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Hacker showdown, cable modems at high noon

25
Jun
2011

The story goes like this. . . A former military hacker goes toe to toe with an anonymous group of hackers. Then some folks who may or may not have been working with this group get impatient and decide to split off and create their own identity to create even more mayhem.

The original ex-military hacker decides he doesn’t like this new group and decides to disclose their identities. Meanwhile, across town, another anonymous hacker finds the new hacker group’s skillset lacking and attacks another innocent victim to show how much smarter he is.

William Gibson novelsSound like the plot of a yet unwritten William Gibson novel? No, it’s the latest news that encompasses Th3J35ter, Lulz Security and a hacker named Warv0x.

It appears Th3J35t3r (TheJester), has taken on the task of unmasking the identities of Lulz Security members. On his blog and pastebin.com he has posted information concerning two suspected Lulz Security members, Sabu and Nakomis.

The Jester logoWhile the investigative work being done is impressive, I am not sure what Th3J35ter thinks he will accomplish. Either way it seems to have resulted in a little underground war, hacker vs. hacker. Th3J35ter also released a PHP script to allow people to help find the real web server of LulzSecurity.com.

Meanwhile, another hacker who calls himself Warv0x didn’t find the attacks being conducted by Lulz Security up to his standards. Rather than attacking Lulz Security themselves, he saw fit to create even more innocent victims by attacking PBS (America’s Public Broadcast Service), one of LulzSec’s previous targets, in what he believes to be a more sophisticated attack.

I Hack CharitiesLike real conflicts there is often collateral damage in these attacks. I personally agree with Paul Ducklin’s comments encouraging those with real “skillz” to contribute to building a better internet rather than creating chaos and destruction.

What can you do to protect yourself against exposure through attacks like these? Keeping unique passwords for each site is a good start.

Be careful what information you disclose when it is unnecessary. Information like your birth date, postal code, phone number and other seemingly innocent information is often used to verify your identity.

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