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Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

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Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#41
I don't get it.

They attack the PSN and XBox networks. Kim Schmitz gives them 3000 vouchers for Mega to save christmas (what?) and/or the world. Then they claim, he's the reason they stopped the attacks.

And then they target their next victim. My point is: one might not like Kim but he is way too smart to expect such a barter to be successful.

So, given his own background, what makes him this? A stupid hero? Or is there a much smarter option?

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#42
post #41

I don't get it. They attack the PSN and XBox networks. Kim Schmitz gives them 3000 vouchers for Mega to save christmas (what?) and/or the world. Then they claim, he's the reason they stopped the attacks. And then they target their next victim. My point is: one might not like Kim but he is way too smart to expect such a barter to be successful. So, given his own background, what makes him this? A stupid hero? Or is th…

I honestly think he just wanted to play Destiny. That doesn't seems far-fetched to me at all.

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#43
post #37

They appear to be using Google Compute instances (based upon the IP addresses) to create TOR relays but since they are not exit nodes I'm not really sure what they are hoping to achieve.

They're set up to be exit nodes, they just don't have the exit flag yet.

Quite a few seem to have the exit flag now. Only glanced through the first 500 or so, but it looked to be about 50 which had the exit flag

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#44
post #10

first off, quit calling them hackers. they aren't hackers. they are script kiddies.

Calling them script kiddies is not productive either. They're hackers by the now commonly accepted definition as used in the media. That ship sailed ages ago, but if you want to bicker about what to call them the correct term is probably something along the lines of cyber criminals.

I don't usually care for the meaning of "hacker" (tinkerer or pirate) but in this case calling them "hacker", even in the mainstream meaning of the word is giving them too much credit.

They're not hacking anything any more that 4chan users "hack" websites by flooding them, there's no "hack" involved in any meaning of the word. I'm sure they love being called "hackers" by the media.

So yeah, I'm definitely in favor of calling them script kiddies. It's much easier to understand, even for a mainstream audience. And I assume they'd find the attention they're getting less rewarding if they were called script kiddies everywhere...

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#45
post #36
post #7

For Tor network status and node list: https://torstatus.blutmagie.de/ All names appear to begin with LizardNSA. It must be said, however, that all exit and non-exit nodes go through acceptance process over 88 days https://blog.torproject.org/blog/lifecycle-of-a-new-relay

They claim a "0day", which may just be them coopting the term from real hackers, but may also be a legitimate attack that gets around the approval period. But it appears this is all running from Google's Compute Engine. They can easily shut it down, although they're probably using stolen credit cards, so there's no real traceability there.

So the question is, why is Google not shutting them down now.

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#46

Kim Dotcom gave them 3000 Mega accounts yesterday, and now they seem to have created 3000 relays. Is the number just a coincidence, or are they doing it through those accounts somehow? http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-stops-xbox-and-playstatio...

There are currently 3346 relays, not 3000. The number is just a coincidence.

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#47
post #41

I don't get it. They attack the PSN and XBox networks. Kim Schmitz gives them 3000 vouchers for Mega to save christmas (what?) and/or the world. Then they claim, he's the reason they stopped the attacks. And then they target their next victim. My point is: one might not like Kim but he is way too smart to expect such a barter to be successful. So, given his own background, what makes him this? A stupid hero? Or is th…

It was a chance to inject Mega's name into a big story. Before, the story was "Hackers steal Christmas." Now, the story is "Mega saves Christmas."

Also, he probably wanted to play some video games and it's not like Mega vouchers cost him all that much, particularly considering this is basically an advertising expense.

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#48
Tor Devs haven't made any announcement yet, there is, however, a discussion about it on the mailing list:

https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2014-Decembe...

If you use Tor, I would follow the suggestion by another member of the mailing list [1], simply add to your torrc file:

  ExcludeNodes US
  StrictNodes 1
That will disallow using any US nodes, which works since all of LizardNSA's nodes are currently in the US.

[1] https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2014-Decembe...

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#49
post #31

So from what I've read so far they are trying to deanonymize TOR users by having a large number of relays in the network. This isn't an unknown attack vector. But surely the NSA could easily do the same. What's to say that half the relays aren't already NSA owned?

Does this mean that if agencies from different countries get into an arms-race trying to take control of the network in such a way, it would actually make tor stronger?

But remember that the us, UK, canada, and australia and some other are major cooperators and likely won't compete.

Re: Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

#50
post #38
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That kind of attitude is why we have people denying global warming. Terms have meaning, allowing idiots to try to muddy the waters hurts all of mankind. It has nothing to do with "Lisp nerds from MIT".

The whole argument of what "hacker" means in tech circles versus what it means to the mainstream is beyond a dead horse. That's like trying to make the word "gay" mean "happy" again.

It still does mean happy!

Nothing has changed there. We've just added homosexual to the list of things associated with the word "gay."

When "gay" is used in the "happy" sense, context is what differentiates it from the more recent homosexual sense.

"hacker" is no different.

Really then, it's about more effective writing, insuring the context of "hacker" is clear from the surrounding context.

What we lost in both instances was easy, utilitarian use of the word as more words are now required to convey information accurately.

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