Meet the mysterious Mr. th3j35t3r

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130811000294

By Rachel Marsden
Korea Herald
2013-08-11

Major media outlets have featured him as representative of a new 
generation of “patriot hackers.” He sent an old laptop to the 
International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., where it’s now on display. 
He claims to have launched hacking attacks on websites ranging from 
jihadist forums to WikiLeaks. Last week, a guest on the syndicated radio 
program “Coast to Coast AM” described the individual hiding behind “The 
Jester” moniker (or “th3j35t3r” in hacker lingo) as “not somebody in 
someone’s basement in a T-shirt.”

Except that he does appear to be just a regular guy, and not part of some 
sophisticated operation. He is nevertheless an iconic figure in the world 
of cyber-spying. A U.S. Army cyber-operations specialist issued a report 
that used the “Jester Dynamic” to illustrate a new breed of online 
warrior. I spent three hours on the phone with a man claiming to be The 
Jester in the wee hours last week. This is a cautionary tale about the 
smoke and mirrors in the new frontier of cyber-espionage, which U.S. 
intelligence leaders described in March as the top security threat to the 
United States ― surpassing terrorism.

I discovered The Jester’s existence a few weeks ago, finding the persona 
charming and amusing but quickly realizing that he wasn’t actually 
hacking. Rather, he was using a readily available tool to launch a deluge 
of junk data at websites, causing them to become unavailable to users. 
There was no actual intrusion.

As a pro-Western “hacktivist,” he claimed to have hacked a Venezuelan 
newspaper’s website when that country’s president considered granting 
asylum to NSA intel leaker Edward Snowden. Leaving the target website 
untouched, he effectively directed his audience to a spoof page he created 
that replaced certain articles with his own. He did the same to a Libyan 
newspaper during the anti-Gadhafi operation. Legitimate cyber specialists 
tell me The Jester has requested that they perform technical wizardry on 
his behalf.

[...]

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