Anonymous joins FBI - Scotland Yard conference call
February 3, 2012 11:05 AM   Subscribe

Hacker group Anonymous joined the FBI - Scotland Yard conference call coordinating their strategy against Anonymous. Call recording is now on YouTube with some suspect names bleeped.
posted by zeikka (159 comments total) 53 users marked this as a favorite
 
AARP is advertising before the Anon video. I don't know why, but that amuses me greatly.
posted by Think_Long at 11:08 AM on February 3, 2012 [9 favorites]


Hilarious.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:08 AM on February 3, 2012


Cracks me up. The email is on Pastebin
posted by Ad hominem at 11:10 AM on February 3, 2012


McDonalds in the Pentagon. This is wonderful.
posted by penduluum at 11:11 AM on February 3, 2012


FBI discovers what "pwned" means.
posted by goethean at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


At this point I can't tell if reality becoming a Stephenson novel is a good or bad thing
posted by The Whelk at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2012 [70 favorites]


Awesome.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2012


Bugs Bunny would be proud.
posted by Divine_Wino at 11:14 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


Is this a joke? Over 4 mins in and they're still bs'ing?
posted by Big_B at 11:16 AM on February 3, 2012


Cluley believes that aside from the sheer cheek of the hack there is certainly a serious side to it, and shows security officials to be bungling and care free.

Don't worry, they can fix that with a massive upgrade in theatricals.
posted by DU at 11:17 AM on February 3, 2012 [38 favorites]


Would forwarding a boiler plate email on email security to that list of addy's be inadvisable?
posted by Slackermagee at 11:17 AM on February 3, 2012


*smothers giggles*
posted by infini at 11:19 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


I like how uncomfortable and awkward and embarrassed I am for everyone during that chit-chat. I have Skype meetings with clients in London that sound just like that all the time.
posted by stagewhisper at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2012


Would forwarding a boiler plate email on email security to that list of addy's be inadvisable?

I already think clicking on the links (after doing it, of course) is probably inadvisable, and I probably blacklisted my company in some way. So yes, inadvisable to email these folks. Very.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2012


This is pure speculation on my part, but stuff like this makes me wonder if one or more members of Anonymous are people with high level government security clearance who don't like some of the things the US government is doing, but don't want to openly blow the whistle for fear of reprisals.
posted by TedW at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2012 [40 favorites]


They should have had moles secretly tell each side, "don't tell anyone else just yet, but I can prove that the other side has been compromised by Anonymous. The lid shall be blown. All shall be revealed at the conference call. I will tip you off by coughing. After I cough, shout 'STOP FARTING, I KNOW THAT WAS A FART INSTEAD OF A COUGH.' Wait three seconds for my response. Be aware that I obviously can't prevent other people from coughing, but keep doing it until you get to me. Take care and good luck."
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2012 [18 favorites]


Would forwarding a boiler plate email on email security to that list of addy's be inadvisable?

Heh. Probably not a good idea.

It does seem pretty unbelievable that the FBI, the Met, &c. don't encrypt their mail.
posted by jack_mo at 11:21 AM on February 3, 2012


Honestly, the Scotland Yard guys sound pretty charismatic. The Americans seems so serious in comparison.
posted by spiderskull at 11:22 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


"Cracks me up. The email is on Pastebin"

Y 1 Female invited ? ???
posted by stagewhisper at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2012


I love that chit chat. I'm listening to it pretending I'm on mute, just like a normal working day.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


WOW this is intense.
posted by rebent at 11:25 AM on February 3, 2012


They were really lucky. One of the first guys on heard 3 beeps and said "I don't know if we are the only people on" and then just lets it go.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:29 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


Subject: Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call

Indeed...
posted by the painkiller at 11:30 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


The "Sheffield is a total pit" side conversation is very amusing to my SO from the area.
posted by The Whelk at 11:31 AM on February 3, 2012


HA! That is more than hilarious. I run a conference call meeting for my office every day; we're nowhere NEAR super-confidential – we just do address services for catalogs, for heaven's sake. And even so, if only for simple accounting purposes, I am careful to dial in a little early and count the number of people who get on the call, getting their names and figuring out who's on.

The fact that *I* have better security on my calls than the freaking FBI and Scotland Yard is kind of a trip.
posted by koeselitz at 11:33 AM on February 3, 2012 [33 favorites]


Ad hominem: "They were really lucky. One of the first guys on heard 3 beeps and said "I don't know if we are the only people on" and then just lets it go."

That's what every first guy of every conference call ever in the history of boring ass meetings has said. It doesn't mean that he suspects they are being surveilled.

Also it took enormous restraint on the part of Anonymous not to un-mute and say something. God I would be falling over myself with like a hundred different lulzy things to say.

Brony soundboard perhapsss
posted by danny the boy at 11:34 AM on February 3, 2012 [22 favorites]


wonder if one or more members of Anonymous are people with high level government security clearance

More likely just social engineering. Methods are well covered in the awesome book by Kevin Mitnick in Ghost in the Wires (2011) - he did the same thing, monitored the FBI by wiretapping their phones and so was (often) one step ahead of them. When he was caught in a "surprise" raid, he had a box of donuts with the raiding FBI agents names on it sitting on the kitchen table.
posted by stbalbach at 11:35 AM on February 3, 2012 [45 favorites]


That's what every first guy of every conference call ever in the history of boring ass meetings has said. It doesn't mean that he suspects they are being surveilled.


