Dutch hacker group offers to 're-educate' teen hacktivists
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A Dutch hackers collective named Revspace wants to "re-educate" Dutch teens suspected of cyberattacks against Mastercard and Visa and websites of the Dutch National Prosecutors Office – and turn them into "ethical hackers".
Last week, Dutch police arrested a 16-year-old boy for participating in web attacks against MasterCard and Visa as part of a grassroots push to support WikiLeaks.
On Saturday, another teenager was arrested in the municipality of Hoogezand-Sappemeer, who admitted he had flooded the website of the Dutch prosecutor. The 19-year-old was active under the name Awinee and reportedly urged other internet users to participate in the attack. The teen was released today. Martijn Gonlag, pictured here, says he only wanted to test software, and wasn’t supporting Wikileaks.
Both arrests were fairly easy for the cops to make, as both teenagers used LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon), a tool that doesn't offer any security services, such as anonymisation. The IP address of the attacker can be seen in all packets sent during the attacks, as the Dutch University of Twente reported (PDF). The university's report explained that this is the case for both current versions of the LOIC tool, including the web-based tool that runs in any Javascript-supported browser.
The university warns that hacktivists may not be aware that international data retention laws require that commercial Internet providers store data regarding Internet usage for at least six months. This means that hacktivists can still be easily traced after the attacks are over.
The hackerspace Revelation Space in The Hague recently called for a meeting on ethical hacking. Disrupting websites with DDoS attacks does not align with the ethics of the hacker community, says founder Koen Martens. "It's like slapping someone in the face when you run out of arguments to prove someone wrong."
Anyone can download and start a computer program and become part of a coordinated online crime, Martens says. There is no creativity involved: DDoS attackers generally use existing tools without realising how these function.
The 16-year-old hacker from the Hague was a regular in the online chat room for the hackerspace. Martens believes the teenager should not be excluded from the community. "They should be shown a better way to reach goals." ®
COMMENTS
@jake
>>"They aren't hackers, they are skiddies. At best."
I guess if they've actually been conned into participating on the basis that they won't get caught, 'skid-mark' might be a better name
Revspace is cool
Revspace is a really cool place. They organized a GUADEC end of conference party there earlier this year and for anybody interested in hacking (in the traditional sense of the word), it's a really great place. They've got lots of cool kit and the people who run it are very knowledgeable.
If you're interested, their web site is here: https://foswiki.sonologic.nl/RevelationSpace
One stupid AC to another
I didn't downvote you but I do beg to differ. There are boundaries to acceptable behavior and civil disobedience. If I, for example, am against Animal Testing I am well within my rights to go protest in front of their facility or online, or to campaign lawmakers to shut them down. I step out of bounds if I attempt to block access to their facilities, firebomb their labs or make threats against their employees. It's really pretty simple... my rights end where someone else's begin - that is the basis of civil society.
This is why many prominent hackers/subversives/free-speech-advocates have been promoting the exact opposite of what Anonymous has been doing... if you want to support what Wikileaks is about then mirror their site, don't get yourself arrested trying to force those that you see as enemies off the Internet. Speaking of... how is forcing websites you disagree with offline supporting free speech again? Those same people argue that Anonymous, in trying to support "free speech" by supporting Wikileaks in this manner have become the very antithesis of their goal.
Regarding the reinforcement comments, there *have* to be consequences to trespassing other people's rights or the system would fall apart. Could you imagine trying to drive to the office/school/wherever and everyone was free to shoot though stop signs and red lights without recourse? Laws are there, in most cases at least I'd argue, to ensure and enforce civil behavior like taking turns at a 4-way stop. I'm all for us using as much positive reinforcement as possible, but there are limits - only ever using positive reinforcement is as ridiculous as trying to only ever use negative reinforcement. IMO at least...
...from one stupid AC to another.
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