Al Qaeda Attacks Blogosphere

Little Green Footballs ^ | Oct. 17, 2003 | Little Green Footballs

[JohnathanRGalt]

A severe DoS (Denial of Service Attack) has been launched by several sites/persons unnamed against a lone American site. This American site was considered important enough to attack regardless of the consequences.  The attacks brought down many other internet sites in the process.  The 'packet storm' has been incredible.

Quoting Aaron:

"This is not a matter of political opinion. When I say that a site is affiliated with such and such a group, I mean it, and I'm backed up by some of the world's leading experts in Islamic extremism (who are also fluent in Arabic)."

Background press on Haganah here (down load it and view it offline)

And, read it directly on Little Green Footballs and come back here to comment on FreeRepublic:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8576
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8570

10/17/2003: Al Qaeda Attacks Blogosphere

The Denial of Service attack that hit the Hosting Matters system last night and took down LGF, Instapundit, and many other blogs, was directed at Aaron Weisburd’s Internet Haganah by a group of Al Qaeda-affiliated web sites. Here is Aaron’s explanation of what happened and why: Al Qaeda Internet attack.

#5

ralph  10/17/2003 10:23AM PST

Some info on dos attacks

#47

aaron  10/17/2003 01:54PM PST

For the record, Arabic-language Al Qaida-affiliated web sites and forums where discussions of attacking 'Al Haganah' were hosted include but are not limited to the following:

sahwah.com
alerhap.com
geocities.com/haack7
islamonline.com
vbzoom.com (not sure about the .com, don't have access to the log files)
vbnaajm.com (same as above, re: extension)
albargothy.com/.net/.org
82lj.net
arabhackerz.com

The most serious of these people are they guys at alerhap, a site which previously had been unlisted by us at the request of those people in the DC area who saw fit to *not* warn us of the impending attack.

This is not a matter of political opinion. When I say that a site is affiliated with such and such a group, I mean it, and I'm backed up by some of the world's leading experts in Islamic extremism (who are also fluent in Arabic).

As I said earlier, haganah.org.il is going down in flames too, which makes fund-raising kind of difficult at the moment. As long as they only have to knock off one site at a time this will continue. Welcome to the wonderful world of information warfare.

And yes, for the record, I feel just a little stupid for advocating a lawful approach to dealing with terrorist-affiliated web sites, but frankly, it works better. A denial of service attack, whether it's against us or against them, only knocks a site off line for so long. Using the lawful approach of simply asking people to not host such sites has resulted in a great many sites going off line for good.

#52

aaron  10/17/2003 02:06PM PST

you might be able to reach the site here:

http://whirlwind.he....

http://whirlwind.he....

Hurricane Electric appears to have null routed the haganah.org.il domain name for the time being (they host that domain).

As for the details of the attack, they constitute evidence of a criminal act, a matter I'll be taking up with the JTTF in both Illinois and Florida come Monday. (I'm in Illinois, the targeted server was in Florida). I doubt the Feds will do much, but I'll be putting them on notice in any event.

#56

aaron  10/17/2003 02:17PM PST

Just to make one thing perfectly clear: neither Hosting Matters, nor Annette, ever said that it was an attack by Qaida, or more accurately, Qaida supporters, Islamists of the the Salafyist/Wahhabist variety.

I said that and there is every reason to believe that I am correct.

#57

Nancy  10/17/2003 02:18PM PST

This is only a recent post --among countless others which have named Haganah specifically.

The e-jihad in Islam

IslamicAwakening.Com Discussion Board: Jihaad: The e-jihad in Islam

By falastin on Monday, October 13, 2003 - 10:13 am: Edit

Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Rahim
Salam aleikom, i have a group of e-jihad(Destroyed Jews computers, web-site, e-mails and much more), in the Islam, this is halal or haram?
As Salamu 'aleikum wa rahmatu llah wa barakatu

http://www.as-sahwah...

#63

Connecticut Yankee  10/17/2003 02:53PM PST

You mean Al Gore didn't foresee Al Qaeda DOS attacks when he invented the Interne

#65

aaron  10/17/2003 02:55PM PST

It's just that right now I have an urge to grab a rifle (or several and some friends) and go guard your doors...