I know that, but every call I have ever been on would ask who all the beeps were. You want to know who is on just from a practical standpoint. This is an unmoderated call with a set number of participants.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:37 AM on February 3, 2012


I kept waiting for some payoff or big reveal at the end.
posted by slogger at 11:38 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Pretty sure my company uses the same conf call vendor based on the incoming/outgoing beeps. That service can have operator-joined-only calls, where you have to identify yourself to an operator that has the guest list, and they manually join you to it. We do that for calls where anything confidential is discussed. It is really astonishing that the feds don't do this. At least they would have had to do some level of social engineering, and if two people called in as the same name, the operator would know something's up.

Hell, it is astonishing that they even use a conf call service to talk about things over POTS - the most insecure thing possible. I would have expected all their communications to be over some not-internet private "spy" network, where the VOIP callmanagers are connected to the other callmanagers over point-to-point VPNs (which is what we do for all our server-to-server stuff, over our internal WAN.)

I WANT TO BELIEVE.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 11:39 AM on February 3, 2012 [6 favorites]


he did the same thing, monitored the FBI by wiretapping their phones and so was (often) one step ahead of them

Back in the olden days there was a way to drop in to calls in progress using what was known as "no test trunks" it was effective until at least the early 90s, dunno if it still is.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:39 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's a little weird that the beginning chit chat sounds just as mundane and trite as all of my awesome conference calls. They are people too!
posted by kendrak at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2012


I love this world we live in. We must eventually pass some very boring but extremely important laws subjecting all elected representatives, all important bureaucrats, all government lawyers, and all law enforcement officers to compulsory 24-7 recording, but now we can enjoy the transgressions of knowing a smidgin of insider corruption here and there.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


And even so, if only for simple accounting purposes, I am careful to dial in a little early and count the number of people who get on the call, getting their names and figuring out who's on.

We keep track too, but do you actually do anything if you count 8 beeps and only 7 people are on?
posted by smackfu at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2012


I know that, but every call I have ever been on would ask who all the beeps were. You want to know who is on just from a practical standpoint. This is an unmoderated call with a set number of participants.

I once dialed in and brought a call to a screeching halt because I'd accidentally muted my phone and couldn't ID myself. Everyone stopped, thinking they had a mystery guest eavesdropping and the call didn't resume for a good minute until I figured out what was going on and unmuted.
posted by nathancaswell at 11:43 AM on February 3, 2012


Pretty sure my company uses the same conf call vendor based on the incoming/outgoing beeps. That service can have operator-joined-only calls, where you have to identify yourself to an operator that has the guest list, and they manually join you to it.

They also probably have an option where it will always prompt for you to record your name when you dial in. So instead of just hearing a beep you hear an automated "John Smith has joined the call" announcement.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:43 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Beep counting is a bit pointless when your email is blown wide open.
posted by edd at 11:44 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


Pretty sure my company uses the same conf call vendor based on the incoming/outgoing beeps.

More than one person has said this. I don't think the beeps are caused by the company name. I think they are caused by the equipment. And the same equipment can be owned by different people, including the FBI themselves.
posted by DU at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


The "Sheffield is a total pit" side conversation is very amusing to my SO from the area.

"It has a university and a shopping mall" is a pretty good summation of the place. There's not a great deal else between the two, sadly.
posted by Jehan at 11:47 AM on February 3, 2012


hey now I only saw one homeless guy beaten in alleyway there it's not all bad
posted by The Whelk at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Ad hominem: "I know that, but every call I have ever been on would ask who all the beeps were. You want to know who is on just from a practical standpoint. This is an unmoderated call with a set number of participants."

Every conference call I have been on has pretty much gone on the same exact script for the first 5 minutes. You call in, ask who else is on the line (even though the conf call software is supposed to tell you exactly how many and in some cases who) and no one knows what the fuck the beeps mean so every time someone hears something they ask "did someone just join" and half the time someone replies but the other half of the time it's just silence and you don't know if the dude has mute on or if it's magic wood elves or what. Also pretty much every conf asks you to announce your name, but mysteriously, this recording has never been used or heard by anyone, ever.

Basically shitty software design and seemingly inconsistent outcomes to your actions means no one knows what the fuck is happening at all times and we all just shrug.
posted by danny the boy at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2012 [48 favorites]


While I'm sure Scotland Yard and the FBI are both full of very smart people, I'm also sure that there are also arrogant, complacent placeholders in the organizations as well. Hence the relatively lax security on the conference call.

I'm also reminded of how many close calls and seemingly obvious errors in judgment had kept notorious traitor Kim Philby afloat. For example, Philby would tell his secretaries that, despite the office-wide rule that all offices were to be locked at night, Philby would somewhat condescendingly remind those secretaries that he was their superior, and that he would get them in serious trouble unless they let him lock up their offices. This is, of course, precisely the sort of behavior you would expect to see in a spy, and this is of course precisely the sort of behavior that that rule was meant to prevent, but in the moment, those concerns just whistled on past.

So, yeah. Extant beeps on a conference call.

They had probably assumed that, by dint of being the FBI and Scotland Yard, no one would ever listen in on them. This is, of course, the upside-down logic of someone whose power has not been questioned in far too long. The reason why people wouldn't listen in on their conference call would be because those organizations ought to have tight security, not because spies would intimidated by the supposed authority of the FBI and Scotland Yard.
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


smackfu: “We keep track too, but do you actually do anything if you count 8 beeps and only 7 people are on?”

