Free Republic

Wired.com reports that computer hackers are aiming to disrupt Republican websites during the Republican National Convention. Hardened electronic activists are planning to jam up the servers of GeorgeWBush.com, GOP.com and related websites, once the Republican National Convention gets underway Aug. 29. "We want to bombard (the Republican sites) with so much traffic that nobody can get in," said CrimethInc, a member of the so-called Black Hat Hackers Bloc. It's one of several groups planning to distribute software tools to reload Republican sites over and over again. These FloodNet programs are similar to hackers' distributed denial-of-service attacks, which overwhelm a server...

Hacker cracks Apple's music-streaming codes SAN JOSE (California) - The Norwegian hacker famed for developing DVD encryption-cracking software has apparently struck again - this time breaking the locks on Apple Computer's wireless music streaming technology. Mr Jon Lech Johansen released on his website - defiantly named So Sue Me - a software key that helps to unlock the encryption Apple uses for its AirPort Express, a device that lets users broadcast digital music from Apple's online iTunes Music Store on a stereo that's not plugged into a computer. Some security consultants say that with the key and another program he...

One day after the mainstream media ran an AP story slamming Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., one of the co-authors of #1 bestselling Unfit for Command, someone at Amazon.com has oddly removed the primary author, John O'Neill, and listed the book as if Corsi were the sole author (linked to cached version of page). "There seems to be a pattern here," stated Marji Ross, president of Regnery Publishing. "We are encouraging Amazon to find who is making these unauthorized changes. It really is quite disturbing to think that someone can modify Amazon's information so easily." This is the third such "unexplained" tampering...

Yesterday we reported that the Barnes & Noble website carried an altered cover of the hot new anti-Kerry book, Unfit For Command (Regnery, 2004 -- a Human Events sister company). The title had been changed from Unfit For Command to Fit for Command. Likewise, the Kerry photo on the jacket was been changed to feature a pro-Kerry war photo worthy of a John Wayne movie. (Barnes & Noble has since fixed the error. No explanation has been given.) Now it appears pro-Kerry gremlins have invaded Amazon.com, too. Amazon, thought by many to be the top (and unbiased?) online purveyor of...

DEFCON is the self-described "largest underground hacking event in the world". Official events include numerous speakers, panels, hacking and trivia contests, and the DC Shoot (geeks with guns in the desert sun). Unofficial events include parties, all-you-can-eat sushi, and a visit to the Gun & Knife show at Cashman Center. Some people think it's worth the $80 price of admission just to see the circus, to observe the hacker hangers-on baking in their de-facto uniform of black T-shirts and jeans.

Hacker's Osama bin Laden Hoax Terrorizes Computers By David Sheets 07/26/04 9:23 PM PT A hacker apparently sprinkled thousands of newsgroups with rumors of bin Laden's death, saying CNN reporters found the terrorist leader hanged, and included a link supposedly showing pictures of bin Laden's body. Older PCs may be more vulnerable to viruses. Don’t get caught with your guard down. Upgrade to a new HP Business Desktop dc 5000 featuring the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology today. And see how HP client management software can protect your IT environment. Get upgrade information today. A word of advice...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A Florida man has been charged with stealing large amounts of consumer information from Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest database companies. The new indictment comes on the heels of a separate case last year in which an Ohio man pleaded guilty to hacking into an Acxiom server. Acxiom manages personal information on millions of consumers, along with financial and other internal data for companies. The new case, against Scott Levine, 45, represents "what may be the largest cases of intrusion of personal data to date," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray said...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Microsoft Corp. employee working on the world's largest software maker's search initiative was arrested last week on charges that he stole source code from the AltaVista search engine two years ago, authorities said on Friday. Laurent Chavet, a former AltaVista employee, was charged with accessing the company's computers in 2002 after he was no longer employed by the Web search provider but before he was hired by Microsoft, according to an FBI affidavit in an indictment issued by the U.S. District Court of Northern California. Sunnyvale, California-based AltaVista was bought by online search advertising provider...

IIS 5 Web Server Compromisesadded June 24 US-CERT is aware of new activity affecting compromised web sites running Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) 5 and possibly end-user systems that visit these sites. Compromised sites are appending JavaScript to the bottom of web pages. When executed, this JavaScript attempts to access a file hosted on another server. This file may contain malicious code that can affect the end-user's system. US-CERT is investigating the origin of the IIS 5 compromises and the impact of the code that is downloaded to end-user systems.Web server administrators running IIS 5 should verify that there is...

Third Country Hacker Uses Korean Computers to Hack U.S Air Force Space Command Korean police and their U.S counterpart began a joint investigation as several computers of an army unit under the U.S Air Force Space Command (SPACECOM) were hacked by an individual in a third country via a Korean firms’ computers in mid-February. The U.S. concluded that it was a serious case and hurriedly dispatched its investigators to Korea. The two countries began to establish a closely cooperative investigation system and have shared information to identify the hacker. The U.S Air Force Space Command is one of nine major...

