Curious about how hackers actually manage to do something like crash Mastercard’s website in retaliation over the company’s refusal to process donations to WikiLeaks?
Earlier today I noticed this post by a friend on Facebook: The Story Behind the Mastercard and VISA DDoS Attacks. I’m not fluent in geek-speak, so some of the acronyms go over my head. But from what I understand, hackers have altered some open-source software to enable anyone to join in the attack. Basically you voluntarily become part of a botnet (or rather, enable your computer to do so).
Barrett Lyon, the author of the post writes:
What is amazing is that these people are having success, they are operating a full PR campaign that has created logos, Wikipedia pages, web sites, operations infastructure, and attack software. Now, they are getting angry people all over the world to join in on their cause and start attacking whatever they choose. It’s hacktivism at its best.
Their botnet is also rather unusual. Unlike botnets in the past (which take advantage of holes in operating systems to install the bot software) this botnet is made up of volunteers. It’s opt-in and if you follow their instructions, once it is up and running, you are to, ‘Sit back and watch the show’.
Sound like a simple and exciting way to get involved? Well, there are points to be considered. I found the comments to be informative on the pros and cons of the system. One person posting as Stiennon says, “While crowdsourced attacks are temporarily successful most people get tired of clogging their own computers and uplinks with attack traffic. They are also participating in illegal activity and know it. Mastercard has all their IP addresses. Not good for them if legal reprisals are in order.”
Okay, yes — the ability for the authorities to track IP addresses and prosecute is not very attractive. Then again, as Alberto Pereira comments, “It’s irrelevant if the IP is trackable or not. It will not be possible for any police or court differentiate between the users who volunteered to the task and the ones who had their computer hijacked (with a virus). So everybody can join with almost certainty of no prosecution.”
There does seem to be a certain safety in numbers when it comes to this kind of thing, though I guess the question remains whether one is willing to test the theory — as well as whether actions like these have any real impact on the decisions of Mastercard and the other targets of this activity (which include Swiss Postal Finance and PayPal).
And I suppose there is still the question of whether this kind of action constitutes positive, productive action or simply chaos and waste of resources? As a commenter going by techn0scho0lbus writes,
“It’s the Internet’s version of an angry mob. It’s not democratic, it’s too sensational and it’s vapid. Their vandalism is closer to a lynching than it is to a referendum call. The power of Internet crowds should be taken seriously but kids dressed up claiming to be card-carrying members of a hacker organization should not be taken seriously, just punished for whatever damage they personally conduct.”
In a sense, that also leads to the question, punished by whom? And how? Is the Internet becoming a sort of wild west frontier (or has it always been?), living by its own code and breeding outlaw-heroes by the server-ful? I wonder if there enough frenzied tech activity out there — cloaked by code — to keep authorities at bay while hacker vigilantes try to keep some form of order. More importantly, I want to know if the ‘powers that be’ are getting the message about freedom of information, consumer power, transparency and the strength of what looks like some genuine revolution at hand. The question of whether it’s possible to change the system from within the system keeps surfacing in the debate of the leaked diplomatic cables. The actions of WikiLeaks suggests that perhaps it is not, or that it is not fast enough to be ‘real change’. At the same time, it may be worth considering the angry mob/lynching analogy. It’s a loaded one, full of cultural baggage. But I’m not entirely sure equating a corporation like Mastercard with a lynching victim is a valid comparison.
Regrding the hackers’ actions, Lyon states early in the article, “The general concept is simple, there are people that want to send a message that the Internet is a sovereign territory.” Perhaps it is — or maybe that’s a fantasy, albeit one worth holding as an ideal as many fight for net neutrality in the midst of the corporate government tightening its grip. But “sovereign” implies a ruler, some body with authority. I’m curious to see who that turns out to be. The dust is far from settled.
Len, thank you for that analysis. And for your conclusion that this cannot be resolved by resorting to precedent and that the solution will leave nothing untouched. Very well stated, and inspiring. Thank you.
I wonder if perhaps the Internet, in the same way as language, has a sentience of its own and will have a contribution of its own to make to any outcome. As it itself is without precedent in our legal and social histories, well, its “voice” will be a new ingredient. Or a wild card maybe.
Amanda,
My i please be forgiven for sticking my neck out a wee bit with something else?
