Posted on 03/28/2009 12:18:53 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Hackers who sympathize with radical Islamic groups increasingly are using hijacked accounts at online file-upload and distribution services to disseminate large files, such as videos of attacks on Western forces in the Middle East, new research suggests.
Services like RapidShare, Ziddu, and MegaUpload allow users to share large files, yet each places certain restrictions on non-paying users, such as limiting the number, speed, and size of files that free users can upload and download.
But according to analysts at iDefense, a security intelligence firm owned by Verisign, hackers from various online jihadists forums have in recent months begun posting lengthy lists of hacked premium RapidShare account usernames and passwords to help fellow members avoid those limits.
The same forums have latched onto obscure programs that allow Rapidshare users to effectively circumvent file size limits by splicing up large files into smaller chunks that the programs then reassemble after the constituent parts are downloaded, iDefense reports.
Mohammad Hluchan, senior all-source threat analyst at iDefense, said the use of stolen file-trading accounts by online jihadists has generated a fair bit of chatter on more secular-oriented Arabic language forums about the morality of stealing to promote their beliefs.
This may seem like an odd discussion in forums that are used mainly to spread propaganda messages from al Qaeda leaders, as well as graphic videos of beheadings and suicide bombings.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
BTTT
Yes, well, I have to delete that link, because I was wrong — two separate hacker groups with different agendas.
“Mohammad Hluchan, senior all-source threat analyst at iDefense, said the use of stolen file-trading accounts by online jihadists has generated a fair bit of chatter on more secular-oriented Arabic language forums about the morality of stealing to promote their beliefs.” ...as opposed to the morality of blowing people up to promote their beliefs?
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