to a democrat is it criminal. Republicans are fair game and there are no laws that will be enforced.


15 posted on 03/12/2009 4:36:39 AM PDT by blueyon (Obama, the honeymoon is over, I WANT A DIVORCE!)
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To: drellberg

They aren’t hackers. They are criminals.


16 posted on 03/12/2009 4:53:52 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (liberalism is truly evil. and liberals have no sense of humor either.)
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To: drellberg

I have received three emails from the anti-American Nazi criminals who got the information. Their name is WIKILEAK.


17 posted on 03/12/2009 5:01:15 AM PDT by YOUGOTIT (I will always be a Soldier)
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To: samtheman
One way to protect yourself — and I’m going to do this in the future — is to open up a separate bank account at a separate bank (from all your other accounts) and get a debit card (with no credit) and keep the account balance very low, close to zero.

I have a feeling that this is going to be unpopular, but another way to protect yourself is to use Bank of America's "Shop Safe." I honestly have no idea if any other banks have a feature like this, but the other banks with whom I do business do not.

"Shop Safe" allows you to set up "pseudo-cards," with a unique card number, expiration date (you can set it up to expire in as little as 2 months), and a maximum spending limit (which can be increased or decreased as needed), and that 3 digit security code. While the charges are charged to your "real" BofA credit card, none of the account information of your "real" card is released. Another bonus is that once you've used that card number at one vendor or merchant, that account information is ONLY valid for that vendor or merchant - nobody else.

I use it all the time when I do on-line purchases, and I've been using for about 3 years now with no problems at all. Another place where it's very useful is for "subscription services" that can sometimes be a nightmare in canceling. You can set up the "card" to expire whenever you like, so the company can't keep charging you after you've told them to stop. In the past, I've had to contact the credit card company to have the card canceled and get a new card issued, which was a hassle.

Like I said before, I know that Bank of America isn't terribly popular here, but this is a feature that works well, and I haven't found it at any other bank with whom I do business.

Mark

18 posted on 03/12/2009 5:08:48 AM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

“what Eric Holder’s DOJ plans to do about it.”

History shows us numerous examples of what happens when justice is perverted. The French Revolution is one example.


19 posted on 03/12/2009 5:09:44 AM PDT by sergeantdave (obuma is the anti-Lincoln, trying to re-establish slavery)
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To: drellberg

I want to say something, but such happenings make me so angry I can’t find the right words.


20 posted on 03/12/2009 5:21:24 AM PDT by This I Wonder32460
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To: MarkL

Thanks for telling me about Shop Safe.

I’m going to start using it anyway; make a habit of it.

Why do you say BoA isn’t popular here? I hadn’t heard that.


21 posted on 03/12/2009 5:24:53 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: LibLieSlayer

When are the repubics going to start fighting back as hard as the libs are fighting us? We have the means... These people need a dose of their own medicine plus a bunch more!

I agree!!!

Several Truths:

1) We can no longer depend on the GOP to fight back....
Most are to busy trying to get accolades from the media...
2) We Conservatives are on our own.....
3) Slowly but surely,conservative grassroots groups are forming example- tea parties
4) Rapid sale of guns and ammo has the left PETRIFIED
5) It only takes a spark to ignite the counter-attack—history is loaded with examples


22 posted on 03/12/2009 5:29:23 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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To: samtheman
Why do you say BoA isn’t popular here? I hadn’t heard that.

BofA is known for doing things that "aren't nice" with some customers... I've heard some real horror stories over the years on the Clark Howard radio show. And a while back there was a huge outcry here on FR, because of the policy of issuing mortgages to illegal aliens. BofA was also a big supporter of getting the rules that allowed the mexican ID card to be used in opening accounts.

But I've never had a problem with BofA. And their on-line banking is better than any other bank I've seen. Especially "Shop Safe." It's really terrific.

I've only ever had 1 problem with BofA, due to them incorrectly crediting a payment , but a single phone call took care of the problem. It could have easily been a simple data entry error.

Mark

23 posted on 03/12/2009 5:34:09 AM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: drellberg
Well, the Coleman campaign says the database was "hacked." Independent IT pros say that data breach, which definitely occurred, was the fault of the Coleman campaign's inept IT handling itself. The campaign had posted its donor base, including credit card numbers and security codes, in a database in a publicly accessible web location. http://minnesotaindependent.com/28748/colemans-site-wasnt-hacked-says-it-pro-who-discovered-donor-breach http://minnesotaindependent.com/24817/crashgate-reveals-unprotected-database-on-colemans-site Not only was the Coleman campaign sloppy enough to leave the financial details of over 290,000 of its donors in a place where any credit card sniffer program could find them, but it also kep the three-letter security codes with the cc#s. That's totally illegal - you've supposed to ditch that info as soon as the transaction is done. http://minnesotaindependent.com/24817/crashgate-reveals-unprotected-database-on-colemans-site Wikilinks says it sent out the emails to notify the credit card holders of the breach only because they had notified the Coleman campaign itself of the breach weeks before and the Coleman campaign had done nothing to tell the card holders of potential problems. Hinderacker is repeating the Coleman campaign press statement essentially verbatim as if it were the entire truth. Maybe he's next to God in turns of veracity, but I would check out some of the Coleman's campaigns assertions. It looks like they have every reason in the world to try and blame someone else for their screw-ups. And they know that saying "It was my opponents!" is most easily believable to their donors.
24 posted on 03/12/2009 5:38:15 AM PDT by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: drellberg
Hey - the Tax Cheat Party can do ANYTHING it wants to get and hold political power.