There's this long, boring sequence as I ask repeatedly: "hello? I think there's one more person on. Is your mute button on? Hello?" over and over again for about a minute. This generally annoys everybody else on the call. After that, yeah, I proceed anyway. If I were in the FBI, though, that's the point where I would just cancel the call. I mean, come on. And they didn't even get to the point of counting the beeps.
posted by koeselitz at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Fucking beeps, how do they work?
posted by Ad hominem at 11:50 AM on February 3, 2012 [16 favorites]


ARTHUR: If you will not show us the Grail, we shall take your castle by force!

GUARD: You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! ---Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur-king, you and all your silly English knnnniggets. Thppppt!

GALAHAD: What a strange person.

ARTHUR: Now look here, my good man!

GUARD: I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper!...... I fart in your general direction! . Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

GALAHAD: Is there someone else up there we could talk to?

GUARD: No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time-a!
posted by caddis at 11:51 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]




They had probably assumed that, by dint of being the FBI and Scotland Yard, no one would ever listen in on them.


Like most bureaucratic organizations, they probably spend so much time in conference calls and meetings that they became terribly run of the mill and dull. Familiarity breeding contempt and all that.

Now where did I write down my that account password...
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:56 AM on February 3, 2012


It makes interesting listening as they have to use the online handles of the individuals. For example, "We've been speaking with the Irish about Palladian and PwnSauce"
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 11:56 AM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Clearly, if I decide to enter into a life of lulzcrime, I will have to choose my nym so as to be most hilariously out-of-place in an international conference call.
posted by hattifattener at 11:59 AM on February 3, 2012 [19 favorites]


These teleconferencing solutions, if they are using the one that I suspect they are have corresponding desktop applications where you can verify callers and drops those who are not recognized. That said, the software basically sucks, so it rarely gets used.
posted by iamabot at 12:00 PM on February 3, 2012


As an aside, that same software can be used to remotely record calls and silently add callers. So noodle over that for a while.
posted by iamabot at 12:01 PM on February 3, 2012


If I ran anonymous I would make it priority 1 to create a fake person high up in the hierarchy with the handle "I'm a filthy wanker now spank me!". And basically pin everything on him. For the lulz. And operational security.
posted by danny the boy at 12:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


, "We've been speaking with the Irish about Palladian and PwnSauce"

I love the future where we all sound like interns at the League Of Superhero's Office Annex
posted by The Whelk at 12:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [23 favorites]


This is pure speculation on my part, but stuff like this makes me wonder if one or more members of Anonymous are people with high level government security clearance who don't like some of the things the US government is doing, but don't want to openly blow the whistle for fear of reprisals.

Reminds me of a Timothy Leary interview from around 1990 where he said he wasn't too concerned anymore about a 1984-style-totalitarian all world police state, simply because it would require too many tech-geeks in order to function, and tech-geeks had a bad habit of being big on small "l" libertarianism, inherently down on "The Man" -- particularly the best and brightest of them.
posted by philip-random at 12:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [14 favorites]


Clearly, if I decide to enter into a life of lulzcrime, I will have to choose my nym so as to be most hilariously out-of-place in an international conference call.

aaaa_that'sfivea'swithnounderscoreafterit
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [41 favorites]


The biggest issue with our system is when someone puts the call on-hold and their company has hold music.

Then all hell breaks loose trying to get an operator on the line to mute/drop that caller. The whole thing pretty much grinds to a halt until that gets resolved.
posted by wcfields at 12:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [4 favorites]


One of the first guys on heard 3 beeps and said "I don't know if we are the only people on" and then just lets it go.

Unless they were expecting to be recorded by even deeper security and so didn't say anything further. Sometimes the most paranoid will display what seems to be the oddest discrepancies to the outsider or less paranoid.
posted by infini at 12:04 PM on February 3, 2012


Btw have used only Skype for more than 5 years now, you know who is in a conference call and I'm guessing only agencies can record or eavesdrop.
posted by infini at 12:05 PM on February 3, 2012


Is this the transparency Obama promised us?
posted by phaedon at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2012 [9 favorites]


It also if kinda funny that they have conference rooms dialed into a bridge. I put a stop to that shit at my job. No way am I walking over to a conference room and waiting for people to clear out just so I can sit there and stare at a bunch of people while we all sit there listening to a speakerphone.
posted by Ad hominem at 12:09 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Man, that "is anyone on from Ireland?" near the end was just a big fat opportunity for comedy gold.
posted by Shepherd at 12:10 PM on February 3, 2012


Don't you just hate when that happens?

(... trying hard not to die laughing ...)
posted by cool breeze at 12:11 PM on February 3, 2012


Back in the olden days there was a way to drop in to calls in progress using what was known as "no test trunks" it was effective until at least the early 90s, dunno if it still is.

Probably not the same thing, but back in the 80s and 90s, we had a portable radio that had a channel marked "air". When i was bored i would move the dial back and forth and see what came up. We lived on the path of bombing range and i would pick up the pilots talking to people, other air traffic, and last but not least, wireless phones. I know they've gotten better security since then, but it was interesting to me when i was younger hearing stuff i clearly wasn't supposed to. Granted, the stuff talked about was boring as all hell, but still. ;)
posted by usagizero at 12:13 PM on February 3, 2012


"Cant Stop Laughing Security" is also a pretty good handle. I am a bit surprised they are able to trace some of these people. I recently bought a 3G dongle in Ireland, paid for it in cash and could top it up using a code that I could purchase using cash. Seems like if you used this in an urban area, and swapped numbers occasionally it would be pretty hard to pin you down.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 12:15 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


The biggest issue with our system is when someone puts the call on-hold and their company has hold music.

Then all hell breaks loose trying to get an operator on the line to mute/drop that caller. The whole thing pretty much grinds to a halt until that gets resolved.