The Islamic website Oumma.com was wiped off the Internet for over ten days following an attack by hackers, announced its chief editor Said Branine. The website posted on its forum an anti-Semitic fatwa, a religious writ, allegedly from the Al Azar University of Muslim theology in Cairo, sent in by a "Muslim web surfer". The fatwa listed the "twenty fundamental faults" of the Jews as enumerated in the Koran. The forum is moderated after the texts are posted, explained Branine, and the incriminated message was erased only four hours after it was put on line. In remained however on the...

NEWS May 19 - 25, 2004 www.bigbrother.govThe feds want to know who?s been visiting the Web site of voting watchdog Bev Harris, and they?re likely to get what they want.by George Howland Jr. Bev Harris of Renton runs a Web site that is a clearinghouse in the fight against electronic voting.(Rick Dahms) RELATED ARTICLE Black Box Backlash    In the past 20 months, Harris has become America?s leading critic of electronic voting (see ?Black Box Backlash, March 10). Her reporting on the problems with new computer voting machines has been a key component in a national, grassroots movement to...

I like to play games sometimes at games.com. Some idiot was on there the other day acting like a jerk trying to send rude messages while the game was on. I basically told the idiot where to go and then he comes back and says he's going to mess up my password so I can't get back on the site using that screen name. I said whatever, muted the dude and that was that. I try to get back on the site with the same screen name and it won't work now!!Does anyone know how someone can mess up your...

<p>LOS ANGELES -- An America Online customer service rep illicitly surfs the company's customer database, ferrets out private data on celebrity members and then hunts them down online under a false identity, seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood.</p> <p>Sound like a prelude to prison? Not in the case of Heather Robinson. The former AOL employee managed to parlay privacy violations into useful contacts in Hollywood. With the help of those contacts, Robinson, 25, landed a movie deal, and she's using her toehold in the industry to advance another.</p>

WASHINGTON - Researchers found a serious security flaw that left core Internet technology vulnerable to hackers, prompting a secretive effort by international governments and industry experts in recent weeks to prevent global disruptions of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages. Experts said the flaw, disclosed Tuesday by the British government, affects the underlying technology for nearly all Internet traffic. Left unaddressed, they said, it could allow hackers to knock computers offline and broadly disrupt vital traffic-directing devices, called routers, that coordinate the flow of data among distant groups of computers.

<p>PALM BEACH, Florida -- A new computer chip promises to keep police guns from firing if they fall into the wrong hands.</p> <p>The tiny chip would be implanted in a police officer's hand and would match up with a scanning device inside a handgun. If the officer and gun match, a digital signal unlocks the trigger so it can be fired. But if a child or criminal would get hold of the gun, it would be useless.</p>

Second act for valley's notorious whiz kids Mitnick, Minkow, infamous sons of the Valley, are trying to atone for their whiz-kid misdeeds By Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer The call came in for Barry Minkow, the onetime San Fernando Valley whiz-kid con artist who'd just served 7 years for bilking investors out of $26 million in the notorious ZZZZ Best carpet cleaning company fraud. Minkow, living in a halfway house for felons in downtown Los Angeles in 1995, didn't want trouble. But on the phone was another Valley guy, Kevin Mitnick, on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for hacking into...

Almojahid's got it wrong.    Haganah is the Hebrew word for "Defense" .... Internet "Terrorist" Using Yahoo to Recruit 600 Muslims for Hack Attack February 28, 2004 by Jeremy Reynalds Editor's note: MND is uncomfortable providing direct links to potential terrorist groups. The links below have been edited to prevent collection by linkbots, but the edits should be obvious to human readers. One of the internet's most verbally prolific Islamic "terrorists" is now advocating hacking sites which oppose his radical views. In an e-mail on his Yahoo Groups site titled "Half Moon Operation/First Attack," Daleel Almojahid asks for people to...

<p>Peiter Mudge Zatko is giving up. Zatko is the legendary computer cracker who cofounded Lopht Heavy Industries, a Boston hacker collective that proudly shattered computer security systems and then announced their achievements to the world.</p> <p>Long ago, Zatko went straight, using his skills to build digital moats and barricades around corporate and government computer systems. The work is interesting, and the pay is good. And yet Zatko's efforts have achieved little: No matter how good the defenses he erects, the bad guys find a way in.</p>

A Palestinian terrorist group accused American and Israeli groups Saturday of hacking its Web site to pieces. Islamic Jihad, which has carried out suicide bombings in Israel, said the unidentified groups had destroyed the site to silence "the Palestinian voice." In a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Beirut, the group said: "In an attempt aimed at silencing the Palestinian voice - which speaks for the resistance and defends the Palestinian people's right - hostile and malevolent Zionist and American quarters have struck the official Web site of Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement."...