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douglas9

(4,358 posts)
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 01:51 PM Dec 2011

Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global

This Christmas will not be a happy one for George Friedman (who incidentally was the focus of John Mauldin's latest book promotion email blast) and his Stratfor Global Intelligence service, because as of a few hours ago, hacking collective Anonymous disclosed that not only has it hacked the Stratfor website (since confirmed by Friedman himself), but has also obtained the full client list of over 4000 individuals and corporations, including their credit cards (which supposedly have been used to make $1 million in "donations&quot , as well as over 200 GB of email correspondence. And since the leaked client list is the who is who of intelligence, and capital management, including such names as Goldman Sachs, the Rockefeller Foundation and, yep, MF Global, we are certain that not only Stratfor and its clients will be waiting with bated breath to see just what additional troves of information are unleashed, but virtually everyone else, in this very sensitive time from a geopolitical point of view. And incidentally, we can't help but notice that Anonymous may have finally ventured into the foreign relations arena. We can only assume, for now, that this is not a formal (or informal) statement of allegiance with any specific ideology as otherwise the wargames in the Straits of Hormuz may soon be very inappropriately named (or halfway so).

Chronology of releases from AnonymousIRC starting early this afternoon:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/stratfor-hacked-200gb-emails-credit-cards-stolen-client-list-released-includes-mf-global-rockef

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Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global (Original Post) douglas9 Dec 2011 OP
LOL. bemildred Dec 2011 #1
They didn't see it coming!1 Bwah-HAH!1 It's a fave with wingnuts. n/t UTUSN Dec 2011 #37
No doubt part of LulzXmas festivities, 2012 Poll_Blind Dec 2011 #2
I haven't decided if I have a dog in the CyberWars. Bucky Dec 2011 #3
Theft is theft, even if you steal from the bad guys frazzled Dec 2011 #6
How morally absolute of you. The Doctor. Dec 2011 #22
Yes, I guess morality is my bottom line frazzled Dec 2011 #25
Morality is a movable line. Just ask anybody who has been forced to lie, steal or cheat TalkingDog Dec 2011 #26
This. Quantess Dec 2011 #29
No, it really itsn't. aranthus Dec 2011 #44
No, that's 'ethical', not 'moral'. The Doctor. Dec 2011 #46
The Marquis and the French Resistance of WW2 were then guilty by your standards. LanternWaste Dec 2011 #53
In war, all rules are suspended frazzled Dec 2011 #54
"Anonymous just one person or one cell of people;" greiner3 Dec 2011 #7
The 20 universities surprised me also... radhika Dec 2011 #16
The universities like the money, which is quite good. bemildred Dec 2011 #17
Cyberwar is horseshit. bemildred Dec 2011 #8
Little lenins can be brought down by other lenins. boppers Dec 2011 #11
One ought not confuse anarchists with commies either. bemildred Dec 2011 #12
I don't think you meant to say what your post seems to say starroute Dec 2011 #20
I don't think we disagree at all. nt bemildred Dec 2011 #27
No we don't -- I just wanted to clarify starroute Dec 2011 #41
Copacetic. bemildred Dec 2011 #45
Eddy Anonymous Quasimodem Dec 2011 #13
+1. bemildred Dec 2011 #14
Merry Xmas AnonSanta! SecularMotion Dec 2011 #4
Merry Christmas. Let the sunshine in! n/t GliderGuider Dec 2011 #5
looking forward to some good reading this week wordpix Dec 2011 #9
Awesome! nt Vanje Dec 2011 #10
Stratfor, as an intelligence outfit, falls to an expert counterintelligence operation. Boston_Chemist Dec 2011 #15
K&R qb Dec 2011 #18
Great poster! eyewall Dec 2011 #19
+1 ...Hit 'em where it hurts. [nt] Shoe Horn Dec 2011 #48
Credit cards already being used. dipsydoodle Dec 2011 #21
Looks like Anonymous has upped the ante... GliderGuider Dec 2011 #23
Conservatives accuse me of having a relativistic moral system tavalon Dec 2011 #32
Anonymous. every helpful in making sure the little guys are protected PatrynXX Dec 2011 #24
99/100 times I would say how horrible and criminal this is. I don't even like Anonymous or hackers. chrisa Dec 2011 #28
Because they are a very loose band with no real leader tavalon Dec 2011 #31
Hmmm, that's embarrassing tavalon Dec 2011 #30
Remember Fight Club? 7wo7rees Dec 2011 #33
and it will be low level security dorks for the most part that will pay for it with their jobs..... IamK Dec 2011 #36
What do you want to bet the low-levels have been warning their bosses for months... Ian David Dec 2011 #39
what's the point of this action? reorg Dec 2011 #34
My question too--why Stratfor? drgoodword Dec 2011 #43
A lot of Stratfor's stuff smacks of neo-con propaganda. Odin2005 Dec 2011 #50
So what if it does reorg Dec 2011 #52
no better than common criminals anymore.... IamK Dec 2011 #35
NPR was talking to about this, and neglected to mention WHO they were stealing from. n/t Ian David Dec 2011 #38
A big K&R for this post and Anonymous santamargarita Dec 2011 #40
"Includes MF Global..." KansDem Dec 2011 #42
"Stole his banking information and made four donations to charities." lulz. Shoe Horn Dec 2011 #47
Stratfor's "analyses" are worthless neo-con crap, anyways. Odin2005 Dec 2011 #49
The Stratfor Hack Gets Murkier drgoodword Dec 2011 #51

