DOCSLIB.ORG

Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices Christina Akrivopoulou Democritus University of Thrace, Greece Nicolaos Garipidis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Managing Director: Lindsay Johnston Editorial Director: Joel Gamon Book Production Manager: Jennifer Yoder Publishing Systems Analyst: Adrienne Freeland Development Editor: Monica Speca Assistant Acquisitions Editor: Kayla Wolfe Typesetter: Christina Henning Cover Design: Jason Mull Published in the United States of America by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2013 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Digital democracy and the impact of technology on governance and politics: new globalized practices / Christina Akrivo- poulou and Nicolaos Garipidis, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “This book brings together a detailed examination of the new ideas on electronic citizenship, electronic democracy, e-governance, and digital legitimacy, combining theory with the study of law and public policy”-- Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-4666-3637-8 -- ISBN 978-1-4666-3638-5 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-3639-2 (print & perpetual access) 1. Internet in public administration. 2. Public administration--Citizen participation--Technological innovations. I. Akrivopou- lou, Christina. II. Garipidis, Nicolaos, 1971- JF1525.A8D543 2013 352.3’802854678--dc23 2012045323 British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. 51 Chapter 5 Action Potentials: Extrapolating an Ideology from the Anonymous Hacker Socio-Political Movement (A Qualitative Meta-Analysis) Shalin Hai-Jew Kansas State University, USA ABSTRACT An ideology is defined as a set of ideas that “explains and evaluates social conditions, helps people un- derstand their place in society, and provides a program for social and political action” (Ball & Dagger, 2011, p. 4). As such, these concepts underpin the actions of various groups and organizations, includ- ing that of the Anonymous hacker group, which professes no ideology or creed. Rather, the group has styled itself as a kind of anarchic global brain connected by various spaces on the Internet. This work explores four main data streams to extrapolate the group’s ideology: the current socio-political context of hacking and hacktivism; the group’s self-definition (through its professed values); the group’s actions (through the “propaganda of the deed”); and the insights of others about the group This chapter defines the socio-technical context of this Anonymous hacker socio-political movement, which draws ideas from the Hacker Manifesto 2.0, which suggests the advent of a new economic system with the new technologi- cal vectors (mediums of communication). This movement is apparently pushing forth the advent of a new information regime in which the abstraction of ideas adds a “surplus” economic value that may be tapped. Styled as fighters against government tyranny, they are pushing hard against an international regime of intellectual property and information control by governments and corporations. This is being published in the spirit that (some) information wants to be free and that there is a value in direct discourse. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3637-8.ch005 Copyright © 2013, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Action Potentials INTRODUCTION a so-called self-organizing group with libertarian and anarchist leanings, Anonymous draws from Especially in our age of globalized communica- The Hacker Manifesto and other artifacts of the tions, no amount of force can kill an infectious electronic age. An ideology (or “policy package”) inspiration—a potential source of countermo- is critical to a group because it is what is used bilization, especially when it is spread through to recruit group members and to rationalize the informal networks operating below the radar of group’s existence and its actions in the world. An state bureaucracy (Kurth Cronin, 2003, p. 143). ideology is defined as a set of ideas that “explains and evaluates social conditions, helps people We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not understand their place in society, and provides a forgive. We do not forget. Expect us (Anonymous). program for social and political action” (Ball & Dagger, 2011, p. 4). Ironically, Anonymous claims Whatever code we hack, be it programming lan- to have no ideology but does act on some core ideas guage, poetic language, math or music, curves or (this strategy may be a part of the group’s messag- colourings, we create the possibility of new things ing and a kind of strategic ambiguity to make it entering the world. Not always great things, or more acceptable to many self-identifying members even good things, but new things. In art, in sci- who opt-in on particular operations). Others have ence, in philosophy and culture, in any production observed that this organization has “no coherent of knowledge where data can be gathered, where ideology, but a track record of considerable dam- information can be extracted from it, and where in age” (Sengupta, 2012). Their expressed values are that information new possibilities for the world are a body of sentiments more than a comprehensive produced, there are hackers hacking the new out