There is this issue of entitlement that i have been thinking about. On the one side, entire sectors of business have over the last several decades put all their eggs in the internet basket as a way of cutting expenses and increasing profit. So called cloud computing is one more recent apex of this trend. These same parties have done little or nothing to shore up the aging and vulnerable infrascructure (yes, there is an infrastructure) of the world wide web. All taking, no giving, no maintenance. If it comes down, they (all large businesses, really, but especially financial institutions) come down. The question is whether or not that would serve or sabotage whatever agenda any or all would have. Who knows? This could be the multinational mega corporation’s version of skipping on a debt. Or, perhaps this is a way of forcing the issue and getting somebody else to bear the expense. That’s probably a bit too far fetched however and it is more likely that there are a lot of nervous CEO’s and CFO’s who would marshall their influence to keep their good thing going by limiting access to their own interests and controlling resources to their own profit.
On the other side of the entitlement issue are individuals and groups who believe in and would fight for the unalienable rights hinted at in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights and that access to and use of the internet should reflect these ideals. This even though it is not certain that those who signed the Declaration and framed the USA mission statement would see it that way. Remember, a lot of them owned slaves.
So, we have a situation that cannot be resolved by resorting to precedent. Rather the solution must be created from scratch. Given how pervasive this technology is the solution will leave nothing untouched. Everything is at stake.
Thoughts then go to Pluto in Capricorn. The decade-plus of Pluto in Sagittarius was notable for radical religious zealotry. While that is not over, the momentum has already shifted. The question is how this entitlement struggle is going to figure in that. On the surface it would appear that what is good for business will have an edge and that is cause for legitimate concern although any outcome is certainly not pre-ordained.
thanks len — i appreciate it!
and the games begin: this from alternet:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/385655/16-year-old_arrested_for_taking_part_in_attacks_on_paypal,_visa,_sarah_palin,_joe_lieberman/
Amanda,
Of course there are many who could comment here and expand on it in a superior manner. One might start off by saying that the situation is dynamic and complex, involving some unprecedented events developing quickly. No simple reductionist explanation would be completely satisfactory. Evolution is taking place. Revolution iis taking place. Difficult to see, the outcome is. Difficult not to get attached to a given outcome as well. But in times of rapid evolution and uncertain revolution, one must be adapatable and flexible.
The subject matter (internet, electronics, information, computer hardware and software, money, exchange of same, on and on) is steeped in Mercury’s mythological and subsequent cultural cachet. Having things go sideways with the function of same, well that’s a retrograde synchronicity. There is a see-saw struggle between expanding and limiting access and it’s an interpersonal issue as much as anything, that’s your Jupiter-Saturn fluctuation. After a while, things will get serious with long term consequences that will be resolved internally but collectively and expressed structurally and that will probably track with Uranus and Pluto’s mutual orientations. That’s just five planets, there are a lot of other elements. Hence the dynamic and complex. How’s that for a beginning?
edayis — yes, thanks for including that bit. the article i refer to mentions them: “The group itself is called Anonymous, but they are operating under the online infrastructure called “anonops” (which is a tech term for anonymous operations). ” and then goes on to describe how this particular operation is expanding their population to just about anyone, in a sense.
len — thank you so much for the astrological connection! that was a bit further than my inexperience could reach. feel free to expand on how you see the connections working out in the aspects.
Not sure if someone has already mentioned it, but the group taking down the sites is called “Anonymous”.
these kids have been around for a while, and have attacked the Church of Scientology in the past. Also, they were the ones responsible for hacking into Sarah Palin’s yahoo email account awhile back. They also are known to meet up in reality occasionally, wearing those masks from V for Vendetta. I followed their shenanigans of -and on for a while, and mostly they’ve done lots of immature types of trolling, so it was kind of a pleasant surprise to see them take on supporting WikiLeaks. Here’s the Anonymous wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29
Internet chatter about the DDoS activity (with various sometimes entertaining digressions):
http://www.reddit.com/comments/einrq/does_anyone_else_find_it_hilarious_to_watch_the/
and including this NPR clip that is pretty clear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SmC7fH78M
I am interested too in observing all the various reactions to the question of whether and how interruptions of service to PayPal, Visa, MasterCard et al. will or do affect people’s comfort and lives (there was a good comment thread on Boing Boing last night)…….. found myself wondering in the grocery whether my debit card would “take” — it did, I was both very mildly relieved and admittedly a touch disappointed.
basically waiting for the dust to settle, can’t yet see the new shape of things, maybe it is still being chiseled.
Thank you. This is a really informative and interesting piece of journalism. What it describes is also as Mercury retrograde-ish as all get out. The last paragraph really brings in the Sagittarius-Capricorn dichotomy very well. Short run, it’s also a Jupiter-Saturn thing. Long run, it will morph to Uranus-Pluto and that will be interesting.