Bucky

(53,795 posts)
3. I haven't decided if I have a dog in the CyberWars.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 03:08 PM
Dec 2011

Is it reliable to think of Anonymous just one person or one cell of people at this point? It seems like there'd be more than one party out there doing this for a variety of reasons.

I always like seeing the fat cats get screwed a little. But I don't really trust committed anarchists, either. They always seem to end up turning into little Lenins.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
6. Theft is theft, even if you steal from the bad guys
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 03:50 PM
Dec 2011

This is where groups like Weatherman got into trouble back in the 60s. They turned to armed robbery in the name of "justice." It just never works.

And yes, anarchists tend to turn into despots with alarming efficiency.

 

The Doctor.

(17,266 posts)
22. How morally absolute of you.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 09:21 PM
Dec 2011

I'm not saying that corruption is impossible, but Anonymous is not a 'group' that can 'decide' to become corrupt or take advantage of 'their' power. The mission statement is the entity in itself in this case. Anything someone does that is not in line with the mission of Anonymous is simply not Anonymous.

That said, how besides robbing from and embarrassing them can we deal justice to those that live above the law?

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
25. Yes, I guess morality is my bottom line
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 11:39 PM
Dec 2011

If you think that's a failing, you're welcome to your opinion. It's just a line I can't cross.

And no "decision" nor leadership is needed to become corrupt or take advantage of power. It happens quite spontaneously.

TalkingDog

(9,001 posts)
26. Morality is a movable line. Just ask anybody who has been forced to lie, steal or cheat
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 11:58 PM
Dec 2011

in order to eat or feed their kids.

Not a comment on Anon... just a comment on the perception of "morality" as a quality that can be absolutely defined.

aranthus

(3,385 posts)
44. No, it really itsn't.
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 03:04 PM
Dec 2011

"Moral" means treating people appropriately under the circumstances that apply at any particular point in time. Conditions change all the time, but the rules don't change. The difficulty is in the application.

 

The Doctor.

(17,266 posts)
46. No, that's 'ethical', not 'moral'.
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 12:33 AM
Dec 2011

Moral are absolute strictures, as you have argued. But you've proven that you don't believe they are by this line:

"appropriately under the circumstances that apply at any particular point in time"

So different 'circumstances' require different 'behavior'? That's 'ethics', not morals.
 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
53. The Marquis and the French Resistance of WW2 were then guilty by your standards.
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 04:20 PM
Dec 2011

The Marquis and the French Resistance of WW2 were then guilty by your rigidly dogmatic standards. Guess it didn't work for them either...

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
54. In war, all rules are suspended
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 04:38 PM
Dec 2011

And anything goes. We (meaning we normal, non-military citizens) are not in a war.

And let's get clear that we are not in a situation like World War II France. Our country has not been occupied by a foreign government that has taken over the day to day running of our country, deporting our Jewish and gay citizens to concentration camps to be gassed or starved to death. Bombs are not falling out of the sky on us such that we have to take shelter each night in prolonged air-raid situations.

If you want to hyperbolize that we are at "war," there's no way I can dissuade you from your romantic notions. But it's not true. If we were in the situation of France in World War II I would not only steal but kill and lie and god knows what.

 

greiner3

(5,214 posts)
7. "Anonymous just one person or one cell of people;"
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:01 PM
Dec 2011

I think you are missing the point of Anonymous. It is a call to the connected and able youth all across the globe. It is people such as these that the draconian laws are put into place by the governments to try to stop such cracking; the attempt to tie IP addresses to a person's name, getting ISPs to give up this info WITHOUT warrants. I cannot even mention what Homeland Insecurity may have up its sleeve via secret laws that are hidden within the Patriot Act, the ones we have been warned about by various politicians recently.

Just by going to sites such as;

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/stratfor-hacked-200gb-emails-credit-cards-stolen-client-list-released-includes-mf-global-rockef

reading the comments you get the sense of the pervasiveness of the sheer numbers of crackers who are involved. There is NO one group or person who is behind Anonymous.

Check out the IRC networks for another glimpse into the hatred these individuals have for the way the world is going.

