How secure is your website Winnipeg Police Service?
O'Ryan Johnson
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Internet vigilante group Anonymous
refuses to give up on its stranglehold of the Boston police website and is
likely to strike again in revenge for cops evicting Occupy campers from Dewey
Square, a man who claims to be the unofficial spokesman for the hacker
collective told the Herald yesterday.
“They’re mad. ... They’ve proven the point that they can get into your networks and do things,” said Gregg Housh, a former member of Anonymous from Malden.
“At any given moment, anyone can get on the (chat) and say, ‘We should attack this site and I’ve found a vulnerability,’ ” Housh said.
“It could just be one single person out there who has never even done
anything with Anonymous saying, ‘You should hit this.’ ... All of the major
attacks followed some form of injustice in their eye, and boom, they go after
them.”
Housh warned that Anonymous saboteurs all over the world — from China to Europe — are itching for the opportunity to punish the police for evicting Occupy Boston campers from downtown December 10.
“It’s something they have to be prepared for. They know there are repercussions for their actions,” he said of hacker-weary Boston cops.
Housh said Anonymous bandwidth bandits hit Friday when they took control of BPDnews.com — the police website devoted to community policing — when chatter targeting Boston picked up.
This Friday could bring even more chaos, he added, as Anonymous has warned they will wreak more wired havoc.
Housh said police called him Friday seeking help in the aftermath of the hack.
Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll declined to confirm his story, but she did say federal investigators have been brought in to assist.
Driscoll and community activists said shutting down BPD news has crippled one of the city’s key crime-fighting tools.
“For more than six years now, BPDNews has been a valuable resource for community members,” Driscoll said.
“It is unfortunate that these individuals would deprive the community of this important information outlet. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience and again apologize for the convenience.”
In the meantime, BPD has diverted Web traffic to the department’s Facebook page.
Milton Jones, director of operations at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester, said the hack has hurt neighborhood groups who rely on BPDnews for updates.
“They shouldn’t be hacking anything, but especially something that valuable to the community,” Jones said.
“They’re mad. ... They’ve proven the point that they can get into your networks and do things,” said Gregg Housh, a former member of Anonymous from Malden.
“At any given moment, anyone can get on the (chat) and say, ‘We should attack this site and I’ve found a vulnerability,’ ” Housh said.
Housh warned that Anonymous saboteurs all over the world — from China to Europe — are itching for the opportunity to punish the police for evicting Occupy Boston campers from downtown December 10.
“It’s something they have to be prepared for. They know there are repercussions for their actions,” he said of hacker-weary Boston cops.
Housh said Anonymous bandwidth bandits hit Friday when they took control of BPDnews.com — the police website devoted to community policing — when chatter targeting Boston picked up.
This Friday could bring even more chaos, he added, as Anonymous has warned they will wreak more wired havoc.
Housh said police called him Friday seeking help in the aftermath of the hack.
Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll declined to confirm his story, but she did say federal investigators have been brought in to assist.
Driscoll and community activists said shutting down BPD news has crippled one of the city’s key crime-fighting tools.
“For more than six years now, BPDNews has been a valuable resource for community members,” Driscoll said.
“It is unfortunate that these individuals would deprive the community of this important information outlet. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience and again apologize for the convenience.”
In the meantime, BPD has diverted Web traffic to the department’s Facebook page.
Milton Jones, director of operations at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester, said the hack has hurt neighborhood groups who rely on BPDnews for updates.
“They shouldn’t be hacking anything, but especially something that valuable to the community,” Jones said.
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Housh said Anonymous started on the website 4chan.org, but won a worldwide
following in 2008.
And they keep busy. Anonymous struck again yesterday in West Virginia and Oakland, Calif., posting personal information of cops and public employees.
The Boston Police Department’s website is still down four days after Anonymous defaced the page.
And they keep busy. Anonymous struck again yesterday in West Virginia and Oakland, Calif., posting personal information of cops and public employees.
The Boston Police Department’s website is still down four days after Anonymous defaced the page.
Opportunity was the trigger,” Housh said. “They have a list of every
(target) site out there and if someone randomly decides to give it an attempt
and finds a way in, even a month later, that’s a legitimate target in their
eyes.”
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 4:22 AM