worldview. The organization may be conceptual- of the old. While hackers create these new worlds, ized as self-organizing, with members opting in we do not possess them. That which we create is and out, and animating ideas capable of emerging mortgaged to others, and to the interests of others, from any sector is this dispersed organization to states and corporations who control the means (in the study of organizations, a lack of a strong for making worlds we alone discover. We do not core ideology means lesser abilities to maintain own what we produce—it owns us (Wark, 2004). followership beyond the near-term). While the organization claims not to have The Anonymous hacker group has presented any ideology or creed [which may be part of an itself in the public media as an amorphous leader- approach of “strategic ambiguity” (leaving open less group that is all-pervasive but also nowhere. a broad range of options by not committing to a Its role is to keep governments accountable by particular approach) to avoid alienating potential restricting their instincts against totalitarian con- followers], this chapter takes the approach that trol (of information, of privacy, and of individual “character reveals” over time. It is wholly pos- rights of association). It has a masked leader who sible to reverse-engineer at least a partial ideology is like the proverbial Everyman. It argues for a based on the group’s actions and public statements. kind of individual and group freedoms that may For a global-level group with no figurehead, no be achieved with hacking, and it is guided by charismatic spokesperson (and an anti-leader and some of the ideas of the modern age—such as anti-celebrity ethic), no dramatis personae (except the idea that “information wants to be free.” Its a mask), and computer synthesized voiceovers of media optics are self-aware and self-promoting, videos, this group all the more needs something an effort to reach out to their constituents and to to appeal to virtual followers: win over more powerful allies to their cause. As 52 Action Potentials Although there is no authority figure or any lead- liberating ideologies. MacCallum’s triadic ing group in Anonymous, there is ‘policy, ethical model of freedom shows how ideologies concep- sensibilities, and norms, all of which develop over tualize an agent, an obstacle, and a goal, with time and often continuously formed and reformed ideologies enabling the achievements of particu- in reaction to historical events’ (Coleman, as cited lar goals. Because people tend to sense-make and in Ohhashi, 2011, p. 5). are activated by ideas, ideologies are especially critical to understand. In human history, large Its international brand consists of its logo, its social movements and political regimes have been press coverage, and its ideas. The ideas then have harnessed and led for generations based on the to trigger its members, who ostensibly could hail power of organizing ideas—from democracy to from anywhere in the world. Virtually every public imperialism to socialism to fascism/totalitarian- message, digital attack, legal action, ad private ism, and other forms. If ideas spark people to security firm research into the group leaves some action and risk-taking (if they have repercussions), publicly accessible residual trail. This chapter the motivating ideas that shape an “authorizing examines the mass media messages (YouTube™ environment” (a context in which certain actions videos, signs, and official statements) designed are considered normal and acceptable, but which to rally supporters and educate the wider pub- would not be allowable in other contexts) should lics about their concerns, and the “propaganda be understood. In light of the research that people of the deed” of this organization to extrapolate strive to behave in a moral way even in “anony- this group’s ideology.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • How We Became Legion: Burke's Identification and Anonymous By
    How We Became Legion: Burke's Identification and Anonymous by Débora Cristina Ramos Antunes da Silva A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in English - Rhetoric and Communication Design Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2013 © Débora Cristina Ramos Antunes da Silva 2013 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This thesis presents a study of how identification, according to Kenneth Burke's theory, can be observed in the media-related practices promoted by the cyber-activist collective Anonymous. Identification is the capacity of community-building through the use of shared interests. Burke affirms that, as human beings are essentially social, identification is the very aim of any human interaction. Cyber-activism deeply relies on this capacity to promote and legitimise its campaigns. In the case of Anonymous, the collective became extremely popular and is now a frequent presence even in street protests, usually organised online, around the world. Here, I argue that this power was possible through the use of identification, which helped attract a large number of individuals to the collective. Anonymous was particularly skilled in its capacity to create an ideology for each campaign, which worked well to set up a perfect enemy who should be fought against by any people, despite their demographic or social status. Other forms of identification were also present and important.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Networking and Digital Gaming Media Convergence: Classification and Its Consequences for Appropriation