BTW, the above link is to a page where the clients of Strafor are listed. Take a look at #s 3992 and 3993; Yum Brands. That's right, every time you get a pizza from Pizza Hut, a burrito from Taco Bell or a wing from the Colonel, you contribute to the problem.

What I find telling is a list of about 20 US universities that are listed.

Another interesting part of the list is about 20 phone numbers. I wonder if anyone would answer if called? I am sure by now those numbers have been canceled but imagine the fun some crackers would have had...

radhika

(1,008 posts)
16. The 20 universities surprised me also...
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 05:50 PM
Dec 2011

All I can imagine is they are involved in defense contracting and intelligence work - or their key faculty are.

Who knows the cost of an annual subscription? Do the Stratfor reports end up in a university library or some extra special place?

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
17. The universities like the money, which is quite good.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 06:01 PM
Dec 2011

And this being the good old USA, that decides the question.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
8. Cyberwar is horseshit.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:18 PM
Dec 2011

Just like the drug war and the war on terror, etc. The only wars which are not horseshit are actual wars against large, organized, competent, and well-equipped military adversaries.

Our "leaders" love the war meme because they feel it gives them some sort of exception from accountablility and oversight, a ludicrous idea when you think about it.

boppers

(16,588 posts)
11. Little lenins can be brought down by other lenins.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:43 PM
Dec 2011

People who less computer literate, well, I think there's a power problem there.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
12. One ought not confuse anarchists with commies either.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:48 PM
Dec 2011

Generally they hate each other even worse than Capitalists and Commies. The Spanish Civil War is the classic case, Franco got a great deal of help from the Commies, who were more interested in putting the Anarchists down than defeating Franco.

starroute

(12,977 posts)
20. I don't think you meant to say what your post seems to say
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 07:54 PM
Dec 2011

It sounds as though you're saying the Communists supported Franco -- which of course they didn't. But they did do their best to suppress the anarchists -- even accusing them of being fascists -- and that infighting was one of the reasons that Franco was able to crush the Republic.

That said, I don't believe the dividing lines are as clear today as they were 75 years ago. Anonymous, at least, seems to include a whole spectrum of anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists, anarcho-communists, anarcho-libertarians, and whatnot.

starroute

(12,977 posts)
41. No we don't -- I just wanted to clarify
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 01:01 PM
Dec 2011

... since there are a lot of people these days who don't know the first thing about the Spanish Civil War. Even when I was in high school, it wasn't exactly part of the history curriculum -- except as part of a quick checklist along with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Italian conquest of Ethiopia -- and I'm sure things have only gotten worse.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
45. Copacetic.
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 03:27 PM
Dec 2011

You are quite right that people clump things that do not go together inappropriately, and certainly conflating anarchists with commies falls in that category; and that ties into the whole infantile, cliche "left-right" dichotomy which is endlessly shoved down our throats ike it was something real.

The commies in the Spanish Civil War were Soviet tools, as was the style back them in Commie politics, and they treated putting the Anarchists down way ahead of winning the war, that's quite clear, they were actively killing anarchists behind the lines. Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" is good on that subject.

One must consider the Hitler-Stalin pact too, as evidence that the Soviets - and Stalin in particular - were willing to make common cause with anyone at all for expediency's sake.

So I have to disagree that they were not actively aiding Franco, not because the favored his politics, but because they preferred losing to Franco to winning with the Anarchists in power.

To be fair, there were a lot of other factors in how that war came out. One regrets that the liberal democracies did not intervene more enthusiastically, we might have been able to skip WWII.

Quasimodem

(441 posts)
13. Eddy Anonymous
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:49 PM
Dec 2011

From what I understand, you would be better off thinking of Anonymous as an eddy.
Water courses along smoothly until some measure of it strikes an obstruction. If enough water is caught up, it swirls about until that smooth flow changes and its new conformation has an effect upon the action of the water -- something in the depths is thrown up, or something on the surface is drawn down.

Eventually, the energy in the currents set awry by the obstruction dissipates and the water flows smoothly again, until the next obstruction triggers another eddy. Whether one particular droplet participates in all eddies, some eddies, or no eddies is unknown, even to the other droplets in the stream.

Naturally, this is all quite poetical, but feels rather elusive to a pragmatist looking for an enemy to swat. The most this can do is inform him that another name for Anonymous is Eddy.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
14. +1.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 04:56 PM
Dec 2011

Excellent.


I would be inclined to say we ought not give TPTB any free clues, but it really does not matter whether they understand or not.

 

SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
4. Merry Xmas AnonSanta!
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 03:09 PM
Dec 2011

Should be an interesting week ahead

"#Antisec has enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of #LulzXmas throught the entire next week."

