Also need to get people to understand that if they support the organization [Wikileaks] we will come after them. Transaction records are easily identifiable.
Both the Chamber and Bank of America deny having anything to do with this HBGary Federal stuff. And that may be true.posted by enn at 10:33 AM on February 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
But it’s worth noting that the Tech Herald reported that HBGary Federal did secure a meeting with Booz Allen Hamilton, which had also been retained by BofA for its WikiLeaks “review”—a few weeks after pitching its scuzzy plan.
...
A look through Factiva shows only one media hit for HBGary Federal in the last two years before the flurry of the past week. And it’s a very interesting one. This from SC Magazine, which covers IT security (emphasis mine):HBGary Federal, provider of classified security services to the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community, has partnered with Palantir Technologies, maker of analytics platforms. HBGary’s team of researchers will leverage Palantir’s analysis tool suite to provide enhanced threat intelligence.
I never cease to be surprised by self-described "professionals" referring to Anonymous as a refined organization with structure and hierarchy and strategy, as opposed to just a headless mass of somewhat shit-disturbing computer users with a taste for lulz, fapping and trolling.You're confusing "4Chan" anon with the apparent "IRC anon" Obviously they're connected, but these guys do have some kind of hierarchy. Of course, anyone can "speak for Anon" whenever they want too. Someone in a discussion of Anon mentioned these names that would crop up in resistance movements that were "open source" names anyone could speak with.
That’s when Barr started the CEO job at HBGary Federal. Its parent company, the security firm HBGary, wanted a separate firm to handle government work and the clearances that went with it, and Barr was brought in from Northrup Grumman to launch the operation.It's all based on a reading of the emails. And it sounds like they never actually got paid. Barr's whole jihad against Anon started because he was trying to drum up business for HB Gary Federal, as they were hemorrhaging cash.
Almost nobody's competent, Paul. It's enough to make you cry to see how bad most people are at their jobs. If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind.'posted by Chuckles at 10:57 AM on February 16, 2011 [15 favorites]
fuq: I hope Aaron Burr is never safe anywhere he goesI hate to disappoint you, but the guy is a badass who can take care of himself.
This very column where he says this whole thing is a gigantic conspiracy by Bank of America and the Chamber of Commerce (and even the DOJ!), when in reality they had very little to do with one desperate company run by a wack job who never got a dime for anything, never had any contact with DoJ, BoA or the CoC and seems to have never actually done anything.Okay first of all HB Gary Federal had something like $10 million in contracts. Second of all, these companies came to HB Gary Fed on the recommendation of the DoJ. This guy was working with these companies to develop proposals, they weren't coming out of the blue here.
Well, no, because they have no communications from any of those organizations, only from the people who were trying to sell those organizations a bunch of bullshit.There's communications from H&W, the law firm that was working with BoA. And the Chamber of Commerce deal was close to closing, supposedly.
one desperate company run by a wack job who never got a dime for anything, never had any contact with DoJ, BoA or the CoC and seems to have never actually done anything.When in fact it was a collaboration of 3 companies, including Palantir, which is a bigger company that does a lot of contracting, and HB Gary federal had $10 million in contracts already!
I'm a full-throated supporter of wikileaks and (usually) anonymous -- and I think this is a great story of someone getting hoist by his own petard, but I think this is just getting blown out of proportion by people who are trying to sell a narrative and are getting well ahead of the facts.Well, obviously it's a subjective evaluation. But it doesn't make everyone who disagrees with you a liar, which is what you accused greenwald of being. To me it does look like they were in negotiations to do this but hadn't completed those negotiations. The evidence suggests that the Chamber and BoA were very interested, but hadn't closed when Anon attacked.
Is this hyperbole? Have we not seen enough examples yet to believe that sentence carries at least as much credence as anything we get from the government or the corporate world? Accusing Greenwald of hyperbole is not the same as disproving his thesis.The problem is that it's subjective. You can't accuse someone of being dishonest for having different subjective evaluations then you.
"We would get spear-phish email campaigns where the email sender and source IP would be different but all the emails were encoded in GB2312 (Chinese Simplified), and the time offset was UTC +8 (China time zone). That made for good surveillance, rather than blocking one could redirect/monitor the emails that matched that criteria."Also, I thought it was nice to see that Aaron's creepiness and competitiveness apparently extends to Second Life.
"What follow are some examples of how real location data can be used:The full e-mail is quite long and quite well-thought out. (And it's even correctly capitalized, since Aaron did not write it.) And all of that would be just fine and dandy coming from a game development company, or an advertising company trying to build brand-sticky "online experiences" for clients like Starbucks. But HBGary doesn't make games or ads, it's a security company with US government ties. Note that the theme of the game is never mentioned in the e-mail, only what kinds of information could be gleaned from it. Why would they want to create a surreptitious way to find out the real-world locations of people, their hometowns, their IP addresses, the names of people in their social networks, etc.?
1. Loitering
a. Where does the player like to spend time in the real world?
b. Example: Starbucks owns a virtual property in the 'San Francisco' region of the fantasy city. This property contains a special VIP lounge with some form of direct benefit to the player. Based on real-world location data, if the player spends more than 8 hours a month loitering in real Starbucks cafe's in San Francisco, it unlocks access to the special VIP area in the fantasy Starbucks - granting some benefit. This would encourage players to spend their real-world loitering time in Starbucks locations, possibly even using Starbucks wireless to access the game world. This translates to more retail sales for Starbucks.
2. Home Town
a. Players who are all located in the same town are offered special in-game benefits if they meet at a real world local park. This would be some form of quest. The benefit in-game would be meaningful, and it would encourage people to meet in real life...
The player's existing social networks can be integrated so that the player is likely to invite friends, family, and colleagues to play the game. Within the game, social groups can be created based on real-world social networks. In addition, virtual meeting places can be created based on common real-world interests. For example, players of like minded interests can construct a virtual 'meeting hall' or can create guilds devoted to a particular interest. They could meet and discuss their topic in the game world, and could casually game together. The game could offer an "invite a peer" program that utilizes the players *LinkedIn* social network to invite other players to a guild devoted to a particular industry. The player's *FaceBook* or *MySpace* network could be used for an 'invite a friend' program that gives the player a reward benefit. By extension, a player could give an in-game gift to a non-player in his social network, indirectly inviting that player to join the game. A buddy system in-game would give benefits to players who are already socially connected and join up as a team in-game. This incentive could be tied to a petition that requires a certain number of player signatures, inciting a player to invite friends from his social network."
According to the leaked e-mails, Aaron Barr believed that HBGary's website was itself subject to a denial-of-service attack shortly after he exposed himself to someone he believed to be a top Anonymous leaderexposed himself.. lol.
Some WikiLeaks associates are planning a new website called OpenLeaks, "dedicated to the same dangerous conduct," King added. "These organizations are a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. Julian Assange and his compatriots are enemies of the U.S and should be prosecuted ..."Fuck you, Peter King.
...I did not say they were completely justified. Nor have I said that the tools would not work. In the implementation and scale that Aaron wanted to do it, the programmer was right. I too perform this type of intelligence gathering so I know this....
Meanwhile, I hate to admit it, but, Jester did a better job at poking Anon in the eye AND he still hasn't been popped. Not for lack of trying though...posted by XMLicious at 10:19 AM on February 19, 2011
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posted by Xoebe at 9:44 AM on February 16, 2011 [4 favorites]