73w ago - Despite some members being
arrested a few months back, Internet hacking group
Anonymous have now sent Sony a message in the form of a video (below) regarding the
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) bill.
This comes just a week after
reports of a SOPA-style court order for India's ISPs to block some of the world's largest file-sharing sites including BitTorrent, Megaupload and more.
Shortly following, GoDaddy announced their support for SOPA resulting in thousands of domain owners prompting to
leave the registrar, including giant networks such as
Wikipedia and
Cheezeburger which consists of over 1000 domains alone.
To deal with the large volume of domain transfers, GoDaddy began
blocking (and in some cases delaying) them, which is against the ICANN rules.
Finally, GoDaddy realized that SOPA is far too broad and not beneficial to tech-savvy sites due to the possibility of rampant abuse by corporations, and have
redacted their stance on supporting SOPA even going as far as
calling customers to let them know of the change to prevent further losses.
According to
PlayStationLifeStyle.net, PSN and consumers will not be harmed by Anonymous #OpSony as they will be targeting executives only.
Below is what
Anonymous states to Sony regarding their support for SOPA, to quote:
Hello, SONY.
We are Anonymous.
It has come to the attention of the Anonymous activist community that you have chosen to stand by the Stop Online Piracy Act. This act will halt online businesses and restrict access to many sites for many users. Supporting SOPA is like trying to throw an entire company from off a bridge.
Your support to the act is a signed death warrant to SONY Company and Associates. Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the Internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not. Sony, you have been warned.
To those doubting our powers. We've infiltrated the servers of Bank of America, The United States Department of Defense, The United Nations, and Lockheed Martin. In one day.
For their approval to SOPA, we have also declared that our fury be brought upon the following persons. Justin Bieber. Lady Gaga. Kim Kardashian. and Taylor Swift.
Operation Blackout, engaged.
Operation Mayhem, engaged.
Operation LulzXmas, engaged.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Supporters of SOPA, you should've expected us.
Update: Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Sony Electronics have all
pulled their support for the SOPA bill that could encourage censorship online... a step in the right direction indeed!
42 Comments - Go to Forum Thread »
It would be quite annoying if youtube went "black" for a day or so, but if it will help stop the "SOPA" bill let it be so.
New user here. Just taking a quick look around for the time being....
Hackers Plan Satellites To Block Internet Censorship
The prolific hacking group Anonymous has launched the second wave of its holiday campaign of break-ins, entering SpecialForces.com and leaking thousands of confidential user details, including credit card numbers.
"Continuing the weeklong celebration of wreaking utter havoc on global financial systems, militaries, and government, we are announcing our next target: the online piggy supply store SpecialForces.com," Anonymous wrote in a Dec. 27 Pastebin post.
SpecialForces.com, based in Gardena, Calif., sells such equipment as handcuffs, nightsticks, tasers, knives, clothing and tactical gear to law enforcement agencies and the military.
In the same Pastebin post, Anonymous leaked roughly 14,000 passwords and 8,000 credit card numbers of SpecialForces.com customers. The hacking collective said it has had the data in its possession for months, and although SpecialForces.com encrypted its customers credit card numbers, the hackers were able to break into the retailer's servers and steal encryption keys.
Anonymous said the hack stems from the abuse suffered by Occupy protesters at the hands of law enforcement, notably by students at the University of California, Davis, who were methodically pepper-sprayed by campus police Lt. John Pike in November. The hackers said they went after SpecialForces because of whom it serves.
"Their customer base is comprised primarily of military and law enforcement-affiliated individuals, who have for too long enjoyed purchasing tactical combat equipment from their slick and 'professional'-looking website," Anonymous wrote. "What’s that, officer? You get a kick out of pepper-spraying peaceful protesters in public parks? You like to recreationally taser kids? You have a fetish for putting people in plastic zip ties?"
The hack comes just days after Anonymous infiltrated the prominent security think tank Stratfor and leaked thousands of credit card numbers from the firm's major clients.
The campaign, called "LulzXmas," isn't over, Anonymous says. "We’ll continue to have ourselves a merry LulzXmas at the expense of capitalist pigs, corrupt public officials and all those third parties who cater to the continued oligarchic elite worldwide. We are your secretaries, your janitors, your baby sitters, your IT guys, your bus drivers, your maids, your hard-working, driven and determined fellow humans."
UPDATE: In an email to SecurityNewsDaily, Dave Thomas from SpecialForces.com said his company's web servers were breached in August, and that Anonymous waited months to publicize the hack in order to keep itself in the spotlight following the Stratfor incident.
Thomas said the compromised customer credit cards "were from a backup of a previous version of the website that is over a year old. Most of the credit card numbers are expired, and we don't have any evidence of any credit card misuse at this time."
He said SpecialForces.com contacted affected customers, apprised them of the situation and urged them to change their passwords and monitor their credit card activity for any suspicious transactions.