With the rise in virtual workers the thing that is about as annoying as the hold music are the people who have their barking dogs or screaming kids in the background. Or, for maximum points, both at once!
posted by winna at 12:16 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Reminds me of a Timothy Leary interview from around 1990 where he said he wasn't too concerned anymore about a 1984-style-totalitarian all world police state, simply because it would require too many tech-geeks in order to function, and tech-geeks had a bad habit of being big on small "l" libertarianism, inherently down on "The Man" -- particularly the best and brightest of them.

Ah, the halcyon days before stock options....
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:17 PM on February 3, 2012 [12 favorites]


No way am I walking over to a conference room and waiting for people to clear out just so I can sit there and stare at a bunch of people while we all sit there listening to a speakerphone.

There's pressure where I work to do it that way because it's significantly cheaper than having people individually dial in on their desk lines because the conference call provider charges by number of lines that dial in.

With the rise in virtual workers the thing that is about as annoying as the hold music are the people who have their barking dogs or screaming kids in the background. Or, for maximum points, both at once!

My least favorite are people who call in while walking around outside and sound like they are in a high speed wind-tunnel.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:20 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Scotland Yard: We're happy to help, I mean, we know we've cocked things up in the past[...]Project Mayhem or whatever that was, Operation Fuck You[...]he's a fifteen year old shit[...]he has claimed credit for Steam which is some kind of gaming site with 32,000 usernames[...]there's one called Grandma Wongs[...]whether they're online friends or 3-dimensional friends I'm not sure...

Hahaha this is awesome!
posted by omnikron at 12:22 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]



Ah, the halcyon days before stock options....
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:17 PM on February 3 [+] [!]


That and the ongoing industrialization of the computer industry, where certain much lauded benefits and freedoms are eroded in favor of certificates and replaceable cogs.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:22 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


"Do you want to talk about cheese?"

Lulz indeed.
posted by jokeefe at 12:23 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


"Steam - which is some sort of gaming site..." and the FBI guy is like "mmm-hmmm"
(kinda like "yeah, I know Steam - I pwn noobz on TF2")...
posted by symbioid at 12:23 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Clearly, if I decide to enter into a life of lulzcrime, I will have to choose my nym so as to be most hilariously out-of-place in an international conference call.

Hellocanyouhearstillhearme, Imissedthatlastbit, and Ihavetogonow.
posted by Jehan at 12:23 PM on February 3, 2012 [7 favorites]


When I think about it my World of Warcraft guild has better conference call security.
posted by edd at 12:29 PM on February 3, 2012 [8 favorites]


edd: "When I think about it my World of Warcraft guild has better conference call security."

Well - considering what's at stake, what with fighting Arthas and Deathwing and all those world destroying baddies, versus a few script kiddies, I'd HOPE you have better security than the FBI/Scotland Yard!
posted by symbioid at 12:31 PM on February 3, 2012 [4 favorites]


With the rise in virtual workers the thing that is about as annoying as the hold music are the people who have their barking dogs or screaming kids in the background. Or, for maximum points, both at once!

I work with offshore peeps that, I swear, call from nightclubs.
posted by Ad hominem at 12:32 PM on February 3, 2012


"yeah, I know Steam - I pwn noobz on TF2")...

always plays as the spy...
posted by nathancaswell at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


Clearly, if I decide to enter into a life of lulzcrime, I will have to choose my nym so as to be most hilariously out-of-place in an international conference call.

Aynayda Pizaqvick and Malexa Kröest
posted by zippy at 12:38 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


...

BEEP

"Who just joined?"

"This is headquarters, who else do we have on the call?"

"Los Angeles is here."

"Great, hey guys..."

"UK office here with Bruce and Dave."

"Hi Bruce, Hi Dave... anyone else?"

"HELLO FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION. WE ARE ANONYMOUS."

"Hi Anonymous, glad you could join us this morning. Where are you calling from?"

"WE LIVE IN THE SPACE BETWEEN WAKING AND DREAMING. WE MOVE IN THE SHADOWS. WE ARE ALWAYS WATCHING. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. WE ARE EVERYONE. WE ARE EVERYWHERE."

"OK great! So jumping right in, I thought we'd start by looking at the latest TPS reports, did everyone get a copy of those in their email?"

...
posted by AlsoMike at 12:41 PM on February 3, 2012 [69 favorites]


They're either being very foolish in not taking more careful advantage of whatever sources they have, or they're being absolute geniuses with antics that will make it hard for grand jurors to sit through and not break out in giggles.
posted by ocschwar at 12:48 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


"particularly the best and brightest of them."

Adrian Llamo being an exception then?
posted by NiteMayr at 12:48 PM on February 3, 2012


The elite global anti-hacker task-force is communicating via SMTP in plaintext and using ordinary conference bridges. *FACEPALM*

Imagine what real terrorists could do. We're so fucked.
posted by humanfont at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2012 [12 favorites]


With the rise in virtual workers the thing that is about as annoying as the hold music are the people who have their barking dogs or screaming kids...

Nothing beats being right in the middle of a super-serious conf call and hearing a toilet flush.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:55 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


"OK great! So jumping right in, I thought we'd start by looking at the latest TPS reports, did everyone get a copy of those in their email?"

"Bruce here. I don't remember getting the email. Forgive me."

"WE ARE ANONYMOUS. WE DO NOT FORGET. WE DO NOT FORGIVE."
posted by hamandcheese at 12:55 PM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


Don't rag on Obama for the bungling justice department. The Keystone Cops routine is all part of Obama's way of juggling his duties as president and being as a member of anonymous.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:56 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


I've long believed that the reason that massive, systemic global and historical inequality and other massively fucked up stuff continues to exist because there's no one hideous thing to point at -- everyone involved in The System is just some guy.


