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Businesses Earth Security

Exxon's Climate Opponents Were Infiltrated by Massive Hacking-for-Hire Operation (wsj.com) 37

An anonymous reader shares a report: In the midst of perpetrating what federal prosecutors say was a massive corporate hacking campaign, Israeli private detective Aviram Azari in 2017 received welcome news. A group of hackers in India wrote him to say they had successfully infiltrated the email and social-media accounts of a group of environmental activists campaigning against Exxon. "On a happy note I would like to report some success below: Project Name Rainbow," the hackers wrote in electronic messages that were viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The messages included evidence of the successful intrusions, including screenshots of compromised email inboxes.

The messages along with court records reveal new details about the hacking campaign, including that thousands of individuals and companies were targeted and at least some of the attacks resulted in the hackers successfully gaining access to the private accounts of the victims and obtaining their passwords. Among the targets was the Rockefeller Family Fund, a charity created by some of the heirs of John D. Rockefeller, who founded Exxon's forebear Standard Oil. The fund has for years been involved in campaigns arguing that Exxon hid from the public the full extent of what it knew internally about climate change and the role fossil fuels played in causing it.

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Exxon's Climate Opponents Were Infiltrated by Massive Hacking-for-Hire Operation

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  • Who are these guys, what do they charge, and how do I get in touch with them if I can afford their services?

    Seems like they're amoral but effective enough that even being caught this is a good line item for their resume.

  • What do you expect? I guess we will only see the end of this evil when the last oil executive has been turned into a tree adornment.

    • by Tim the Gecko ( 745081 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @02:41PM (#63409718)

      The cigarette industry does not give a lot of grounds for optimism. After their scummy tricks there are still a lot of people smoking [cdc.gov]:

      • About 20 of every 100 adults with an annual household income less than $35,000
      • About 6 of every 100 adults with an annual household income of $100,000 or greater
      • About 15 of every 100 adults who live in the Midwest
      • 9 of every 100 adults who live in the West

      See also: Tobacco and Oil Industries Used Same Researchers to Sway Public [scientificamerican.com]

      .

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by r0nc0 ( 566295 )
        I smoke because I like to, not because of marketing. Go fuck off.
        • by Anonymous Coward
          How's your T zone? [blogspot.com]
        • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @03:08PM (#63409798)

          No, you smoke because you start feeling sick if you don't. It's not called an addiction for no reason.

          • by Major_Disorder ( 5019363 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @04:40PM (#63410088)
            As an Ex-smoker, I can tell you, you are 100% correct. It is an addiction and one hell of a tough one to beat. I smoked for 30 years, then quit almost 12 years ago. The addicted part of my brain still tries to come of with "reasons" why I could have just 1. Nope, not going back to that life.
            • by Sebby ( 238625 )

              As an Ex-smoker, I can tell you, you are 100% correct. It is an addiction and one hell of a tough one to beat. I smoked for 30 years, then quit almost 12 years ago.

              I salute you!

            • by gtall ( 79522 )

              Ditto, I smoked lightly for about 3 years long time ago. Cigarette smoke still smells good to me when I'm down wind of smoker.

              • Amen. I quit about a year ago after smoking for a combined total of 35 years. Quitting is a bitch. And I still get cravings when I smell cigarette smoke, so the urge never goes away.

                I quit one time before for 5 years and I know that it only takes two cigarettes to get hooked again. Every day I have to decide that quitting is still the best choice.

                When I started smoking, a carton was $3. In my area a carton is now over $80. That helps with the decision to quit, but it's a close call. The phantom monke

            • As an Ex-smoker, I can tell you, you are 100% correct. It is an addiction and one hell of a tough one to beat.

              That's by design.

              The addiction industry isn't going to sell you something that's easy to give up.

            • by gweihir ( 88907 )

              Congrats. From some friends that fell into this trap, I know how extremely hard beating this thing is.

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Go fuck off.

          High blood pressure too?

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Oh yeah flavor country

        • by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @03:31PM (#63409878)

          So you pay good money to inhale carcinogens and addictive substances and you boast about this?

          • I think he's saying that he knows the risks of smoking and chooses the do it anyway, not that he is being tricked or manipulated or under any delusions about smoking, health and addiction.