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
21. Credit cards already being used.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 08:01 PM
Dec 2011

One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_HACKER_CHRISTMAS?SITE=MAQUI&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
32. Conservatives accuse me of having a relativistic moral system
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 01:08 AM
Dec 2011

I guess they are right. If these credit cards belong to the 1%, I have no problem with this, granted, criminal activity. If they belong to the 99%, it's still criminal and I want them to stop right now.

PatrynXX

(5,668 posts)
24. Anonymous. every helpful in making sure the little guys are protected
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 09:29 PM
Dec 2011

even more than the big guys.. thumbs up

chrisa

(4,524 posts)
28. 99/100 times I would say how horrible and criminal this is. I don't even like Anonymous or hackers.
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 12:28 AM
Dec 2011

But bwahahahaha!

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
31. Because they are a very loose band with no real leader
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 01:05 AM
Dec 2011

They can be outstanding or awful and everything in between.

Today, they were outstanding.

7wo7rees

(5,128 posts)
33. Remember Fight Club?
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 02:12 AM
Dec 2011

We bring you your meals.
We connect your calls.
We take out your trash.
We deliver your packages.

Do not fuck with us.



BTW, stealing from thieves is not theft; it is recompense. ALSO: this is not a theft. It is a security breach to embarrass Stratfor.
It is a pantsing.

Anonymous declares war on War.

 

IamK

(956 posts)
36. and it will be low level security dorks for the most part that will pay for it with their jobs.....
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 09:34 AM
Dec 2011

maybe a few high level's will "resign" with nice compensation packages....

Ian David

(69,059 posts)
39. What do you want to bet the low-levels have been warning their bosses for months...
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 12:06 PM
Dec 2011

... that things weren't right?

That seems to be the usual way of things.

reorg

(3,317 posts)
34. what's the point of this action?
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 08:46 AM
Dec 2011

I'm not getting it. Some Stratfor reports might contain interesting information worth to be made accessible for free, but who cares about the client list?

drgoodword

(19 posts)
43. My question too--why Stratfor?
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 01:58 PM
Dec 2011

Stratfor has consistently provided some of the best realpolitik political and military analysis on the web in their free content. While they no doubt have a lot of corporate and government clients, they seem to be a neutral party. Furthermore, as some reports on this incident have indicated, the credit card info stolen from Stratfor includes cards held by a lot of ordinary people. I'm not seeing the Robin Hood aspect of this hack/crack.

reorg

(3,317 posts)
52. So what if it does
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 10:29 AM
Dec 2011

No doubt their focus tilts towards what may be of interest to clients willing to pay the subscription fee, and I stopped reading their reports when they started buying into and using the language of the bogus GWOT narrative. If you expose their bias and provide counter-analyses, more power to you.

But what's the point in publishing the client list, which is the only "news" I can detect here? Why would anybody be surprised that large companies, media, universities are interested in a newsletter providing daily reports on the situation in foreign countries? The whole thing seems like a useless prank, made worse by the fraudulent credit card transactions. What a stupid waste of time.

 

IamK

(956 posts)
35. no better than common criminals anymore....
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 09:29 AM
Dec 2011

They steal from targets of opportunity, then try to justify the target afterwards.....

Shoe Horn

(302 posts)
47. "Stole his banking information and made four donations to charities." lulz.
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 08:41 AM
Dec 2011

For some reason, that bit of undercooked info is missing.
Why would the ol 'MSM' want to make Anonymous seem like simple CC thieves?
Hmmm....

"Why, Santa Why?"
[img][/img]

Odin2005

(53,521 posts)
49. Stratfor's "analyses" are worthless neo-con crap, anyways.
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 07:18 PM
Dec 2011

Whoever used Stratfor deserves what they are getting.

drgoodword

(19 posts)
51. The Stratfor Hack Gets Murkier
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 08:05 PM
Dec 2011

From the NYT Tech Blog:

There were also questions as to whether the Stratfor attack was really the work of Anonymous. On Sunday, someone claiming to represent Anonymous posted a message on Pastebin denying responsibility for the attack: “The Stratfor hack is definitely not the work of Anonymous.”

The confusion escalated Monday night when a separate note on Pastebin claimed that the authors of the first post were Stratfor employees and that the post “claiming the Stratfor hack is not the work of Anonymous is not the work of Anonymous.”

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/questions-about-motives-behind-stratfor-hack/

This blog post also questions whether the real goal of the hack/crack was in fact the millions of emails on Stratfor's servers. No doubt these emails contain communications from confidential sources which provide information used as part of Stratfor's research and analysis. If the emails were the real target, this could even be a covert operation designed to both secure intel and expose sources, and at the same time discredit Anonymous by making them look like common cyber-thieves with the credit card info theft and use.

In any case, as I said upthread, Stratfor is an odd target for activists. Somethings here aren't quite fitting together...

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