Computer hacker is claiming he temporarily disabled the Wikileaks site Sunday afternoon, right as the latest dump of leaked State Department memos were scheduled to publish on the site.
"www.wikileaks.org - TANGO DOWN - for attempting to endanger the lives of our troops, 'other assets' & foreign relations," he tweeted late Sunday morning.
"Tango down" is a special forces military term for having eliminated a terrorist.
He goes by the Twitter handle "th3j35t3r", which is leetspeak for "The Jester."
On his website, th3j35t3r calls himself a "hacktivist for good." A "hacktivist" -- a hacker-activist, supposedly hacks for a good cause. His cause is preventing young people from being recruited online by jihadists. He does this by hacking jihadist websites, and temporarily disabling them.
"PS for me personally WL is a sideshow target, I am more interested in the big jihad recruiting and training sites," he said Sunday in a direct message to ABC News via Twitter, referring to hacking the Wikileaks website.
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of global information technology security software vendor F-Secure, said today that he's familiar with The Jester.
He says the reason he takes down jihadist websites is "multi-fold."
"big thing is the fact that we waste billions on troops risking their lives in the field (hats off)" he writes.
"but the real threat now is the way they can radicalize 'normal' muslims into doing awful stuff on their own countries ground?.." he continues, "they can groom. recruit, train, and manourvre, home grown terrorists without ever having to meet them."
He says his aim was "initially to make those sites sporadically unavailable," yet he did not want to tread on the toes of countries' secret services. He says he used an attack tool he developed, "XerXeS", which will "pull down a site at will."
He claims to be a former member of a special operations unit, but provided no details. He says he has worked with U.S. forces, and has the "utmost respect for their conduct in the field."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/patriotic-hacktivist-claims-wikileaks-site/story?id=12272776
You gotta like this guy!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Soundbite Sunday
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
18 Former ACORN Workers Have Been Convicted or Admitted Guilt in Election Fraud
The scandal-plagued ACORN may no longer exist, but its tarnished legacy lives on in court, as the activist group and its former employees face criminal punishment.
So far this year, at least 18 former workers have admitted guilt or been convicted on varying charges of election fraud. The punishment has ranged from probation to several months of prison time.
ACORN, once a powerful advocate for low-income and minority voters, shuttered its operations amid plummeting revenues in March, six months after conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute caught on video some of the group's employees offering them tax advice.
But the group is still facing charges in Nevada on conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.The trial, originally scheduled to begin Monday, has been postponed likely until next year.
Former workers across the country already are being punished for their criminal activities.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN Christmas Fight! Teamsters vs. Toys R Us Socialism: Rearing its Ugly Head Again Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile That Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions Incoming Postmaster General Taking Over Mail Service in Disarray Furor Over Picture Depicting Suicide Bombing in Britain In Miami, seven former ACORN voter registration canvassers were convicted of "false swearing-in an election," and sentenced to probation and community service and banned from participating in future political campaigns, according to court documents.
In Pennsylvania, six of seven former ACORN workers who were charged in an investigation were convicted of unsworn falsification and interference with election officials. Four have reached a plea agreement on reduced charges and will serve two years of probation. Cases against two others who entered pleas to reduced charges are pending.
So far this year, at least 18 former workers have admitted guilt or been convicted on varying charges of election fraud. The punishment has ranged from probation to several months of prison time.
ACORN, once a powerful advocate for low-income and minority voters, shuttered its operations amid plummeting revenues in March, six months after conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute caught on video some of the group's employees offering them tax advice.
But the group is still facing charges in Nevada on conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.The trial, originally scheduled to begin Monday, has been postponed likely until next year.
Former workers across the country already are being punished for their criminal activities.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN Christmas Fight! Teamsters vs. Toys R Us Socialism: Rearing its Ugly Head Again Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile That Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions Incoming Postmaster General Taking Over Mail Service in Disarray Furor Over Picture Depicting Suicide Bombing in Britain In Miami, seven former ACORN voter registration canvassers were convicted of "false swearing-in an election," and sentenced to probation and community service and banned from participating in future political campaigns, according to court documents.
In Pennsylvania, six of seven former ACORN workers who were charged in an investigation were convicted of unsworn falsification and interference with election officials. Four have reached a plea agreement on reduced charges and will serve two years of probation. Cases against two others who entered pleas to reduced charges are pending.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Cheat Sheet - Breaking News, World, U.S. & Entertainment - The Daily Beast
Cheat Sheet - Breaking News, World, U.S. & Entertainment - The Daily Beast: "As South Korea and the United States began naval war drills, China finally broke its silence about the tensions mounting between the two Korean nations. On Sunday, China called for emergency talks among the nations previously involved in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program. The U.S. and South Korea have been calling for days on China to rebuke North Korea’s deadly artillery attack on a Yellow Sea island populated by South Koreans. It remains unclear if China is hoping to re-start talks about North Korea’s nuclear program or if the meeting it suggested was to discuss the North’s recent aggressive behavior. The naval exercises were intended by the U.S. and South Korea to deter further attacks from the North and signal to China that if it does not intervene, it may see a larger American presence in the region.
Read it at The New York Times"
Read it at The New York Times"
Saudi king urged U.S. to attack Iran: WikiLeaks | Reuters
Saudi king urged U.S. to attack Iran: WikiLeaks | Reuters: "(Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran's nuclear program and China directed cyberattacks on the United States, according to a vast cache of U.S. diplomatic cables released on Sunday in an embarrassing leak that undermines U.S. diplomacy.
The more than 250,000 documents, given to five media groups by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, provide candid, tart views of foreign leaders and sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by U.S. diplomats, according to The New York Times.
Among the revelations in Britain's Guardian newspaper, which also received an advance look at the documents, King Abdullah is reported to have 'frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program.'
'Cut off the head of the snake,' the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, quotes the king as saying, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with General David Petraeus in April 2008.
The leaked documents, the majority of which are from the last three years, also disclose U.S. allegations that China's Politburo directed an intrusion into Google's computer systems, part of a broader coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by Chinese government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws, the Times reported."
The more than 250,000 documents, given to five media groups by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, provide candid, tart views of foreign leaders and sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by U.S. diplomats, according to The New York Times.
Among the revelations in Britain's Guardian newspaper, which also received an advance look at the documents, King Abdullah is reported to have 'frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program.'
'Cut off the head of the snake,' the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, quotes the king as saying, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with General David Petraeus in April 2008.
The leaked documents, the majority of which are from the last three years, also disclose U.S. allegations that China's Politburo directed an intrusion into Google's computer systems, part of a broader coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by Chinese government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws, the Times reported."
New Acer Tablet Expecgted to Outsale IPAD
pp
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Mohamed Osman Mohamud Arrested In Portland Car Bomb Plot
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Mohamed Osman Mohamud Arrested In Portland Car Bomb Plot: "PORTLAND, Ore. — A Somali-born teenager plotted 'a spectacular show' of terrorism for months, saying he didn't mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, according to a law-enforcement official and court documents.
He never got the chance. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested Friday in downtown Portland after using a cell phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, prosecutors said. It turned out to be a dummy bomb put together by FBI agents, and authorities said the public was never in danger.
The case is the latest in a string of alleged terrorist planning by U.S. citizens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which a Pakistan-born man pleaded guilty earlier this year to trying to set off a car bomb at a busy street corner.
In the Portland plot, Mohamud believed he was receiving help from a larger ring of jihadists as he communicated with undercover agents, but a law enforcement official who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on a condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that no foreign terrorist organization was directing him."
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