Tag Archive for: Pushed

Here’s How the Most Famous Hackers Pushed Computing to the Limits


Today, computer hacking and ransomware are common occurrences. Just this week, the U.S. managed to seize back $6 million paid in a ransomware attack against multiple companies. However, there was a time before organized groups of hackers operated out of windowless offices around the world seeking financial or political gains; this was a time when most hacking was conducted by lone teenagers working out of bedrooms in their parents’ houses, whose only goal was the sheer joy of accessing information.

Below, we’re going to take a look at some of the most famous — or, depending on your viewpoint, infamous — hackers of all time. But first, let’s delve into the history of hacking a little bit. 

You could argue that the idea of hacking began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 60s, when the term “hack” was used for elegant or inspired solutions to problems. Many of these “hacks” were actually practical jokes. One of the most extravagant saw a replica of a campus police car erected on top of the Institute’s Great Dome. Over time, the term became associated with the early computer programming scene, at MIT and elsewhere.

From MIT, the term spread out into the general computing lexicon.

Hacking as we know it began in the early 1970s with the increase in the use of mainframe computers and distributed computing. Early adopters of those technologies were government organizations and the military, and the Air Force conducted the first-ever penetration test of their systems in 1971, using what became known as “Tiger Teams”.

In 1980, the New York Times described hackers as, “technical experts; skilled, often young, computer programmers, who almost whimsically probe the defenses of a computer system, searching out the limits and possibilities of the machine”. Early hacker groups included the 414s — a group of six Milwaukee teenagers who, between 1982 and 1983, broke into computers at US institutions ranging from the Los Alamos National Library to the Security Pacific Bank, using cheap PCs, analog modems, and simple password-hacking techniques. 

By 1982, groups like the Legion of Doom, Masters of Deception, and Cult of the Dead Cow had turned hacking into a…

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Giuliani, Bannon, Flynn, Lindell pushed pro-Trump election lies at Guo Wengui party


Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (R) greets fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui before introducing him at a news conference on November 20, 2018 in New York, on the death of of tycoon Wang Jian in France on July 3, 2018.

Don Emmert | AFP | Getty Images

It was supposed to be a celebration for a movement that opposes the Chinese Communist Party.

Instead, the swanky private party, held in June at the top of One World Trade Center, served as a platform for several of former President Donald Trump’s allies, including former advisor Steve Bannon and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, to spew anti-government rhetoric and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

The invitation-only event was hosted by a couple shadowy nonprofits, the Rule of Law Foundation and the Rule of Law Society. They are linked to Guo Wengui, a wealthy exiled businessman from China who is an ardent opponent of that nation’s ruling Communist Party.

CNBC obtained a copy of the invitation, which lists Guo, Bannon and the two new chairs of the nonprofit organizations as speakers for the event. You can view the invitation here.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn, both known for pushing the false theory that claims the election was stolen from Trump, also spoke at the June 3 gathering.

“It’s like on the battlefield because this is warfare,” Flynn said at the event, which included lunch, dinner and afternoon tea. “This is warfare that we are in.”

It was streamed on YouTube, which has 30,000 views so far. Neither the YouTube video nor the invitation to the event have been reported on.

Read some of the remarks made at the event:

A person familiar with the event said there could have been up to 200 people in attendance at the Aspire, a catering hall located on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center.

A sales manager at Aspire would not confirm details of the Guo-supported event, although the manager said a 12-hour, 200-guest event with lunch and dinner stations could cost nearly $185,000.

The Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation describe themselves as a resource for whistleblowers who want to safely speak out against the Chinese government. Guo fled China…

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DOJ Seizes Domains, Claiming They Pushed Iranian Disinformation; Should Raise 1st Amendment Concerns

For about a decade now we’ve been questioning why the government is allowed to seize domains over claims of illegal behavior happening on a website. It seems to us that seizing a website is the equivalent of seizing a printing press or books — both of which would be deemed clear 1st Amendment violations. Unfortunately, even when those seizures have proven to be for made up reasons, no one has been able to challenge the underlying ability of the government to seize domains. And now it seems to happen all the time. And even if you believe the websites in question are doing something bad, seizing the websites is problematic.

The latest such case is the Justice Department announcing that it had seized a bunch of domains pushing disinformation on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The United States has seized 92 domain names that were unlawfully used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to engage in a global disinformation campaign, announced the Department of Justice.

According to the seizure documents, four of the domains purported to be genuine news outlets but were actually controlled by the IRGC and targeted the United States for the spread of Iranian propaganda to influence United States domestic and foreign policy in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and the remainder spread Iranian propaganda to other parts of the world. In addition, the seizure documents describe how all 92 domains were being used in violation of U.S. sanctions targeting both the Government of Iran and the IRGC.

According to reporter Kevin Collier, who used the Wayback Machine to check out some of these sites, they seemed like mostly junk with little US social media presence.

Even so, and even if we’re concerned about foreign disinformation campaigns targeting the US, it still makes me nervous when the US government feels that it can just go in and seize entire domains. It strikes me as the thing that can create blowback as well. The US has certainly been involved in foreign propaganda as well — and would we want foreign governments seizing the assets of, say, Voice of America?

Techdirt.