            I think he has a point too, at this day in 2023 if you are not aware of the negative health affects of smoking I don't know what else society can do for you, just literally read box they come in. I don't think the tobacco companies are could even or are making any attempt to cover that up anymore

            • I think he's saying that he knows the risks of smoking and chooses the do it anyway, not that he is being tricked or manipulated or under any delusions about smoking, health and addiction.

              Risky behaviour in humans is universally tied to one outcome: Reward.
              See stupid people doing something on Youtube: peer pressure, feeling of belonging.
              See people doing extreme sports: adrenaline and endorphins go hand in hand.

              Smoking: well 20 years ago it was the same as stupid people on youtube. Peer pressure and feeling of belonging. These days however smokers are pariahs in many western countries so that doesn't apply. There is still one reason to do something: addiction. People do things for a reason, a

              • Almost no one "chooses" to smoke.

                Anecdotes are like assholes but all the smokers i know who are still doing it today are just the opposite. They enjoy it and don't have any interest in stopping and even they are aware addiction could play a part in decision making but they all "enjoy it" to some degree.

                Something that is different with the ones i know though is the quanityt of cigarettes these people consume is far less than adults were smoking when I was kid. Talking few per day, only one person I know comes anywhere close to "a pack a d

                • Also funny is that vaping, originally a thing to help people stop smoking, is probably more popular among teenagers today than real cigarettes ever were, the numbers are out of control.

                  Of course it is. Again there's a psychological reason. Smoking sucks. Not a person in the world didn't take their first puff of a cigarette, cough, pull a face and get mocked by their friends. That mocking is what drove them to take another puff, not some inherent joy in the taste of carcinogens.

                  On the other hand stick a vape in your mouth and the immediate reaction is, "ooooh vanilla", or "ooooh strawberries" or whatever lovely flavour you get. The fact that vaping is more popular than smoking is a direct

      • The cigarette industry does not give a lot of grounds for optimism. After their scummy tricks there are still a lot of people smoking.

        There are still a lot of people drinking too. Vice is never going to go away, especially when some of the people screaming about one vice are heavily indulging in others. People tend to notice that.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by Brett Buck ( 811747 )

        Yes, it was a shame smoking was mandatory, giving people absolutely no choice in the matter. Just like you being required to purchase gasoline from Exxon.

        • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @05:07PM (#63410146)
          Nobody is claiming what you are arguing against. But many smokers can claim that they became addicted because they believed tobacco industry lies. And many here on slashdot could claim that they would have a different opinion of fossil fuels if they had not believed oil industry lies--except that they still believe Exxon and attack strawmen rather than conmen.
          • Nobody is claiming what you are arguing against. But many smokers can claim that they became addicted because they believed tobacco industry lies.

            Absolutely nobody under 50 or so can claim that. By the time they were teenagers, the surgeon general's warnings were in full swing and advertising was heavily restricted. At that point they just did it because they thought it made them cool. I still remember when I was in junior high, there was this fat kid that would light up after he got off the bus, and it was obvious the only reason why was for appearances. Literally nobody else around him even did it, so he can't even claim peer pressure.

            This is liter

            • Sure, people who listened to the US Surgeon General knew that smoking was deadly in the 80's (poor saps probably think Fauci did an OK job). But freedom-loving, industry-funded Americans like former Vice President Mike Pence were claiming it didn't kill [buzzfeednews.com] at least until 2001. I assume some dumbasses believed men like him then, just like they agree with him on global warming now.

              We can't fix stupid, but when the time comes, we shouldn't let liars off the hook because they convinced 70 million to vote agai

      • We need them to keep smoking, it helps pay for SCHIP healthcare programs...

        And ever since people stopped paying their student loans (3 years deferment), those cigarette tax revenues are needed more than ever. (The feds took over all federal student loans so they could plow the 'profits' into Obamacare subsidies.

        Smoke cigarettes, it's your civic duty!

      • I wonder how much of "How to Lie With Statistics" is being used.

        Spoiler: the author of said (good) book about how to properly spot bad stats and refute them, was a payrolled tobacco lobbyist, who used his book to dispute all medical findings against smoking.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        On the plus side, Big Tobacco does pretty small damage compared to what the climate destroyers are doing. But yes, the comparison as to morality is somewhat illuminating.

It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river. -- Abraham Lincoln

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