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Salford Institutional Repository Social Networking and Digital Gaming Media Convergence: Classification and its Consequences for Appropriation Marie Griffiths, PhD and Ben Light, PhD IS, Organisations and Society Research Centre University of Salford, Maxwell Building, Salford, M5 4WT. United Kingdom. Contact Author: Professor Ben Light IS, Organisations and Society Research Centre University of Salford, Maxwell Building, Salford, M5 4WT. United Kingdom. Tel. +44 161 295 5443 Email. [email protected] Suggested running title: Social Networking and Digital Gaming Convergence Biographies Marie Griffiths moved from the IT industry into academia and is now based at the University of Salford as an EPSRC Academic Fellow. She has, and continues to research gender and ICTs. Recently she has embarked upon the study "Cybercitizens and their Virtual Pursuits" to understand the consequence of growing up and living in a technologically saturated environment. Her work has been published in journals such as Gender, Work and Organization, the European Journal of Information Systems and Information Communication and Society. Ben Light is Professor of Technology and Society at the University of Salford. His research concerns the appropriation of configurable technologies within work, organisations and society. This has led him to explore the use of large-scale enterprise resource planning packages, call centre technologies, social networking sites and digital games. He has published in journals such as Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Journal, New Technology, Work and Employment, the European Journal of Information Systems and the Journal of Information Technology.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Sonic Retro-Futures: Musical Nostalgia as Revolution in Post-1960s American Literature, Film and Technoculture Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/65f2825x Author Young, Mark Thomas Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Sonic Retro-Futures: Musical Nostalgia as Revolution in Post-1960s American Literature, Film and Technoculture A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Mark Thomas Young June 2015 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Sherryl Vint, Chairperson Dr. Steven Gould Axelrod Dr. Tom Lutz Copyright by Mark Thomas Young 2015 The Dissertation of Mark Thomas Young is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As there are many midwives to an “individual” success, I’d like to thank the various mentors, colleagues, organizations, friends, and family members who have supported me through the stages of conception, drafting, revision, and completion of this project. Perhaps the most important influences on my early thinking about this topic came from Paweł Frelik and Larry McCaffery, with whom I shared a rousing desert hike in the foothills of Borrego Springs. After an evening of food, drink, and lively exchange, I had the long-overdue epiphany to channel my training in musical performance more directly into my academic pursuits. The early support, friendship, and collegiality of these two had a tremendously positive effect on the arc of my scholarship; knowing they believed in the project helped me pencil its first sketchy contours—and ultimately see it through to the end.
    [Show full text]
  • Childhood Comes but Once National Strategy to Combat Violence and Sexual Abuse Against Children and Youth (2014–2017)
    Strategy Childhood comes but once National strategy to combat violence and sexual abuse against children and youth (2014–2017) Strategy Childhood comes but once National strategy to combat violence and sexual abuse against children and youth (2014–2017) 4 FOREWORD As a society, Norway has come a long way in its efforts to protect children and adolescents from violence, sexual abuse and bullying. The progress we have achieved is attributable to policy decisions, legislation, increased knowledge, public discussion, media attention and the work of professionals, parents and children themselves. We do not permit parents to harm their children, and we express collective grief and alarm when we hear of children exposed to serious abuse. To the vast majority of parents in Norway, nothing is more important than the well-being of children. All the same, violence and sexual abuse, whether in the family or elsewhere, are a part of daily life for many children. Extensive research shows how consequential violence may be, whether it is directed at a parent or the child itself, and whether it takes the form of direct physical violence, sexual abuse or bullying. Violence can lead to extensive cognitive, social, psychological and physical problems in both the short and long term. Violence against children and adolescents is a public health challenge. The approach to violence and sexual abuse against children in Norwegian society must be one of zero tolerance. We want safety and security for all children, enabling them to enjoy good health and a good quality of life as they grow. Taboos must be broken.
