Cyber-Terrorists Attacking U.S. Banks Are Well-Funded 83
An anonymous reader writes "A DDoS attack targeting American Express on March 28th was just one in a series of incidents by self-proclaimed 'cyber-fighters' over the past few weeks. Beyond that, it's part of a much longer campaign to disrupt financial infrastructure using attacks over the internet. Ars details the group behind the most recent attacks, called 'the cyber-fighters of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.' From the article: 'Named after a Muslim cleric who led The Black Hand, an anti-British and anti-Zionist jihadist organization in the 1920s and 1930s, and sharing a name with the military wing of Hamas (which the group's statements claim it is tied to), Izz ad-Din al-Qassam has taken credit for a variety of attacks on U.S. financial institutions over the past year, all allegedly in protest against the posting of trailers for the film The Innocence of Muslims on YouTube. Until the film is removed, the group said it would target "properties of American-Zionist CapitalistsThis attack will continue till the Erasing of that nasty movie." [sic]' There are concerns that the group is providing cover for organizations looking to defraud those banks. 'But even if the group behind the attacks isn't profiting from them, [Arbor Networks' Dan Holden] said it's clear that there are very real investments being made in their activities—maybe not in servers or hard assets, but in the form of countless hours of maintenance of the botnet by finding new servers to exploit, and further development of attacks. "Regardless of who's behind this," Holden said, "it has to be funded at some level. Even if it's hacktivists, it's got to be funded hacktivism." That, he says, is because of both the amount of time dedicated to the attack, and to its ongoing refinement. "It's not that these are the most sophisticated things in the world," he explained, "but it has been getting more sophisticated, and it's growing."'"
Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, Seriously: Fuck that noise.
It's either cyber-criminal or hacktivist. There is no such thing as a cyber-terrorist. Normal terrorists can even use the interwebs to cause loss of life, but if it causes loss of life it is just terrorism by any other means.
As someone who believes terrorism should be treated as a serious subject matter, I find these petty attempts to cash in on the DHS cash-cow absolutely disgusting. Anti-terrorism is better funded than normal law enforcement so now every cop walking the beat wants to redefine their job title to include hunting parking-terrorists, and speeding-terrorists.
It's retarded, and it poses a threat to the 8th amendment.
Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? (Score:4, Insightful)
Stop being level-headed. You're ruining the opportunity for rich people to declare war on something.
The distasteful word. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? (Score:5, Insightful)
Terrorism is the act of inducing fear into a society, to the point that individuals don't feel safe anymore.
You can, online, destroy the trust of people into banks, stalling any transactions because of fear/uncertainty. Without the loss of life.
Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? (Score:3, Insightful)
Which of course makes the most powerful terrorist organization in the world the US Government, which is happily facilitated by the media.
Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? (Score:4, Insightful)
WTF is a Cyber Terrorist?
It's the working title of our next Hollywood blockbuster, along the lines of Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. Propaganda at its very best. You just can't argue with success.
Re:"Cyber-Terrorists?" Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
Patsy takes fall. News at 11.