2011-01-04 Nonoperational Site Update: Wrath of Anon in Tunisia

As of yesterday, the following 7 Tunisian sites appeared to be down. They remain nonoperational at this time.

The following 2 sites have been down for longer than 24 hours:

In addition to these, the following sites are also down today:

It is likely that the DDoS attacks are being continually carried out on sites that have managed to regain temporary functionality. To verify whether a site is only inaccessible in your own area or more generally, you may enter the site URL here.

Go to: Convictions of an Anonymous Legion

LOIC

Folks:

The Javascript version of the LOIC is certainly the way to go. It does the same job as the conventional program without flagging you virus checker. The page that JavaLOIC appears on can in fact be saved to your hard drive with the 'Save page as...' option under the File menu of Firefox or equivalent in other web browsers. Also, there is software out there that will adjust your system to multiply the DDoS attacks from your PC tenfold (Windows only). This 'hack' also works with JavaLOIC. There are also rumors of folks developing a way to use bittorrent to lure unwitting filesharers into participating in an 'attack' by creating 'seeds' that point to a 'target' site.

Why am I telling you this? What's going on here is nothing new. It's just a new playing field is all. Defense, attack, counter-measures, counter-counter-measures, counter-counter-counter-measures, etc. are as old as human society. In the early days of the home computer a lot of folks honed their skills cracking copy protection on software. When the copy protection improved beyond a certain point than folks started modifying their hardware to keep up. Then the internet opened up a whole new game where software could become down right aggressive and we had to turn our skills toward protecting ourselves.

We've been weaponizing our computers for quite some time now. Virus checkers, Spyware and Malware protection, even ad blockers make our computers look like virtual Humvees with an extra armor package.

In the early days of aviation, the opposing forces pilots couldn't do much more than look at each others aircraft for improvements and wave... until one (Allied) airman brought a service revolver into the skies. Thus the air war had begun.

We're at that point now.

The LOIC is the RESPONSE to that someone packing a pistol on the plane. When it became obvious that the 'authorities' were using DDoS attacks against Wikileaks, responding in kind became fair game. The LOIC is the first offensive weapon on our already well defended computers. A turret for our virtual Humvees. Like the loud voices at a protest, the LOIC is a way to make our discontent heard over the internet. Like the 'threat' of a Wikileaks style leak, well 'armed' consumers can be a deterrent to bad business practices. It creates an 'insurance policy' that makes good business practices more competitive. If bad business practices become too expensive, if leaks and attacks cost more then cutting corners and abusing employees, then they have two choices. Fight and die or adapt and survive.

What to do? Lock and load? Watch from the side lines?

I don't know about you but I'm a voter. I think my vote counts and I'll act on my conscience.

P.S. A note to Americans. You may be able to claim 2nd Amendment rights for packing the LOIC (although leave it on your Desktop if concealed weapons are illegal in your state ;) ).

Nite, I just wanted to stop

Nite,

I just wanted to stop in and tell you that I always enjoy reading your comments.

ke

Ideas...

ke:

I take it 'enjoy' means that you that understand the points I'm making. I just throw ideas to the wind and let them fall where they may. If they land in the right environment they will thrive. Delivery is only important in that it makes absorbing an idea more palatable. I do try to reduce things to the lowest common denominator, though, and use language that anybody can understand. If you want to read more of my posts you can find me under the same username on The Huffington Post and The Guardian. On both sites there is the ability to list all the posts of one user on a single page with links to the stories. If you do read my posts, read the stories as well to keep things in context.

I can't just sit this one out. There's too much at stake here. All over the world there are corrupt organizations and governments that are feeling very jittery right now. If 'it' can happen to the worlds biggest (if waning) superpower then they surely much know it can happen to them too. If The Bank of Americas reaction to a possible leak is any indication then it's a good guess that they won't go down without a fight.

I still think we out number 'em but we just don't know it yet. So I write...

I'm well aware that if we lose this one they'll come for me.

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