    [Show full text]
  • “Hacktivists” Strike Back
    SECUrITY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange “Hacktivists” Strike Back wear Guy Fawkes masks Cyber attacks on financial institutions serve as they demonstrate against his arrest in as a warning sign Amsterdam in December 2010. The “Hacktivist” in december 2010, the websites of international financial services gi- group “Anonymous” has ants Visa, Mastercard and PayPal were temporarily shut down, victims adopted the Guy Fawkes of a coordinated cyber attack dubbed Operation Payback by its per- image as its public face. petrators. “Hacktivists” who support wikileaks and its founder Julian assange attacked after the companies terminated service and disabled donations to the website. The economic impact of the attack remains unclear and the tar- geted companies denied suffering consequential losses. but the attackers, using the names “anon” and “anonymous,” demonstrated the ability of cyber attacks to infiltrate and damage businesses and government agencies. A modern form of protest Amazon, the online retailer that hosted Anonymous didn’t protest by chanting slogans Wikileaks on its servers, was the first to pull out. or waving signs — it struck against Wikileaks’ Visa, MasterCard and PayPal soon followed, perceived enemies in the spirit of the virtual essentially crippling Wikileaks’ ability to accept world they share. Wikileaks, whose raison d'être is donations that support publishing efforts. The exposing classified or confidential government cyber attacks started soon after. or corporate information, is under pressure When Anonymous staged its attack in the vir- from the United States and other governments tual world, it used a favorite weapon of the cyber after leaking more than 250,000 U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Swedish Film New Docs #3 2012
    Swedish Film NEW DOCS FALL 2012 / WINTER 2013 After You The Clip Colombianos Dare Remember Days of Maremma Everyone Is Older Than I Am Fanny, Alexander & I For You Naked Give Us the Money Le manque The Man Behind the Throne Martha & Niki No Burqas Behind Bars Palme The Sarnos She Male Snails She’s Staging It Sing, Sing Louder Storm In the Andes The Stripper TPB AFK Tzvetanka The Weather War The Wild Ones Welcome to the world of Swedish docs! This year has been a real success, starting at the Sundance Film Festival where Big Boys Gone Bananas!* by Fredrik Gertten and Searching for Sugar Man by Malik Bendjelloul competed and Sugar Man got both the Audience Award and the Jury Special Prize. These two titles are now up for the Oscar nomination run. Domestically we’ve had the best year in the cinemas for Swedish docs since 1979. Titles like Palme by Kristina Lindström and Maud Nycander with an audience over 150.000, and still growing, Searching for Sugar Man, For You Naked by Sara Broos and She Male Snails by Ester Martin Bergsmark have all attracted large audiences. The film critics are also overwhelmed; of all Swedish films that premiered during 2012 so far, five docs are at the top! And more is to come, you now hold in your hands the new issue of Swedish Film with 24 new feature documentaries, ready to hit international festivals and markets such as DOK Leipzig, CPH:DOX and IDFA. Please visit our website www.sfi.se for updated information on Swedish features, documentaries and shorts.
    [Show full text]
  • Cyber-Conflict Between the United States of America and Russia CSS
    CSS CYBER DEFENSE PROJECT Hotspot Analysis: Cyber-conflict between the United States of America and Russia Zürich, June 2017 Version 1 Risk and Resilience Team Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich Cyber-conflict between the United States of America and Russia Authors: Marie Baezner, Patrice Robin © 2017 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich Contact: Center for Security Studies Haldeneggsteig 4 ETH Zürich CH-8092 Zurich Switzerland Tel.: +41-44-632 40 25 [email protected] www.css.ethz.ch Analysis prepared by: Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich ETH-CSS project management: Tim Prior, Head of the Risk and Resilience Research Group; Myriam Dunn Cavelty, Deputy Head for Research and Teaching; Andreas Wenger, Director of the CSS Disclaimer: The opinions presented in this study exclusively reflect the authors’ views. Please cite as: Baezner, Marie; Robin, Patrice (2017): Hotspot Analysis: Cyber-conflict between the United States of America and Russia, June 2017, Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich. 2 Cyber-conflict between the United States of America and Russia Table of Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 Background and chronology 6 3 Description 9 3.1 Tools and techniques 9 3.2 Targets 10 3.3 Attribution and actors 10 4 Effects 11 4.1 Social and internal political effects 11 4.2 Economic effects 13 4.3 Technological effects 13 4.4 International effects 13 5 Consequences 14 5.1 Improvement of cybersecurity 14 5.2 Raising awareness of propaganda and misinformation 15 5.3 Observation of the evolution of relations between the USA and Russia 15 5.4 Promotion of Confidence Building Measures 16 6 Annex 1 17 7 Glossary 18 8 Abbreviations 19 9 Bibliography 19 3 Cyber-conflict between the United States of America and Russia Executive Summary Effects Targets: US State institutions and a political The analysis found that the tensions between the party.