The Man is some dude in a shitty conference room making jokes about cheese.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 12:57 PM on February 3, 2012 [47 favorites]


Metafilter: The Man is some dude in a shitty conference room making jokes about cheese.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:58 PM on February 3, 2012


Of course, from a serious intelligence point of view, the obvious smart thing to do would be not to sacrifice a "wiretap" (or whatever its called) like this (and alerting the target that they have to comprehensively review their comms security) for the sake of a silly, short-lived publicity stunt, but just keep as quiet as possible and keep listening

Alternatively, Anonymous IS a publicity stunt, so this is exactly what they do.

(I don't mean that entirely dismissively. Making the hidden public is basically the definition of what they're trying to do.)
posted by lewedswiver at 1:00 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]




The elite global anti-hacker task-force is communicating via SMTP in plaintext and using ordinary conference bridges. *FACEPALM*


That would totally be an issue if they were doing something useful.
posted by Stagger Lee at 1:02 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Shit people say on conference calls.
posted by Bovine Love at 1:03 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Basically shitty software design and seemingly inconsistent outcomes to your actions means no one knows what the fuck is happening at all times and we all just shrug.
Anything with a dialpad and audio UI is going to suck, but they could have something where you press # and hear a voice saying "seven listeners" or something. But really they should be using something on the computer.

It kind of blows my mind that international police and security organizations are using shitty software like this.

----

The other thing is the shitty audio quality. Clearly, we have the bandwidth now to be able to do CD quality sound (with something like 128kbps mono MP3), so why don't we? It's all this shitty 8khz crap that makes it a lot more difficult to actually hear what's going on.
Of course, from a serious intelligence point of view, the obvious smart thing to do would be not to sacrifice a "wiretap" (or whatever its called) like this (and alerting the target that they have to comprehensively review their comms security) for the sake of a silly, short-lived publicity stunt, but just keep as quiet as possible and keep listening
Yeah, that's a good point. But if the goal here is 'lulz' you have to release stuff every once in a while, otherwise, where are the lulz?
posted by delmoi at 1:07 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]



The Man is some dude in a shitty conference room making jokes about cheese.

And The Man logs on late because the conference room was double-booked.

Ah, the banality of evil.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 1:07 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


I could press *# on the conference call provider for my previous job and get the number of people connected. I would even do that for simple, daily stand-up meetings.
posted by Jacob G at 1:10 PM on February 3, 2012


Yeah sure, double booked conference room. They were late because it took them 5 minutes to figure out how to dial the conference room phone.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:11 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


Of course, from a serious intelligence point of view, the obvious smart thing to do would be not to sacrifice a "wiretap" (or whatever its called) like this (and alerting the target that they have to comprehensively review their comms security) for the sake of a silly, short-lived publicity stunt, but just keep as quiet as possible and keep listening

I may be giving Anonymous too much intentionality here, but couldn't they also use this event to see what changes up after this goes public?
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:14 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]



The other thing is the shitty audio quality. Clearly, we have the bandwidth now to be able to do CD quality sound (with something like 128kbps mono MP3), so why don't we? It's all this shitty 8khz crap that makes it a lot more difficult to actually hear what's going on.


Speaking as someone that runs conference calls for a public sector institution, it is almost impossible to get the funding to upgrade systems in the current economic climate. If it works, it will be used, and if that means teleconferencing gear from the 90s... so be it.

Our teleconferenced meetings are hell, and long distance communication is our mandate and specialty. I don't find it surprising at all that these organizations would be using similar systems.

It's not as easy as just upgrading the systems. Someone has to do the work and pay for it. When all of that is done, you still have to train the employees and have some system in place to make sure that they actually follow good practice.

Further, they probably do have a tighter system for meetings that they truly consider confidential and high security.

Not that I'm opposed to laughing at these guys, but it's really not that simple to fix.
posted by Stagger Lee at 1:14 PM on February 3, 2012




[. . . ]

Cockney Bruce: Hello, Bruce here, with Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Matt, and Bruce.

American Bruce: Is your name not Bruce?

Matt from Sheffield: No, it's Matt.

Brummie Bruce: That's going to cause some confusion.

Cockney Bruce: Mind if we call you Bruce, just to keep it clear?

Scouse Bruce: Right. That's settled. Crack tubes. . .

BEEEEEP!!

R. P. Bruce: Did somebruce just join?

[. . . ]
 
posted by Herodios at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2012 [8 favorites]


They were late because it took them 5 minutes to figure out how to dial the conference room phone.

No , silly, they had to finish off their snappy comment on Fark.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


"Wait, I think we're muted. Are we muted? Which button mutes us? Is the light supposed to be blinking or solid? Ok now we're muted. Hold on..."
posted by Big_B at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2012






Clearly, we have the bandwidth now to be able to do CD quality sound (with something like 128kbps mono MP3)

Because the widely supported low latency codecs available (G.722.1C, G729, AMR-NB) don't really do CD quality.
posted by Talez at 1:26 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Fucking awesome. Everyone involved should be fired. Non-secure e-mail? Come the fuck on.

A while ago there was a thread about email security and someone suggested auto-forwarding their work email to gmail to keep a permanent copy.

