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Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

gizmodo.com

131–140 of 169 posts

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

#131

I'm always a little bit fascinated by these sorts of attacks. On one hand, I guess I understand (yet don't condone) the motivation for the 'vigilante' justice they're trying to do. On the other, I really don't understand what benefit you can get from attacking Xbox, then Sony, and finally Tor. When I think of the people doing this, I tend to think of them as understanding the importance of Tor and the benefit of anon…

> I really don't understand any logical reason for this happening, Maybe it is the federal government trying to bolster their case for stronger control of the internet with a false flag operation. For the record I'm not a conspiracy nut, but at the same time, given what we know about our government now and in the past, I can't completely dismiss the possibility.

Knowing the people behind the attacks personally, I can ensure you this isn't the case. They're simply kids with too much free time and a yearning for attention.

If you're curious about validating this first hand, some of the members are active over at digitalgangster.com to give you an idea of the level of sophistication.

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

#132
post #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 t…

UPDATE: "But even though they are running thousands of new relays, their relays currently make up less than 1% of the Tor network by capacity. We are working now to remove these relays from the network before they become a threat, and we don't expect any anonymity or performance effects based on what we've seen so far." So hopefully this gets nipped in the trollish bud before anonymity is affected."

http://gizmodo.com/hackers-who-shut-down-psn-and-xbox-live-n...

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

#133
post #125

I'm always a little bit fascinated by these sorts of attacks. On one hand, I guess I understand (yet don't condone) the motivation for the 'vigilante' justice they're trying to do. On the other, I really don't understand what benefit you can get from attacking Xbox, then Sony, and finally Tor. When I think of the people doing this, I tend to think of them as understanding the importance of Tor and the benefit of anon…

Apparently Kim Dotcom gave them 3,000 MegaUpload accounts to stop. After that they claim to have halted the attacks. They have somewhat of an incentive now to DDoS internet services and wait to see if someone will give them goodies in exchange to stop this. https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/548305704776241152

according to this article they sold off the accounts and then continued the attacks.

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/lizard-squad-hackers/

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

#134
post #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.

Not only that but he could gather information on the use of those accounts. If they are ever used recklessly then he potentially has information about the group, giving him leverage with authorities. A very crafty play indeed.

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

#135
post #132
post #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 t…

UPDATE: "But even though they are running thousands of new relays, their relays currently make up less than 1% of the Tor network by capacity. We are working now to remove these relays from the network before they become a threat, and we don't expect any anonymity or performance effects based on what we've seen so far." So hopefully this gets nipped in the trollish bud before anonymity is affected." http://gizmodo.co…

What was the maximum capacity over the entire attack?

Even if you held majority for just an hour, it seems you could still build a useful database of identities and their usage. I was trying to imagine how much just an hour Tor snapshot might be worth to somebody.

Maybe? Or no?

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

#137
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Where does one acquire a botnet with zero skills?

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

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally think they're trying to get attention for themselves to build reputation and perhaps land some sort of job / payout.

Well based on what they did, they obviously can't advertise their work. They also won't have any interest in working for SV companies. The only kind of job they are after is in the black market (organized crime and intelligence).

You can't even get into intelligence anymore after doing this, lol. They'd never pass the background checks.

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

#139

I'm always a little bit fascinated by these sorts of attacks. On one hand, I guess I understand (yet don't condone) the motivation for the 'vigilante' justice they're trying to do. On the other, I really don't understand what benefit you can get from attacking Xbox, then Sony, and finally Tor. When I think of the people doing this, I tend to think of them as understanding the importance of Tor and the benefit of anon…

> I really don't understand any logical reason for this happening, Maybe it is the federal government trying to bolster their case for stronger control of the internet with a false flag operation. For the record I'm not a conspiracy nut, but at the same time, given what we know about our government now and in the past, I can't completely dismiss the possibility.

>Maybe it is the federal government trying to bolster their case for stronger control of the internet with a false flag operation.

I can promise you, in this case anyway, that it is not a government false flag operation. I happen to know the identities of some of the people carrying out these attacks.

Surprise, surprise, they're just bored teenagers having fun with no regard towards the consequences of their actions (some of them have even been arrested in the past).

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

#140

I'm always a little bit fascinated by these sorts of attacks. On one hand, I guess I understand (yet don't condone) the motivation for the 'vigilante' justice they're trying to do. On the other, I really don't understand what benefit you can get from attacking Xbox, then Sony, and finally Tor. When I think of the people doing this, I tend to think of them as understanding the importance of Tor and the benefit of anon…

> anyone besides the US government

How about China, the EU, and ISIS/ISIL (if they even have any technology whatsoever)?

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