That's kind of you Kathy. Bring beer and call in advance! Unexpected visitors will get an unpleasant reception.

#13

Tatterdemalian  10/17/2003 10:41AM PS

...of course anything like that would be unethical, illegal, and not something i would condone....

Not to mention largely useless. While web sites like LGF and Internet Haganah thrive on providing ready access to information, Al Qaeda web sites thrive on concealment. Thus, when they get shut down (and Haganah has racked up an impressive number of dead URL trophies, simply by notifying the ISPs of what their new "moderate" Muslim customers are up to), it's no biggie for them to find another provider or start another Geocities account.

On the other hand, they can attack us openly, and when they shut us down, they score another victory in their war to eliminate all sources of information that they don't directly control.

#106

aaron  10/17/2003 06:52PM PST

what cedar said. give them a f*cking break for goodness sake. or try staying up for 24 or 48 or 72 hours dealing with a DoS attack (been there and done that) and see how *you* feel and function on the far end of that experience. or find some other thread to post on, ok. me, I'm going to take my dog for a walk.

#119

aaron  10/17/2003 07:26AM PST

Background:

Supporters of a number of Al Qaida-affiliated forums registered to Saudis and running in Malaysia basically declared an online Jihad against Haganah after 8 such sites lost their third party DNS service a couple of weeks ago (the DNS provider decided they didn't want to provide services to such folks). The result was that the sites dropped offline, and four of them remain offline.

GeoCities sites have been used to distribute the attack tools, and a site at Everyone's Internet posted howto graphics that show not just how to use the tools, but specifically how to use them to attack our site.

Hosting Matters has done their best to keep the site online in the face of an increasing level of hostile traffic, but there's only so much one can do unless you can get someone at the backbone level to block the incoming 'rounds.'

The only long-term solution for us is to either go underground or distribute the site as mirrors located at multiple locations. The latter approach takes money and/or donated server accounts. Estimated cost is about $3500/year, and we currently have $150 in our PayPal account.

I'm adding subscription/repeating donation options to the PayPal offerings, we're about to roll out a line of merchandise, snail-mail donations can be made (address available upon request), etc. We'll see how it goes.

The odds of the Feds doing anything to bring the people responsible to justice are virtually nil.

#124

aaron  10/17/2003 08:12AM PST

TO: aaron
RE: Are You Saying...

That this was a Denial of Service attack against HostingMatters by an Islamist group(s)?

Chuck

http://littlegreenfo...
Yes Chuck, that is exactly what I am saying. Haganah is something of a known quantity in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Syria. These guys take their web sites very seriously, since the sites are an important part of their communications infrastructure. This situation has been developing over the last few weeks.

Knocking off our web site is easier than, say, knocking me off, what with that loaded gun that's here beside my keyboard...

#126

aaron  10/17/2003 08:47AM PST

Charles: Yes, Annette has been in contact directly to confirm that Haganah was the target. I really can't say enough good things about Hosting Matters. Details about the attack are not ready for release yet. Cleanup will take a while, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

And as for those sites that the Feds didn't want listed, I got bad news: all bets are off. I know for a fact that sites used to plan this attack are under surveillance, and did anyone in the US give me a heads up?

Hell no.

The Israelis, on the other hand, have done their level best to keep me informed, despite the fact that Haganah's efforts to take down Jihadi sites, and their efforts to monitor those sites, sometimes conflict. Nevertheless, they at least realize that we're all on the same side. I'm not so sure about the folks in and around the Beltway, however.

 

[JohnathanRGalt]

Yes.

[Cindy]

http://www.as-sahwah.com/discus/messages/6/6936.html

Jew-boy's Site Goes Dooooooown!!!!!!!

---

IslamicAwakening.Com Discussion Board: Jihaad: Jew-boy's Site Goes Dooooooown!!!!!!!

---

   By Totally Impressed on Friday, October 17, 2003 - 11:09 pm: Edit

Al-Qa'eedah supporters have alledgedly struck a deadly bow to the heart of the zionist site Internet Haganah.

