http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6100702/wikileaks_supporters_widen_ cyber_terror.html
Wikileaks Supporters Widen Cyber Terror Attacks; Swedish Government, Sarah Palin, Amazon, Paypal Targeted By Mark Whittington The cyber terrorist denial of service attacks <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6098312/wikileaks_hacktivists_laun ch_revenge.html?cat=15> by supporters of Wikileaks continues, with targets ranging from the Swedish government to Amazon to PayPal. Sarah Palin's personal website and credit card information <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336806/Army-hackers-targets-Sarah- Palin-Swedish-government-credit-card-giants-WikiLeaks-Operation-Payback.html > have also been attacked. In the spirit of full disclosure, this author has been personally inconvenienced by the PayPal denial of service attack, and is really put out about it. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, has apparently been targeted because of her criticism of Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange, now in a British jail pending possible extradition to Sweden to face sex crimes charges. According to the UK Daily Mail: "SarahPAC aide Rebecca Mansour told ABC news:'No wonder others are keeping silent about (WikiLeaks founder Julian) Assange's antics. "'This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.' "Palin sparked fury among WikiLeaks supporters when she urged the US government to pursue Assange in the same way it sought Taliban leaders." Julian Assange and his supporters have interpreted Palin's comment as a suggestion that Assange should be hunted down and killed, much like Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists are dealt with. The argument has developed a little more cogency now that supporters of Wikileaks are conducting cyber terrorist attacks against various people and groups, including financial institutions. Millions of people are now being inconvenienced because of what the cyber terrorists call "Operation Payback," of which a logo depicting a pirate ship has been created. That last is something of an irony. Pirates, like terrorists, were once subject to being hunted down and killed during the 17th and 18th centuries without legal recourse. 21st century governments will no doubt treat the Wikileaks "Operation Payback" cyber terrorists a little more gently than the pirates of yore or modern Al Qaeda. The cyber terrorists apparently all live in Western countries and are thus subject to the rule of law of those countries. It is a matter of some urgency that these hackers be hunted down, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of applicable laws. Modern civilization relies on computer systems, and attacks on those systems should be responded to with zero tolerance. Looking at the larger picture, whatever moral high ground Wikileaks and its supporters maintained by their claims that they were just revealing government secrets and providing transparency to the conduct of security and diplomacy has been forever undercut. It is one thing to embarrass the US State Department. It is another thing to attack the financial system of the world. The attacks call for the sternest measures possible. Sources: Wikileaks 'Hacktivists' Launch Revenge Cyber Attacks, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, December 8th, 2010 <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6098312/wikileaks_hacktivists_laun ch_revenge.html?cat=15> Army of hackers targets the Swedish government, Sarah Palin and credit card giants in WikiLeaks 'Operation: Payback', Colin Fernandez and Laura Caroe, UK Daily Mail, December 9th, 2010 <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336806/WikiLeaks-hackers-Operation -Payback-cyber-war-targets-Swedish-Government.html> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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