Last Monday, the online activist group Anonymous launched a DDOS attack on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website in retaliation against the PROTECT IP Bill, which will give the U.S. federal government the sweeping power of forcing ISPs and search engines to block websites they believe to be infringing on copyright and intellectual property laws. Many are saying, compared to their previous attacks on Mastercard, Visa, and HBGary Federal, that the campaign on Monday was a failure. However, Anonymous is back and doing some damage.
Late Thursday evening, the collective identified and used exploits on the site to take down the main page of the U.S. CoC and their web-based mail service. They used a Drupal exploit to gain access to the site’s content manager.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wasn’t the only website targeted. Several Senator and organization websites were also taken offline from 6PM – 10PM EST via DOS. Senators targeted include Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, and organizations such as the National Association of Theater Owners; all of which had shown their support for the Protect IP Bill.
In fact, I had the opportunity to watch Anonymous as they took down the Independent Film and Television Association website. They launched a DOS attack as I sat speaking with them and within minutes the website was dead and out of commission. The website is still down as I write this article.
When asked what they were going to do next, they responded that they will continue to attack until one of three things happen:
- If they get bored. (Most likely.)
- They find a more deserving target.
- If the Protect IP Bill isn’t passed.
Of course, this is only the beginning. It was late and a lot of them were heading off to bed to get some sleep. However, come Friday morning the group is going to launch even more attacks. What exactly they will do is unknown. When asked they said that they will figure it out tomorrow and that it will be a “surprise”. Some Anons hope that there is some kind of leak of U.S. Chamber emails since their web-mail service was taken offline, but most Anons haven’t decided how they will move forward from here.
Anonymous and the CoC had already had a shaky relationship before the Protect IP Bill came to light. When Anonymous hacked into HBGary Federal and dumped over 71,000 corporate emails online for all to see a few months ago, the emails had shown that the CoC along with Bank of America, HBGary Federal, and various other intelligence firms were conspiring to spread disinformation about Wikileaks in an attempt to discredit the information that they were leaking.
This is a message to all those who wish to restrict the flow of information on and offline: They do not forgive. They do not forget. Expect them. They are Legion.
Come Friday, the hammer of Anonymous will be dropped on those in support of this bill in protest of those who think they have the right to control the Internet and who think they have jurisdiction in the landless void of cyberspace
Via
http://www.hacker-news.org/2011/05/anonymous-takes-down-us-chamber-of.html
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