From the horse's mouth himself:
"Background:

Supporters of a number of Al Qaida-affiliated forums registered to Saudis and running in Malaysia basically declared an online Jihad against Haganah after 8 such sites lost their third party DNS service a couple of weeks ago (the DNS provider decided they didn't want to provide services to such folks). The result was that the sites dropped offline, and four of them remain offline.

GeoCities sites have been used to distribute the attack tools, and a site at Everyone's Internet posted howto graphics that show not just how to use the tools, but specifically how to use them to attack our site.

Hosting Matters has done their best to keep the site online in the face of an increasing level of hostile traffic, but there's only so much one can do unless you can get someone at the backbone level to block the incoming 'rounds.'

The only long-term solution for us is to either go underground or distribute the site as mirrors located at multiple locations. The latter approach takes money and/or donated server accounts. Estimated cost is about $3500/year, and we currently have $150 in our PayPal account.

I'm adding subscription/repeating donation options to the PayPal offerings, we're about to roll out a line of merchandise, snail-mail donations can be made (address available upon request), etc. We'll see how it goes.

The odds of the Feds doing anything to bring the people responsible to justice are virtually nil...

Haganah is something of a known quantity in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Syria. These guys take their web sites very seriously, since the sites are an important part of their communications infrastructure. This situation has been developing over the last few weeks.

Knocking off our web site is easier than, say, knocking me off, what with that loaded gun that's here beside my keyboard..."

Wooooooah! What a gangster.

Allahu Akhbar. Allahu Akhbar. Allahu Akhbar.

Let's hope that he stays offline for a very long time, and that all of the Jihad sites taken down due to his interference are soon up and running again insha'Allah.

And to those who made a stand, may it count as hasanat for you on Yawm-ul-Qiyyamah.

wassalam,
Totally Impressed.

[Cindy]

Hello Mr. Galt.

I searched around on the more active "jihad" type sites and cannot find anyone taking credit for taking Haganah down. I did find that message on the "Islamic Awakening" discussion board which I cut/pasted/posted on on this thread.

[Turbo Pig]

At this point, I can't help but feel that even a loosely coordinated cyber offensive by the good guy's side is in order. As long as it doesn't involve purposely blowing up civilians, where is the harm of fighting fire with fire?

FWIW - the monkeys at these e-jihad sites DO advocate blowing up civilians on a regular basis, and applaud the deaths of American service men.

[Quilla]

Several months ago while searching for information on Saddam and September 11, I happened across two interesting photographs. There were originally posted on littlegreenfootballs, I copied their url's and posted them here. With the exception of lgf and freerepublic, I have yet to see them appear elsewhere in the media.

[MEG33]

I had not seen the top one with Saddam in the picture.I hope he is scared,tired,depressed and soon dead.

[Quilla]

I hope he is scared,tired,depressed and soon dead.

Amen.

[Agitate]

I hope he is scared,tired,depressed and soon dead.
Amen.

I agree, I hope Saddam dies quickly, and his body is presented to the world to remove all and any doubt.

I also hope these sick jihadi bastards who can't leave Christians and Jews alone will grow a collective spine and declare war on the USA so we can collectively rip them a new anal sphincter.

[cgk]

bump to thread and #8

[Cindy]

adding to post no.8 --- LINKS Of Interest:

MEMRI.org - MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE Special Dispatch Series - No. 592: "IRAQI DAILY: SADDAM ORDERED TRAINING OF AL-QA'IDA" (October 18, 2003) (Read More...)

On The Net...English.ALJAZEERA.net - NEWS - Arab World: "FULL TEXT OF THE MESSAGE Usama bin Ladin has issued a message to the American people, broacast on Saturday on Aljazeera television. A full and exclusive translation follows:") (October 17, 2003)

On The Net...English.ALJAZEERA.net - NEWS - Arab World: "AL-QAIDA VOWS ANTI-US ATTACKS Al-Qaida Number Two Aymann al-Zawahri has called on Iraqis to "devour" their American occupiers") (September 10, 2003)

[Cindy]

FYI Links of Interest:

WorldNetDaily.com: "ANTI-TERROR SITE TARGETED Denial-of-service Attacks Shut Down Haganah" -from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin (October 19, 2003) (Read More...)

INTERNET HAGANAH: "OUTSOURCING TERRORISM?" (October 12, 2003)