My brain almost exploded from picturing what would happen if I'd done that at work. I am pretty sure I'd get a blindfold and a cigarette. And this wasn't international security stuff, just financial services!
posted by winna at 1:29 PM on February 3, 2012


There will be a big fuss about this tomorrow in the Times, Sun and Wall Street Journal. It's getting so bad that sensitive conference calls are sometimes kicking News Corp journalists off because Anonymous has got in there first.
posted by reynir at 1:30 PM on February 3, 2012 [11 favorites]




Fucking awesome. Everyone involved should be fired. Non-secure e-mail? Come the fuck on.

A while ago there was a thread about email security and someone suggested auto-forwarding their work email to gmail to keep a permanent copy.


Most self-respecting places have an, "if it's confidential, don't say it in email" policy. It's the only way to be sure. Except for the difficulty in convincing people to follow it.
posted by Stagger Lee at 1:32 PM on February 3, 2012


The conference call was =
moved to Tuesday due to a US holiday on Monday. =20


Heh, heh. They originally scheduled it for MLK day. What a bunch of tools
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:35 PM on February 3, 2012


Oh, and so now we know they don't keep track of the numbers that are calling in, they just use the same low-tech conferencing services we all do. Nice to know.

Again, tools.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:40 PM on February 3, 2012


If I were Anon (and I'm not saying I'm not), I would immediately change my pseudonym to ObamaTheMuslim just so I could listen to FBI agents say things like "ObamaTheMuslim gained high-level access to our government" or "ObamaTheMuslim was seen wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in Ireland".
posted by madajb at 1:50 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


I would also start running "Project Hoover's Dress."
posted by madajb at 1:53 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


so back in the olden days, companies had had analog conference units hooked to their pbx. They had none of the bells and whistles we have today. Typically you just called a number and there was a bunch of people talking. Hackers used random company's confer units all the time. There was also a system ATT had a service call Allience, there was usually at least one hacker voice bridge going on at all times, the best part was you could make it dial out, so you could get 20 people on and listen in while someone called out and did some social engineering.

Stuff like freeconferencecalls.com takes some of the fun out of it.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:54 PM on February 3, 2012


The other thing is the shitty audio quality. Clearly, we have the bandwidth now to be able to do CD quality sound (with something like 128kbps mono MP3), so why don't we? It's all this shitty 8khz crap that makes it a lot more difficult to actually hear what's going on.

You understand that that call quality is impacted by the transient carriers right, it's not like upgrading one section of this will improve the call quality, also, you don't clearly have the bandwidth.
posted by iamabot at 1:55 PM on February 3, 2012


I think conference calls would be better off using Teamspeak or Mumble or Ventrilo. Hugely better quality, fewer technical issues, and you can SEE who is in the channel.
posted by Justinian at 1:55 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


They should use IRC, They should also use handles.

I wonder if someone could make a couple bucks teaching the FBI to think and act like "hackers"
posted by Ad hominem at 2:02 PM on February 3, 2012


I wonder if someone could make a couple bucks teaching the FBI to think and act like "hackers"

Air-drop an Oakley-clad Matthew Lillard into Quantico, have him use the word "dude" as much as possible while showing the FBI how to turn a computer off and on
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:05 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]


They should be forced to incorporate the hacker's lexicon into their vocabulary.
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:12 PM on February 3, 2012


Clearly, if I decide to enter into a life of lulzcrime, I will have to choose my nym so as to be most hilariously out-of-place in an international conference call.

"We've been talking to the Irish about The Fact That I Like To Nail Sheep In The Ass. They're pretty excited about the whole thing..."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:24 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


I do a lot of conference calls here are a few tips:

1-Learn the basic key commands that almost all providers have
a. Mute all others -- have you ever had someone put the entire bridge on hold and been forced to listen to hold music. As moderator you can fix this.
b. List participants / Private Role call -- tells you who is on.
c. Mute Individual -- See #1 above.
d. Call out -- very helpful when you need to bring someone in.
e. Operator help -- useful when you have to track others down.
f. start recording, stop recording
g. lock /unlock -- keep others from joining after you've done a role call.
h. end conference.

2-Make sure your bridge isn't set to auto-continue when you havn't started it as the moderator. Sometimes people will hang on after you hang up and listen to your next call.
3-If you must confer privately don't wait for the other party to hang up. Go to another bridge or make sure you terminate the call first.
4-Change your leader pin regularly. Do not put your leader pin in emails.
5-Change the participant pin regularly, avoid reuse
6-Many providers have a web client that lets you control the conference call. Make sure you get access to it.
7-Mute your self if you are on a cell phone, or not talking.
8-Avoid the speaker phone if at all possible. If you are hosting a conference call, use a headset.
9-Send your bridge dial in to allow people to automatically dial in from their iPhone by including ,, in the number. For example 866(number),,,1234(bridge pin)#,,,#(bridge code) Nothing is more frustrating than being stuck in a coffee shop somewhere trying to find a pen to write down the number for the bridge.
posted by humanfont at 2:34 PM on February 3, 2012 [13 favorites]


The Scotland Yard guys, despite cheerfully admitting how they have "cocked things up before", seem to have their act together more than the American contingent. Not only are they more charismatic by far, all the information-sharing seems to come from their end. Maybe because it was just after a holiday weekend, but our guys at the FBI weren't exactly sounding alert and up-to-date here.

Also, Bruce sounded so ill-at-ease and had so little to contribute that I found myself suspecting he's the Anonymous mole. He's right there from the beginning, and those later beeps don't make sense as possible Anonymous hackers to me since the call is recorded from the first minute, including the "McDonald's in the Pentagon" small talk.

So maybe Anonymous was there all along, being ballsy by officially connecting under his actual name and title, and also surreptiously recording the call. That would explain why the law enforcement guys didn't get all "one of these things is not like the other," with the beeps joining the call.

