Anonymous Facebook threat a bluff?
Is the Facebook threat really from Anonymous, or is it a hoax?
It says ‘the threat has not been posted on Anonymous’ prolific Twitter feed or its blog.’ When it asked Trend Micro’s director of security research and communication, Rik Ferguson, PCW was told that the video ‘was posted almost a month ago and yet has not been widely publicised, or publicised at all, on the usual Anonymous channels; the Twitter profiles that appear to be associated are inactive.’
Other sites are taking the claims of the video at face value, that it is from Anonymous and that the group does intend to ‘destroy’ Facebook. Given the anarchic, de-centralised nature of Anonymous it’s possible that the group both is and is not intending to attack Facebook.
Either way, the video is unequivocal: ‘If you are a willing activist, or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information, then join the cause and kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy…
‘Facebook has been selling information to government agencies, giving clandestine access to information security firms, so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called white hat InfoSec agencies are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.’
Quite what will happen is anyone’s guess: the YouTube video could be prank, a splinter faction within Anonymous or it could be that the whole Anonymous group has changed tactics to flummox security experts such as Ferguson.
What do you think is most likely, and does Facebook deserve to be attacked in this way? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Previous Article
37 Comments
Discuss in the forums Replygoogle + tried it.. it's very basic right now.. like facebook messenger is something I use too, get all your profile posts to your phone
know google will have the same features though.. just everyone is on fb.. long as you don't post up personal information
That said I'm more worried by the hackers who threatened RIM employees if they continued to help the Met with the riots.
Agree. Facebook has 500 million users who pummel the site with photos and videos all day long, I'm pretty sure they more than anyone could cope with a DDOS attack.
The RIM threat is more worrying, but again hopefully not credible. All the hackers did was access a Word Press site, a far cry from all the information they claim they have.
Plus, I'd be surprised if anyone would go and attack a RIM employee for this - the rioters looted for free stuff, not to make a point.
I'm with you on that one. Kinda wish the whole thing would go down permanently.
+1 for that..
Nevertheless, if you really wanted to get away from it all, it is entirely possible to permanently delete your account.
please delete my account please pretty please
I'd rather do my dealings with big bad corporations and the conspiracy theories against them than with the group that have shown time and time again that the only ones who suffer from their attacks are the innocent bystanders with their usernames, passwords, personal information and credit card numbers given out.
So you can run a DDoS or get access to accounts and sites, because there aren't a million 12 year old American children offering 'tutorials' on this all over the web, namely youtube..
+1 there!
meh, hack away i say. that'll teach people who post every detail of their life on there.
(i don't use facebook like most other people, i only share links via twitter, which gets reposted on FB automatically. no personal stuff are posted on my FB)
+1
Seriously, meh, who cares? If it's genuine, they'll take it down, the peeps who own FB will then probably say its gonna be off line for a short time whilst some extra security measures come in (if at all) and then it'll be back up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrnbpZ9G358
And all the people who don't lock their doors should be robbed, and all of the people who don't check their smoke alarms monthly should have their house burned down, and all the people who eat fast food should get diabetes, so and so on because I don't like when people aren't like me and bad things should happen to them as a result of our differing behaviour.
no harm done IMO. may be a few password been stolen, just change it.
Speaking from personal experience, the large majority of information I post on Facebook is restricted to actual friends, people I know in person and keep regular contact with. The various security settings in place do a fine job of making sure those on my friends list (and those that aren't!) who I don't know as well aren't privy to information I want to keep restricted. Short of people hacking through these settings my personal information is safe.
It's a similar sitaution to online purchases. You give out sensitive information under the presumption that it will be safe, even information given out of Facebook is given out on the conditions that only those allowed under the user's security settings will have access to it, most certainly not the public. The only real threats to that are a) the holder misusing the information or b) hackers accessing it. Surely you wouldn't think it would be fair for hackers to take addresses and credit card numbers from online stores simply because users were willing to part with their personal information and place trust in an outside party?
It should also be noted that these hackers are notorious for not simply taking the information for themselves, be disseminating on torrent sites. Again, far more public than even the largest Facebook friends list.
what's so cool about hacking is, if your passionate about it, you'll find tricks to optimize the hack.. or in some rare cases find a hack by yourself.. how you use it is another thing
now hacking a persons bank account or personal data- that's another deal imo your messing with his money and credit
people who put down all hacking is pretty harsh.. it's really interesting stuff.. like take for instance 2wire routers around here.. almost everybody and their grandma owns one
at&t sells them with their dsl service.. the problem is- default they come with a 10 character numeric password and in the gui setup- it defaults to use this password with a radio button
so most young guys and gals, they'll set wpa2 and think ahahha and run around with a wii remote in their hand after they dropped their iphone into the toilet and then used it (possibly rubbing it all over their face).. from what I've seen that is the basic setup in a lot households.. a wii or playstation 3, or both.. 2 phones- usually iphones and a couple of computers wit laptops that connect in and out of that network
the trouble with a 10 character all numeric password is.. to have a 100% chance to break that pass only takes 30 hours with a dedicated server running one 6970.. you can script it to resume or do it all at once.. all routers sold have a weakness such as this- just that one is pretty hard to forgive.. so instead of having around a 50/50 chance with a good dictionary, you have 100% chance to break into a guys lan
the techs at at&t setup all the routers wep to add insult to injury.. so it turns 30 hours into 2 minutes to get into a wireless network.. if everyone just sat back and said- oh were secure stfu! these big companies would never change the error of their ways..
in at&t case, I don't believe it's an error- I think they like leaving people's networks open on purpose.. I think guys like lolsec who do these things publicly are helping the general public out big time.. they are forcing these companies to fix gaping holes that otherwise some chinese guy is sitting there with your cc in his hands buying blow up dolls- get it from lack of women :D:D
ok bad joke.. but basically your mad at the wrong people
like there's a guy running around right now with your cc getting a mustache ride jumping out of an airplane.. and you wouldn't find out about it till you went to buy a house.. when this generation gets older, it will be mustache rides all over the place and I will hopefully have croaked