After they consolidate their political power, the murders of their perceived critics will start, and the Democrat media will ignore the bloodshed.

25 posted on 03/12/2009 5:48:25 AM PDT by an amused spectator (Obama: The Kenyan Anthony Fremont)
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To: MarkL; samtheman
At the branch office outside my office is a BoA, and in there you will find 3/4ths of the signs in spanish. Further, the clientele is overwhelmingly illegal. . .from the Home Depot day labor stand next door.

I changed banks when finally I had enough when the teller's first words to me were in spanish.

Just my 2c.

26 posted on 03/12/2009 5:53:21 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: drellberg

I don’t think you have to put liberal in front of hacker. Thats basically redundant. Can you imagine a conservative hacking? I can’t.


27 posted on 03/12/2009 5:57:28 AM PDT by Sig Sauer P220 (Birth certificates are for suckers.)
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To: Le Chien Rouge

I agree 100%!

LLS


28 posted on 03/12/2009 6:27:41 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: worst-case scenario

Excuse me, worst-case scenario, but NO. Even if all that you say is true, Wikileaks sent a spreadsheet with thousands of credit card numbers in a mass mailing. Are you saying that this is anything short of criminal?

And are you kidding?


29 posted on 03/12/2009 6:44:17 AM PDT by drellberg
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To: drellberg

Wikileaks did not send a spreadsheet in a mass mailing. They did a mass mailing to the addresses that were on the spreadsheet, telling them that their financial data had been compromised.

Did you read any of the linked news articles? They covered this situation in much more detail, and if you read them, we can debate using the same facts.


30 posted on 03/12/2009 7:08:58 AM PDT by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: MarkL
I honestly have no idea if any other banks have a feature like this,...

It's called a virtual credit card number and almost every credit card issuer offers it (Visa, MC, Amex).

31 posted on 03/12/2009 7:26:24 AM PDT by SunTzuWu
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To: Le Chien Rouge
Bubba Effect
32 posted on 03/12/2009 7:32:54 AM PDT by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: worst-case scenario

What links? Please help, since yes I do want to know the facts. Hinderaker is alleging something quite reprehensible. If he is mistaken I am sure he would want to know.


33 posted on 03/12/2009 8:03:15 AM PDT by drellberg
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To: worst-case scenario

By its own admission, wikileaks says it sent out the core data. See:

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/The_Big_Bad_Database_of_Senator_Norm_Coleman

“In response Wikileaks has had to bring forward its public announcement. The open government group has released two files, a detailed list of 4,721 on-line donors with the last four digits of their credit cards as proof and a list of some 51,641 supporters. The full database comprises over 30 tables of information, including personal details, full credit card numbers, passwords and “back of card” security numbers.

Wikileaks will release other material from the extensive Coleman database once those affected have time to be informed.”

What am I missing, worst-case-scenario, that would in any way exonerate these reprobates?


34 posted on 03/12/2009 8:10:43 AM PDT by drellberg
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To: drellberg

Moreover, how would any of us here be able to ascertain as “fact” whether the Coleman campaign was “incompetent” or that these reprobates broke the law?

I take their actions as prima facie evidence that they intend to chill political activity and discourse, irrespective of any errors that the Coleman campaign may or may not have committed.

To repeat my question, what could I possibly be missing by way of facts????


35 posted on 03/12/2009 8:13:34 AM PDT by drellberg
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To: drellberg

And yet hackers hypocritically “champion” privacy rights. They are two-bit thugs. And many serve the cause of Socialism.


36 posted on 03/12/2009 8:30:58 AM PDT by a fool in paradise ("I certainly hope he (Bush) doesn’t succeed" - Democratic strategist James Carville 9-11-2001)
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To: drellberg

They should be charged with violating FEC law by intimidating would be Republican donors.


37 posted on 03/12/2009 8:31:50 AM PDT by a fool in paradise ("I certainly hope he (Bush) doesn’t succeed" - Democratic strategist James Carville 9-11-2001)
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To: drellberg

No problem, they did format a bit unreadably.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/28748/colemans-site-wasnt-hacked-says-it-pro-who-discovered-donor-breach

http://minnesotaindependent.com/24817/crashgate-reveals-unprotected-database-on-colemans-site

Here’s an article about Wikileaks itself:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=cybercrime_and_hacking&articleId=9129460&taxonomyId=82&intsrc=kc_top

and an article on Wikileaks itself where they talk about the Coleman database:
http://88.80.13.160/wiki/The_Big_Bad_Database_of_Senator_Norm_Coleman

and here’s an article from today’s St Paul Pioneer Press:
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_11891772?nclick_check=1

Obviously, Coleman’s IT workers made some major blunders with this database. They should have never stored the three-digit security codes associated with the 51,000 credit card numbers they held onto. And it seriously looks like someone in the campaign left the directory containing this database in an unsecured location available through the web.

