Re: Pro-Islamic hackers join forces

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Emerson <et () c4i org>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

At 04:58 20/06/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2052000/2052320.stm
>
>
> Wednesday, 19 June, 2002
>
> There is mounting evidence that individual hacker groups connected
> by a pro-Islamic agenda are working together to carry out hack
> attacks, say experts.
>
> Security firm mi2g says an alliance of anti-Israel, anti-US and
> anti-India groups are increasingly highlighting issues such as the
> Middle East conflict, the war on terrorism and the Kashmir stand-off
> as part of their destructive digital attacks.
>
> At the height of the tensions between Pakistan and India over
> Kashmir in May, two groups (Unix Security Guards and World
> Fantabulous
> Defacers) carried out a total of 111 digital attacks on Indian
> educational and business sites.
>
> Security firm mi2g said political and ideological motives were
> increasingly behind hack attacks.
>
> Digital tensions
>
> At a round table event in London to discuss the security threats in
> a post-11 September world, Chief Executive of mi2g, DK Matai, said
> hacktivism posed one of the biggest risks to business and government
> computer systems.
>
> "Political motivation is an increasingly rising factor in digital
> attacks," he told delegates at the forum.
>
> "The primary reason why web attacks are increasing is political
> tensions between Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan and China
> and Taiwan."
>
> New viruses decreasing
>
> Israel has suffered a barrage of hack attacks since the start of the
> Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
>
> An Egyptian hacker group has said it is behind the action. It began
> its activities shortly after 11 September.
>
> Similar attacks happened during the Serbian conflict in 1999 when
> Nato and US Department of Defense networks were targeted by
> pro-Serbian
> hackers.
>
> Despite the gloomy picture, the total number of new viruses has
> actually been decreasing since a peak in 1997, according to mi2g.
>
> However, new viruses are causing more havoc because of the number of
> computers that are now networked together.
>
> "When one catches a cold the entire global organisation catches it,"
>  said Mr Matai.
>
> -=-
>
> Hacktivist groups
>
> USG (Unix Security Guards) - an anti-Israel alliance responsible for
> 87 overt attacks since May 2002
>
>
> WFD (World's Fantabulous Defacers) - a Pakistani alliance of 12
> member groups responsible for 445 overt attacks since November 2000
>
> AIC (Anti-India Crew) - a Pakistani alliance founded in July 2001,
> responsible for 422 attacks to date

Frankly I am not impressed by this report. It actually comes from a
press release from Mi2g, designed to boost their sales. It is worth
noting the mi2g also does what it calls 'political risk consulting'
in addtion to information security type work.

Yes there is politically motivated hacking going on, but for the most
part this has, at best nuisance value to the target in the attacks
that have happened to date. This for the most part is simple web
vandalism, with different content and motivation, not a strategic
weapon with significant impact on the conflict concerned.

Simply put the kind of attacks that might have a significant effect
on any conflict are beyond the organisational and strategic planning
ability of the groups mentioned. This obviously should not encourage
complacency, but the kind of scare mongering firms are resorting to
to boost business is simply not helpful and in this case the BBC has
gone for some low hanging scary fruit, which is pushing the limits of
credibility.

Emerson

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com>

iQA/AwUBPRMkhAnUC24nNNxyEQIXjgCeKoXZJ3Px0Ct8O/gRwtpFMdMfU0UAoJ1z
XnD8v33ELXvM3QXvGbyIaQJt
=ti20
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

---
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are
free." - Goethe
Emerson Tan
Freelance Thinker/Man of Action/Tech-Nomad
et () c4i org :PGP public key on request or from http://pgpkeys.mit.edu 
PGP key fingerprint: 71E9 0C2A CD8F 44AC 4CA5  BB3D 09D4 0B6E 2734 DC72



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.