The English Guardian recently published an interesting study, which revealed a curious fact — as it turned out, in the United States, one out of four computer technology specialists is an FBI informant.
The Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service used the most effective means — the threat of imprisonment-to build a whole network of informers among the criminal representatives of the Internet.
The underground world of the Internet is filled with paranoia and distrust, the newspaper reports. This is not surprising, given the above number of people for whom the principles of omerta are just an empty phrase.
In some cases, illegal forums used by individuals with less than honest intentions to, say, sell stolen personal data or banking data were created and maintained by those who are on the hook of the FBI. In other cases, agents themselves act as carders, gaining moderation rights (or any other control) and, as a result, putting behind bars not one or two violators, but entire groups.
Eric Corley, who conducted this study, says that: "A person who has earned himself a serious prison sentence almost always grabs the offer of the authorities, becoming the eyes and ears of the security services. Given the experience that most of them have, they are very vulnerable to bullying."
"This is done to increase the tension of interconnections," notes John Young, owner of Cryptome, a web — based repository for classified documents through WikiLeaks. "There are dozens, if not hundreds of people who were turned in by the people they trusted the most."
The most prominent example of this phenomenon is Adrian Lamo, a captured and charged hacker who turned out to be an informant in the case of Bradley Manning, the main supplier of classified documents to Wikileaks. Manning communicated with Lamo through a regular IM client, moreover, he trusted him, and even asked for advice. Lamo repaid the trust by collecting all the incriminating information, and handed over the 23-year-old specialist to the military ranks. Let me remind you that Manning has been behind bars for more than a year, and, according to experts, he faces either a life sentence or the death penalty.
For this act, Adrian has already earned the prefix "Judas" and "The most hated hacker in the world", despite his words that he acted "out of ignorance that someone could be harmed or killed by the publication of thousands of diplomatic and classified papers in WikiLeaks."
In his latest interview, Lamo says: "Obviously things aren't going well for him right now, but it wasn't a picnic in nature for me either. He followed his own mind, and I followed mine."
However, the last obstacle for the FBI in terms of "disturbing the peace" was a group of "hacktivists" who launched several highly effective cyber attacks solely to impress. In the latter case, the Lulz Security group attacked the InfraGard organization associated with the Bureau. This was in response to news from the Pentagon that "foreign cyber attacks will be considered an act of war."
However, Lulz is far from the only one, and they are on a par with the Anonymous group, which attacked Visa and MasterCard systems in response to the blocking of donations to WikiLeaks. And if Lulz Security is such a new phenomenon that the FBI will have to deal with them for a long time, then Anonymous, according to rumors, is already under pressure from the Bureau. In January, raids were carried out at 40 addresses in the United States and five in the United Kingdom, and the California Supreme Court has already received evidence to initiate a federal case.
Kevin Poulsen, senior editor at Wired, believes that anything collective is classically vulnerable to intrusion and destruction. "We are already seeing individual Anonymous members attacking each other and giving up IP addresses. This is the first step to becoming controlled by the FBI."
Barret Brown, who served as a spokesperson for the Anonymous group, said he was fully aware of the Federal Bureau's interest. "The FBI has always been there. Always watched, always in chats. No one ever knows who is an informant and who is not, and this makes us even more vulnerable."
It seems that anonymity is now becoming the second authentication method.
The Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service used the most effective means — the threat of imprisonment-to build a whole network of informers among the criminal representatives of the Internet.
The underground world of the Internet is filled with paranoia and distrust, the newspaper reports. This is not surprising, given the above number of people for whom the principles of omerta are just an empty phrase.
In some cases, illegal forums used by individuals with less than honest intentions to, say, sell stolen personal data or banking data were created and maintained by those who are on the hook of the FBI. In other cases, agents themselves act as carders, gaining moderation rights (or any other control) and, as a result, putting behind bars not one or two violators, but entire groups.
Eric Corley, who conducted this study, says that: "A person who has earned himself a serious prison sentence almost always grabs the offer of the authorities, becoming the eyes and ears of the security services. Given the experience that most of them have, they are very vulnerable to bullying."
"This is done to increase the tension of interconnections," notes John Young, owner of Cryptome, a web — based repository for classified documents through WikiLeaks. "There are dozens, if not hundreds of people who were turned in by the people they trusted the most."
The most prominent example of this phenomenon is Adrian Lamo, a captured and charged hacker who turned out to be an informant in the case of Bradley Manning, the main supplier of classified documents to Wikileaks. Manning communicated with Lamo through a regular IM client, moreover, he trusted him, and even asked for advice. Lamo repaid the trust by collecting all the incriminating information, and handed over the 23-year-old specialist to the military ranks. Let me remind you that Manning has been behind bars for more than a year, and, according to experts, he faces either a life sentence or the death penalty.
For this act, Adrian has already earned the prefix "Judas" and "The most hated hacker in the world", despite his words that he acted "out of ignorance that someone could be harmed or killed by the publication of thousands of diplomatic and classified papers in WikiLeaks."
In his latest interview, Lamo says: "Obviously things aren't going well for him right now, but it wasn't a picnic in nature for me either. He followed his own mind, and I followed mine."
However, the last obstacle for the FBI in terms of "disturbing the peace" was a group of "hacktivists" who launched several highly effective cyber attacks solely to impress. In the latter case, the Lulz Security group attacked the InfraGard organization associated with the Bureau. This was in response to news from the Pentagon that "foreign cyber attacks will be considered an act of war."
However, Lulz is far from the only one, and they are on a par with the Anonymous group, which attacked Visa and MasterCard systems in response to the blocking of donations to WikiLeaks. And if Lulz Security is such a new phenomenon that the FBI will have to deal with them for a long time, then Anonymous, according to rumors, is already under pressure from the Bureau. In January, raids were carried out at 40 addresses in the United States and five in the United Kingdom, and the California Supreme Court has already received evidence to initiate a federal case.
Kevin Poulsen, senior editor at Wired, believes that anything collective is classically vulnerable to intrusion and destruction. "We are already seeing individual Anonymous members attacking each other and giving up IP addresses. This is the first step to becoming controlled by the FBI."
Barret Brown, who served as a spokesperson for the Anonymous group, said he was fully aware of the Federal Bureau's interest. "The FBI has always been there. Always watched, always in chats. No one ever knows who is an informant and who is not, and this makes us even more vulnerable."
It seems that anonymity is now becoming the second authentication method.