Can someone explain if it would be feasible for Anonymous to be there in both capacities, as someone officially supposed to be on the call and at the same time connecting with that other IP address they have acknowledged showed up uninvited?
posted by misha at 2:37 PM on February 3, 2012 [4 favorites]


You understand that that call quality is impacted by the transient carriers right, it's not like upgrading one section of this will improve the call quality, also, you don't clearly have the bandwidth.
What are you talking about? These people don't have internet connected computers? Skype sounds better then this -- and it's encrypted.
Sure , you can get much better call quality on a 1:1 Skype chat, but try maintaining that quality with a dozen people on from all corners of the globe. Not going to happen.
Google hangouts work pretty well for multi-person video conferencing (I haven't tried it). The technology is obviously possible. It kind of blows my mind that people put up with arcane technology like this when an internet connected laptop with web cam, or smart phone would make their lives so much simpler.
posted by delmoi at 2:38 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


If you've ever been on conference calls, this is SPOT ON and absolutely hilarious.
posted by ruelle at 2:40 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


"We've been talking to the Irish about The Fact That I Like To Nail Sheep In The Ass. They're pretty excited about the whole thing..."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:24 PM on February 3 [+] [!]


Eponysterical.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:46 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I sent it around to some coworkers who don't even know who anon is and they were cracking up at the banter.

I think in general, the British are less affected by the strange formality we have in US corporate culture. I am shocked and amazed by them all the time. I reported to my company's London office for about a year, despite being located in New York, and those guys are a hoot.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:59 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Google hangouts work pretty well for multi-person video conferencing (I haven't tried it). The technology is obviously possible. It kind of blows my mind that people put up with arcane technology like this when an internet connected laptop with web cam, or smart phone would make their lives so much simpler.

Just about every government office(and a lot of corporate ones) I've worked in had a blanket "no webcam" policy.
If you think a recorded conference call is bad, wait until some FBI guy leaves his webcam pointed at a classified whiteboard or something. Webcam recording trojans aren't exactly rare.
posted by madajb at 3:02 PM on February 3, 2012


McDonalds in the Pentagon. This is wonderful.

All the food at the Pentagon is terrible fast food dreck, except the cafeterias for the bigwigs.
posted by kdar at 3:40 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


What would be really funny is if this whole thing turned out to be a honeypot....
posted by IndigoJones at 3:43 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


"Aside from potentially hampering attempts to apprehend suspects, the revelation that the very people that security officials were hunting had become the hunted will be hugely embarrassing for all involved."

Where is that confounded editor?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:51 PM on February 3, 2012


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
posted by Maisie at 3:54 PM on February 3, 2012


Still laughing.
posted by Maisie at 4:27 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


The elite global anti-hacker task-force is communicating via SMTP in plaintext and using ordinary conference bridges. *FACEPALM*

I dunno that this is all that big a deal (aside from the lulz). This is asymmetric warfare, and as such secrecy favors the guerrilla faction, while the establishment operates with the enormous advantages of money and numbers.
posted by dhartung at 4:58 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


ANON: Now, Tim I just want to get a few things straight before we get out of here.

Tim: Shoot.

ANON: It's L-A-U-S-T-E-R, Timothy F. Jr., right?

Tim: That's right.

ANON: And your...lemme see...oh, here it is. Your social security number is 473-48-2394 and you have $4,739.93 in your checking account, um, account 73629803 at Bank of America, correct?
posted by double block and bleed at 5:03 PM on February 3, 2012


Obligatory twirlip comment.
posted by brundlefly at 5:35 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


tangentially related: That Beep.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 7:37 PM on February 3, 2012


Well - considering what's at stake, what with fighting Arthas and Deathwing and all those world destroying baddies, versus a few script kiddies, I'd HOPE you have better security than the FBI/Scotland Yard!

Everybody got so excited about the Frost Wyrms, but Undead Scourge SIGINT never gets the credit they deserve.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:39 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


FWIW Sheffield is a beautiful city on 7 hills surrounded by National Parks on 3 sides. It has 2 major Uni's, a pretty nice pedestrianized town center, and oh yes, the nightmare that is Meadowhall Shopping Center. A little pissed off that British Civil Servants are slagging off parts of their own country to some G-Men with sticks up their arses.
posted by grubby at 7:58 PM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


TWINED WITH MARS GRUBBY

TWINED WITH MARS.
posted by The Whelk at 8:03 PM on February 3, 2012


so essentially anyone can be part of anonymous, correct? all one needs to do is use the name?
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 8:19 PM on February 3, 2012


Well, not use a name at all I think is the key.
posted by Bovine Love at 9:12 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


RICK

RICK

RICK
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 9:25 PM on February 3, 2012


Is there a transcript?
posted by kandinski at 2:06 AM on February 4, 2012


RICK

RICK

BEEP

RICK?
posted by fullerine at 2:07 AM on February 4, 2012


Sheffield's all right... there's much worse places in the UK.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:01 AM on February 4, 2012


Most self-respecting places have an, "if it's confidential, don't say it in email" policy. It's the only way to be sure. Except for the difficulty in convincing people to follow it.

I've worked for one govt agency where anything that was confidential was kept on a network that wasn't connected to the outside world, and with USP ports and all drives locked down. We had separate PCs for internet/email. And we weren't, you know, the FBI or Scotland Yard.
posted by Infinite Jest at 4:28 AM on February 4, 2012


A little pissed off that British Civil Servants are slagging off parts of their own country

Isn't this practically an Olympic sport for the British, though? I know that in the four-plus years I've lived here, I've constantly run into natives who have little or nothing good to say about the UK.

