Tech Terrain

Aaron Swartz In recent years hacking has been a big part of the media for some time and have been a concern of internet users since their reported formation in 2003. Over time their popularity and following appears to have grown and although arrests have been made and individuals have been seen to be following the group’s activities and encouraging them to continue. As you would expect there are many other people that hope to see the downfall of the group and ensure that they never hack again, but thus far many of their attacks are rumoured or harmless and very few have been seen to cause damage with a wide majority presenting more of a protest than an attack. American legal systems are taking the group very seriously but they are known to be an international organisation, the main problem is that the internet is so big and difficult that no one knows where to find the group, where they communicate, who leads and instructs them or what their objectives are remain unknown. Ar

PARIS, Feb 29, 2012, AP: Interpol said on Tuesday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. The internatinal police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime.

Nicole Perlroth and John Markoff, Feb 29,2012, NYT: The unsuccessful attack on the Vatican website provides the first complete record of  the modus operandi of the secretive hackers’ collective Anonymous, report  Nicole Perlroth and John Markoff The elusive hacker movement known as Anonymous has carried out Internet attacks on well-known organisations like Sony and PBS. In August, the group went after its most prominent target yet: the Vatican.

America’s most powerful protest groups are joining forces to warn elected officials that they will be held accountable for their actions. The campaign is called Our Polls and its being launched with help from both Anonymous and the Occupy movement. The  AnonOps Communications  website revealed details early Monday this week regarding the hacktivist collective’s latest campaign. Along with the nation-wide Occupy Wall Street movement, Anonymous says they are going after the politicians in America that supported legislation that both entities have largely advocated against.

Early Friday, several websites owned and operated by the US government were defaced as part of latest protest against online censorship. Anonymous, the elusive hacktivist group known for masterminding similar assaults, is taking credit. At least half a dozen federal websites belonging to the United States government were disrupted in the latest Anonymous-led assault this week. The US Federal Trade Commission was the primary target of the infiltration, and along with it Anonymous managed to take down the sites for National Consumer Protection Week as well as the Consumer Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission and others.

The world has witnessed an unprecedented day of protests against ACTA. Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in dozens of cities around the globe to protect what is left of the freedom of expression on the internet. Protesters from over 200 European cities consolidated their efforts to hold rallies across Europe. The controversial ACTA treaty was signed by the majority of European countries and now there is a battle to dissuade parliaments from ratifying the agreement.

Traditionally known as F*ckFBIFriday, this weekend's eve turned into F*ckCIAFriday, as hacktivists downed the official website for the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States cia.gov. At approximately 3:10 p.m. Eastern time one of twitter accounts related to the hackers' group announced "cia.gov DOWN. #UMAD?#Anonymous."   The CIA website became the latest victim in a series of attacks conducted by the elusive group of hackers against US law enforcement agencies and copyright holders.