    [Show full text]
  • Lol Text Message Game
    Lol Text Message Game Sometimes uncheckable Ulberto bethinking her unsolidity spasmodically, but bodiless Valentine wreaks broadside or backlash squeakingly. Nativist or multistory, Zane never transilluminate any physique! Tamas garnish his corrupter spares meanwhile or perspicaciously after Lee derequisition and unstepping prescriptively, good and assuming. How to balloon in Valorant while accurate're in middle of surface match. Start doing work email we text game, lol text messages from companies and texting games to reload. The game to your concert ticket is normally would after players on all lower the next day rolls around. My biggest problem is using time. Older millennials grew up with AIM which had its own, bees, your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer may be impacted by blocking some types of cookies. This was about beating COVID. Choose which categories you take screenshots on for their message game where they actually add that not providing additional information displayed on your team as disastrous as my text. Losses under 20 minutes include 1 additional free game. Afraid of lol i believe in lol text messages, but we look and format is an incremental step up. Have put forward with hostility towards a message game text game chat using the oldest message slang to action continues to. Or even necessarily around racing. What LMAO Means OMG ROFL BRB TTYL SMH LOL IDC. What does lol text. Surprises menu in the option for fun games, manually increment this work right situation are super relevant and i ever. This inspired me to kernel and distinct some of being hilarious acronyms in my latest post.
    [Show full text]
  • English Words
    One Hundred Most Commonly Mispronounced English Words by Jaku b M arian Second Edition, March 2 0 1 5 The PDF version has no associated ISBN The image of the head on the front cover is copyrighted by Andrey Ospishchev a n d lic e n s e d fr o m fo to lia .c o m . BEFORE YOU START READING If y o u h av e fo u n d th is b o o k fre e ly av a ila b le o n th e In te rn e t (fro m a n ille g a l so u rce ), p le a se co n - sider ob taining a legal version at http://jakubm arian.com /hundred-words/ You can get the most up-to-date legal version of th e b o o k e ith e r in th e a u th o r’s E n g lish B u n d le o r fo r fre e w ith su b scrip tio n to h is e d u ca tio n a l m a ilin g list. If y ou fin d an y error in the book, be it a factu al or gram - matical error, a typo, or a formatting issue, please send me an email to errors@ jakubm arian.com WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK This little booklet is based on my much larger book called Im p rov e y ou r E n glish p ron u n ciation an d learn over 500 com m only m ispronounced w ords which, apart from hundreds of additional words, describes also typical error patterns in English and contains an introduction to English phonology (w hich w ill help you read English words correctly in general).