If someone looks at a database you’ve left open on the web, you haven’t been “hacked.” But I can understand why he would claim that was the problem - because it looks incompetent and embarrassing otherwise. If he really believes that he was hacked, then he is ignorant about computer security and his staff has gulled him. If he knows that he wasn’t and releases this “hacked” explanation as a cover-up, then he think that his supporters are ignorant about computer security.

I’ve got a private IT business, and Coleman’s explanation unfortunately doesn’t stand up to much analysis.


38 posted on 03/12/2009 8:31:52 AM PDT by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: drellberg

I guess I’m not bothered anymore that two Wikileaks representatives in Africa were murdered this past week.


39 posted on 03/12/2009 8:33:42 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Who is now in charge of the "Office of the President-Elect"?)
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To: samtheman; drellberg
You are liable for being overdrawn with that scheme, along with at least $50 of bad charges.

A better option is to use PayPal when possible or to get temporary credit card numbers, which can be offered by the bank through which you have your card. These can be generated online.

40 posted on 03/12/2009 8:36:57 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Who is now in charge of the "Office of the President-Elect"?)
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To: drellberg

Just called Wells Fargo to cancel mine. Agent said they are getting all kinds of calls and they are all coming from Minnesota. If they catch the offending people just send them up here for a little “ice fishing”.


41 posted on 03/12/2009 8:40:07 AM PDT by timydnuc (I'll die on my feet before I'll live on my knees.)
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To: drellberg

Nothing would exonerate Wikileaks from releasing the partial donor list, nothing. I don’t know why they did it, unless it was the same reason that a kidnapper sends an ear to the victim’s family, or to prove that they actually had the numbers. They claim that they did it to get the contributors’ attention. I’m not trying to defend their decision to post some of the numbers. But what they did does not somehow justify Coleman’s original errors, or his claims of being hacked.

Coleman’s db wasn’t hacked originally. Coleman’s IT security was lax. His storage of the numbers with their security codes is illegal. That was my original point in sum.


42 posted on 03/12/2009 8:40:17 AM PDT by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: LibLieSlayer

“When are the repubics going to start fighting back as hard as the libs are fighting us?”

Probably because most folks are who conservative generally have a great sense of decency and following the proper rules and etiquette in all things. Just compare how the Republicans handle defeat to how Al Gore and his fans handled his defeat in 2000. To the liberal(at least the modern liberal, anyway), the ends justifies the means since no matter what he does, he can always justify in his mind that he is committing the act in the name of “social justice.” I also find liberals tend to crave power more since their religion is the creation of a bigger and larger state whereas conservatives want a smaller government with less authority over the lives of its citizens. I surmise their out-of-control lust for more and more power drives many on the Left to act in a way that I don’t find to the same extent among folks on the Right.


43 posted on 03/12/2009 8:42:40 AM PDT by ReformationFan
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To: LibLieSlayer; drellberg

Pick up your weapon and follow me.


44 posted on 03/12/2009 9:35:00 AM PDT by CPT Clay (Pick up your weapon and follow me.)
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To: sergeantdave

When do we storm the Bastille?


45 posted on 03/12/2009 9:37:44 AM PDT by CPT Clay (Pick up your weapon and follow me.)
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To: ReformationFan

While I agree with you about why dims are the way that they are, if we do not start fighting fire with fire... we will walk the wilderness for another 45 years of minority status... and I for one will do everything that I can do to actually wage the same kind of war against them that they wage against us.

LLS


46 posted on 03/12/2009 10:15:09 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: CPT Clay

I keep mine close these days!

LLS


47 posted on 03/12/2009 10:18:47 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: drellberg

Remember the new acronym:

O ne

B ig

A ss

M istake

A merica!


48 posted on 03/12/2009 10:25:36 AM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: drellberg
Palin Hacker

But, how ofen have they done these things and not been caught?

49 posted on 03/12/2009 10:37:47 AM PDT by LucyJo
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To: worst-case scenario

I don’t know how to evaluate your assessment that Coleman’s people screwed up. I’ll take that at face value and concede the point.

I don’t think this diminishes my fear one bit. Some evil force STILL had to be poking around the Coleman site looking for ways to do damage. And having found the data, whether by criminal means or not, they sent emails out saying to these 51,000 plus donors that they were in possession of their credit card information. I don’t find this act of intimidation any less chilling for having been catalyzed by a Coleman screw up, even if you are correct on that point.

And if this is why the MSM is looking the other way, I don’t find the MSM any less culpable. This is an act of intimidation, pure and simple. And it is of a breathtaking form and impact.

Or are you somehow maintaining, worst-case-scenario, that they act was any less heinous for having been enabled by some screw up IT person on the Coleman campaign? You seem to think that this point is relevant. I am having a difficult time understanding why.


50 posted on 03/12/2009 11:58:21 AM PDT by drellberg
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