NATO goes nuts over #Anonymous

Dear Reader,

The online phenomenon #Anonymous has been a subject on diablog before in connection with WikiLeaks, HBGary, etc.

In the meantime, you heard and read more about it in mainstream media. But not only media picked up on it, NATO did too.
Lord Jopling, United Kingdom, as General Rapporteur filed a report for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, you can read it here:

http://www.nato-pa.int/default.asp?SHORTCUT=2443

What does NATO have to do with Anonymous?


 

The following is a quote from the report, emphasis by me:

One of the most prominent group of on-line hackers - Anonymous - led a campaign against Iran, Australia and the Church of Scientology.
Their most prominent campaign, however, took off in 2010 after WikiLeaks had released the US diplomatic cables. In its on-line seven-point manifesto, Anonymous announced its engagement in “the first infowar ever fought” and named PayPal as its enemy.
What followed were DDoS attacks against Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and other companies that had decided to stop providing services for WikiLeaks (they used to administer online donations for the site), against the Swiss bank PostFinance, that had earlier closed Julian Assange’s bank account, and against the Swedish Prosecution Service.
The group also attacked Amazon.com, which was previously renting server space to WikiLeaks.

Observers note that Anonymous is becoming more and more sophisticated and could potentially hack into sensitive government, military, and corporate files. According to reports in February 2011, Anonymous demonstrated its ability to do just that. After WikiLeaks announced its plan of releasing information about a major bank, the US Chamber of Commerce and Bank of America reportedly hired the data intelligence company HBGary Federal to protect their servers and attack any adversaries of these institutions. In response, Anonymous hacked servers of HBGary Federal’s sister company and hijacked the CEO’s Twitter account. Today, the ad hoc international group of hackers and activists is said to have thousands of operatives and has no set rules or membership.
It remains to be seen how much time Anonymous has for pursuing such paths. The longer these attacks persist the more likely countermeasures will be developed, implemented, the groups will be infiltrated and perpetrators persecuted.

Please note, with a few exceptions, Anonymous is publishing opinions, using the human right of free speech, and blocking websites through what one can call a virtual sit-in. And as long as it went against Iran all was fine.

Now NATO officials are declaring it a target of countermeasures, infiltration and persecution.
This week, the USA - a leading NATO member - announced to answer "foreign cyber attacks" with conventional weapons, i. e. bombings.


After the G8 summit described here, all this is further proof, our politicians are going nuts, trying to control the internet.

Here is a motivational song for Anonymous:



Stay sane,
Engine Room