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Private Security Forces Declare War on Wikileaks, Anonymous RetaliatesBy Sean
Kerrigan
Thursday,
February 10, 2011
According to leaked internal
memos, private security firms with ties to the CIA and the Department
of Defense proposed cyber attacks, media manipulation and other forms
of subversive activity to protect Bank of America who was threatened
by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange late last year.
It
assesses the threat posed by Wikileaks and offers several modes of
attack, most notably through media manipulation to expose “the
radical and reckless nature of wikileaks activities.”
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Click
here to view the full document.
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The document, which appears to be in the form of a power point
presentation, urges a multi-pronged offensive to urge the media to
“push” wikileaks as a “radical and reckless”
organization.
Other recommended actions target wikileaks
directly through cyber attacks as well as indirectly through their
“hacktivist” supporters in the internet group Anonymous.
It
continues, “Combating this threat requires advanced subject
matter expertise in cyber security, insider threats, counter cyber
fraud, targeting analysis, social media exploitation… [We]
represent deep knowledge in these areas.”
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The document recently obtained by Wikileaks is authored by
three companies, Palantir, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies,
all private security firms with government ties. It was drawn
up at the request of a law firm representing Bank of America, which
tech blog The Tech Herald reports was recommended to the bank by the
Department of Justice.
According to the Department of Defense,
in December 2010, Palantir was awarded defense a defense contract
totaling $9 million and Berico Technologies received contracts
totaling $52 million.
Anonymous Strikes Back
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Aaron Barr, CEO of HBGary Federal which is one of the
implicated companies, repeatedly engaged Anonymous directly and
through social networking in an attempt to discover their
identities.
In a 24 page report leaked by posted by
Wikileaks competitor and collaborator Cryptome.org dated January
31, 2011, Barr alleges to have discovered the real names of dozens
of Anonymous members and several allied websites. This prompted a
counter attack by Anonymous in which they successfully hacked
Barr’s Twitter account. Pretending to be him, they posted
profane pictures, released his address and social security
number.
Barr was no stranger to Anonymous’s often cryptic
dialect, calling anonymous members “trolls” and referenced
various memes popular on the internet. In an email to a
coworker, Barr wrote, "as 1337 as these guys are
suppsed to be they don’t get it. I have pwned them! :)"
Click
here for a complete rundown of Burr's encounter with Anonymous.
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According to Wired.com, after Barr’s conversation with
Anonymous members on an IRC channel, the group hacked the security
company’s website and replaced the front page with a taunting
letter. Anonymous also claims to have successfully wiped 1 terabyte
worth of backup data as well as his Barr's iPad.
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