Hackers Who Shut Down PSN and Xbox Live Now Attacking Tor

Post by dylz » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 5:26 AM UTC

jdong wrote: post #137

simias wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Post by d23 » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 6:17 AM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #104

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Complaints about the terms are 'no true Scotsman...' arguments. They really aren't. > Being pompous about terms just comes across to the general public as nerd rage, much like gun aficionados whining about terminological niceties following reports of a mass shooting incident. Words matter. If some fools are caught with a Molotov cocktail and the media starts reporting that they had a "nuclear weapon" because gasoli…

Words matter, but that doesn't mean one group gets to establish the definition that suits itself. 'Hacker' has been used in popular culture to include malicious computer activity since the 1980s, notwithstanding the existence of the jargon file, and folks such as yourself have been grumbling about that not being 'the true meaning' just as long. The fact is that you don't own the word, and the negative meaning has at…

Post by growupkids » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 7:02 AM UTC

mrmondo wrote: post #100

alexggordon wrote: post #95

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

Post by hwach » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 7:14 AM UTC

Post by throwaway6543 » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 7:31 AM UTC

mrobot wrote: post #135

lbenes wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?