[iwar] [fc:Hacktivists.take.sides.in.war:.GForce.is.one.of.the.most.prolific.hacker.groups]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-24 13:36:18
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 13:36:18 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Hacktivists.take.sides.in.war:.GForce.is.one.of.the.most.prolific.hacker.groups]
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Hacktivists take sides in war: GForce is one of the most prolific hacker groups 
By Kevin Anderson, BBC News, 10/24/2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1614000/1614927.stm

Online graffiti artists are taking the war on terrorism to cyberspace. 
It is not the kind of cyber-warfare that some have envisioned with
state-sponsored super hackers targeting key networks and wreaking
offline havoc as water, power and transportation systems go down. 
Instead, it is a virtual war of words between home-grown hackers -
so-called hacktivists - who mix hacking with political activism. 
And as with many other conflicts and causes in recent years, hacktivists
are bringing their messages to a website near you. 
Cyber jihad 
One of the most prolific participants in recent bouts of hacktivism has
been a group of Pakistani hackers calling themselves GForce Pakistan. 
Their main focus is the conflict in Kashmir, and they have left
anti-Indian screeds across hundreds of Indian websites. 
But they also have supported other causes like the Palestinian intifada,
and now, according to some of its most recent defacements, Afghanistan
and Osama Bin Laden. 
Last week, they defaced a server belonging to the US National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Agency. 
"You call it terrorism? We call it Jihad," the group wrote in the
lengthy message left in place of the site's homepage. 
The group said that although it condemned the 11 September attacks on
the US, "we also stand by al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden is a holy fighter,
and whatever he says makes sense". 
Ultimatum 
The group issued an ultimatum saying it would attack US and British
military websites unless a number of demands were met. These included:

the departure of US troops from Saudi Arabia  an end to the bombing
campaign in Afghanistan  evidence linking Osama Bin Laden to the attacks
in the US. 
The group said it had "very high confidential US data that will be given
to the right authorities of Al-Qaeda". 
The group then hacked three military sites associated with the US
Defence Test and Evaluation Professional Institute. 
In a message left on the defaced sites, the group threatened to hack
more than 1,500 major US, British and Indian sites. 
Hackers fight back 
In the past, these types of attack have led to hacking tit-for-tat
battles between pro-US and anti-US hackers. 
Earlier this year Chinese and American hackers declared a trans-Pacific
cyber war following a collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese
fighter. 
However, in a new twist, a group of hackers calling itself YIHAT, Young
Intelligent Hackers Against Terror, are waging a completely new kind of
cyber counterattack. 
The group was founded by Kim "Kimble" Schmitz, a German hacker turned
computer entrepreneur. 
In September, YIHAT said it had hacked into computers belonging to the
Al Shamal Islamic Bank in Sudan to get information on accounts held by
Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organisation. 
YIHAT now says it has obtained the real name of the leader of the GForce
Pakistan hacking group. 
YIHAT said he works for an online business in Karachi. 
FBI warning 
The FBI warned last week that political events were increasingly leading
to cyber protests. 
The most common form of protest has been defacing web pages. 
The FBI said protests had had little impact on US network
infrastructure. 
But they warned that as the power of computing and sophistication of
hacking tools increases, "cyber protesting and hacktivism will become
more significant to US national interests". 
The FBI said "future attacks could bring about large economic losses as
well as potentially severe damage to the national infrastructure,
affecting global markets as well as public safety". 
Nuisance more than threat 
But people in the hacking community like to put the threat in
perspective. 
Shortly after the 11 September attacks, Brian Martin of the security
site attrition.org wrote: "First, let's put 'cyber-war/jihad/whatever'
in perspective to the very real, physical attacks of September 11, 2001.
Thousands of people were killed. No one was ever killed from a 'cyber
attack'." 
Right now it is more of a nuisance. 
Peter Voth, the webmaster for the Federation of American Scientists
(FAS) can attest to that. 
He spent most of Tuesday morning restoring the FAS site after it was
hacked by someone referring to himself as Pakistani's son. 
Instead of the normal FAS homepage, Mr Voth found the message, "stop
bomb !! stop kill !! pls bless my homestead !!" 
FAS is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation conducting analysis
and advocacy on science, technology and public policy, according to its
website. 
That includes national security, nuclear weapons, arms sales and
biological hazards. 
"We get a lot of traffic from people interested in terrorism and foreign
affairs," Mr Voth said, adding, "not all of whom are aware that we are
not an intelligence agency or wing of federal government". 
Preliminary investigations showed no files appeared to have been
tampered with, he said. 
This was the first successful defacement of the site, to his knowledge.
He said the FAS was working with a security company to make sure it did
not happen again.

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