(Incidentally, this is what I only half-jokingly tell people when they ask why I like the UK so much: it's a nation of sixty million introverted pessimists who like to drink a lot and complain about things. I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:04 AM on February 4, 2012 [4 favorites]


Isn't this practically an Olympic sport for the British, though? I know that in the four-plus years I've lived here, I've constantly run into natives who have little or nothing good to say about the UK.

Sure, but doing it to the FBI lacks class, don't you think?
posted by grubby at 5:55 AM on February 4, 2012


Also, they're employees of the British Government. Perhaps that only means London to the people from the Met.
posted by grubby at 6:00 AM on February 4, 2012


I just realized that FBI actually stands for "Frequently Being Imbarrassed" and yes, they misspelled "embarrassed" they're the FBI.
posted by fuq at 6:47 AM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]


The best part about this is that the FBI is going to be freaking the fuck out about security. The reason they don't use secure systems for this kind of communication is that they're a fucking pain in the ass to use, and if you just want to get shit done, you do it this way.

This is Assange's strategy in action. The release of this video is going to make the investigation just that little bit more inefficient... just imagine the paranoia right now... They're going to be investigating each other now!
posted by empath at 7:43 AM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]


If you think a recorded conference call is bad, wait until some FBI guy leaves his webcam pointed at a classified whiteboard or something. Webcam recording trojans aren't exactly rare.
Interesting. Still, you could just put some tape over the camera. I think you might be able to join without video.

It just seems absurd that serious government business is using technology that's significantly worse then what's available to the consumer, and, amazingly less secure, Especially since the FBI and Scotland yard don't need to worry about being spied on by… the FBI ands Scotland yard.

I realize that there is institutional red tape for security reasons, but in this case, clearly they fucked up their security anyway.
I dunno that this is all that big a deal (aside from the lulz). This is asymmetric warfare, and as such secrecy favors the guerrilla faction, while the establishment operates with the enormous advantages of money and numbers.
Yeah, the fact that Anon intercepted this call doesn't help them much. It was the FBI/SY discussing how they had all the 'dox' on all the hackers and were about to prosecute them. (and apparently had 'indecent images' on one of them).
posted by delmoi at 8:11 AM on February 4, 2012


stbalbach wrote:
More likely just social engineering. Methods are well covered in the awesome book by Kevin Mitnick in Ghost in the Wires (2011) - he did the same thing, monitored the FBI by wiretapping their phones and so was (often) one step ahead of them. When he was caught in a "surprise" raid, he had a box of donuts with the raiding FBI agents names on it sitting on the kitchen table.
Your memory is a little off. He just wrote "FBI Donuts" on his fridge door and on the donut box.

Still, a good story.
posted by Critical_Beatdown at 8:18 AM on February 4, 2012


Ironically US laws on crypto as the Internet emerged blocked east development of secure messaging protocols.
posted by humanfont at 10:10 AM on February 4, 2012


Imagine what real terrorists could do.

What, like intercept your unmanned drone's unencrypted live video feed?

Yeah, just imagine.
posted by dglynn at 1:44 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]


The Whelk: "At this point I can't tell if reality becoming a Stephenson novel is a good or bad thin"

Technically I think this moment of reality was cribbed from Death Note.
posted by pwnguin at 4:24 PM on February 4, 2012




More background on homunculus's link is here. The law firm homunculus refers to represented Sergeant Frank Wuterich, a Marine who admitted to taking part in killing two dozen in Haditha, Iraq, in retaliation for an IED strike. There's lots of interesting fallout destined to come from these leaks, though what I'm not sure (and I avoid downloading undigested caek, myself) but if these emails between one of the law firm partners and a known hate blogger regarding soldiers urinating on bodies are any small indication, I'd say life is going to be kind of uncomfortable for the parties involved for a while.
posted by stagewhisper at 2:44 PM on February 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


Sheffield is a nice city.

Sure it has its bad spots but it's a big-ish city with a small town feel. It has some wonderful pubs, a great music scene, lots of diversity in the population (and students, this may or may not be good, especially during the "pyjama jump" which is now apparently discontinued) and some damn good food.

The best thing about Sheff is the proximity to some of the best walking country in the country, 30 minutes and you're in the Peak District.
posted by hardcode at 3:11 PM on February 6, 2012


Sadly I think the strongest effect this will have is "confirming" that Anonymous is really a covert CIA front organization to the more out-there types (The first time I heard the Anonymous = CIA theory was part of a rambling, incoherent, and punctuation-free rant on my FB about how Anonymous is out to smear Ron Paul. I wish I were joking.)
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 12:33 PM on February 7, 2012




Interesting. I suppose that vigilante justice gets miss-placed quite trivially, maybe that's why we stopped duals, etc., eh? There is I suspect a truth that vigilante justice attempts to fill the gaps left by real justice though, largely the absence of an prosecutions of Bush administration officials here. If the U.S. hasn't shutdown wikileaks, then perhaps anonymous might've submitted their data through wikileaks, perhaps.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:11 AM on February 8, 2012


Victim Responds to Latest Anonymous Hack: ‘I Am a Supporter of Anonymous’

Maybe this is a nitpick but the headline seems to be misleading. The actual quote (my emphasis):
Ironically, I am a supporter of Anonymous' declared mission of exposing corruption, injustice, hypocrisy and governments acting in secret.
He then goes on to condemn what Anonymous has actually done.
posted by Anything at 10:53 AM on February 9, 2012


Anonymous Explains CIA Takedown
posted by homunculus at 6:13 PM on February 12, 2012


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