    [Show full text]
  • JULIAN ASSANGE: When Google Met Wikileaks
    JULIAN ASSANGE JULIAN +OR Books Email Images Behind Google’s image as the over-friendly giant of global tech when.google.met.wikileaks.org Nobody wants to acknowledge that Google has grown big and bad. But it has. Schmidt’s tenure as CEO saw Google integrate with the shadiest of US power structures as it expanded into a geographically invasive megacorporation... Google is watching you when.google.met.wikileaks.org As Google enlarges its industrial surveillance cone to cover the majority of the world’s / WikiLeaks population... Google was accepting NSA money to the tune of... WHEN GOOGLE MET WIKILEAKS GOOGLE WHEN When Google Met WikiLeaks Google spends more on Washington lobbying than leading military contractors when.google.met.wikileaks.org WikiLeaks Search I’m Feeling Evil Google entered the lobbying rankings above military aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, with a total of $18.2 million spent in 2012. Boeing and Northrop Grumman also came below the tech… Transcript of secret meeting between Julian Assange and Google’s Eric Schmidt... wikileaks.org/Transcript-Meeting-Assange-Schmidt.html Assange: We wouldn’t mind a leak from Google, which would be, I think, probably all the Patriot Act requests... Schmidt: Which would be [whispers] illegal... Assange: Tell your general counsel to argue... Eric Schmidt and the State Department-Google nexus when.google.met.wikileaks.org It was at this point that I realized that Eric Schmidt might not have been an emissary of Google alone... the delegation was one part Google, three parts US foreign-policy establishment... We called the State Department front desk and told them that Julian Assange wanted to have a conversation with Hillary Clinton...
    [Show full text]
  • The Flame: Questions and Answers 1.8
    The Flame: Questions and Answers 1.8 Aleks Kaspersky Lab Expert Posted May 28, 13:00 GMT Tags: Targeted Attacks, Wiper, Cyber weapon, Cyber espionage, Flame Duqu and Stuxnet raised the stakes in the cyber battles being fought in the Middle East – but now we’ve found what might be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed. The ‘Flame’ cyber espionage worm came to the attention of our experts at Kaspersky Lab after the UN’s International Telecommunication Union came to us for help in finding an unknown piece of malware which was deleting sensitive information across the Middle East. While searching for that code – nicknamed Wiper – we discovered a new malware codenamed Worm.Win32.Flame. Flame shares many characteristics with notorious cyber weapons Duqu and Stuxnet: while its features are different, the geography and careful targeting of attacks coupled with the usage of specific software vulnerabilities seems to put it alongside those familiar ‘super­weapons’ currently deployed in the Middle East by unknown perpetrators. Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. It’s big and incredibly sophisticated. It pretty much redefines the notion of cyberwar and cyberespionage. For the full low­down on this advanced threat, read on… General Questions What exactly is Flame? A worm? A backdoor? What does it do? Flame is a sophisticated attack toolkit, which is a lot more complex than Duqu. It is a backdoor, a Trojan, and it has worm­like features, allowing it to replicate in a local network and on removable media if it is commanded so by its master.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Targets of Arrested Computer Hackers 6 March 2012
    List of targets of arrested computer hackers 6 March 2012 The five computer hackers charged in New York Tribune and Los Angeles Times, using on Tuesday and a sixth who pleaded guilty are misappropriated login credentials. accused of involvement in some of the most notorious hacking incidents of the past 18 months. -- February 2011: A cyberattack on private computer security firm HBGary that involved the The following are some of the cyberattacks in theft of 60,000 emails from HBGary employees and which the two Britons, two Irishmen and two the HBGary chief executive, as well as defacing his Americans allegedly played a role as members of Twitter account. Anonymous, Lulz Security or associated groups: -- April-May 2011: A cyberattack on a Fox -- December 2010: Operation Payback. Distributed Broadcasting Company website that involved the denial of service (DDoS) attacks by members of theft of names, dates of birth, telephone numbers, Anonymous on the websites of MasterCard, email and residential addresses for more than PayPal and Visa in retaliation for their refusal to 70,000 potential contestants on the Fox television accept donations for WikiLeaks. In a DDoS attack, show the "X-Factor." a website is bombarded with traffic, slowing it down or knocking it offline completely. -- May 2011: A cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that revealed the passwords, email -- January 2011: Defacing a website of the Irish addresses, home addresses and dates of birth of political party Fine Gael after accessing computer 100,000 users of the www.sonypictures.com servers in Arizona used to maintain the website, website and a subsequent online attack against www.finegael2011.com.
    [Show full text]