Anonymous hacktivists target child abuse websites

In The Telegraph

The website, “Lolita City”, was accessed via Tor, a global network of computers that allows internet users to obscure their identity.

Anonymous members disrupted and hacked into systems at the company accused of hosting Lolita City and obtained the login details of more than 1,500 users, which they then published online.

The website was "enabling paedophiles to view innocent children, fuelling their issues and putting children at risk of abduction, molestation, rape, and death” according to a statement attributed to Anonymous.

“We are eliminating 40+ child pornography websites, among these is Lolita City, one of the largest child pornography websites to date containing more than 100GB of child pornography,” it added.

The statement said Anonymous had discovered Lolita City via the Hidden Wiki, another underground website accessed via the Tor network, which offers links to a host of other illegal services. Tor itself was created by the US government, however, and is often used by dissidents in countries such as Iran and China to circumvent government censorship and surveillance.

The collective said it asked company accused of hosting Lolita City to remove the child abuse material before launching its attack, to no avail.

It represents a shift of focus for Anonymous, which has previously targeted government organisations and corporations such as MasterCard and Visa for perceived violations of free speech online. Anonymous supporters have also recently joined the protests on Wall Street and outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Anonymous attack on paedophile websites was welcomed by some observers, but also raised questions about online vigilantism.

Graham Cluley of the British security firm Sophos said: “Their intentions may have been good, but take-downs of illegal websites and sharing networks should be done by the authorities, not internet vigilantes.”

“When 'amateurs' attack there is always the risk that they are compromising an existing investigation, preventing the police from gathering the necessary evidence they require for a successful prosecution, or making it difficult to argue that evidence has not been corrupted by hackers.”

Anonymous has pledged to continue its attacks on child abuse websites as part of a campaign it is calling “Operation Darknet”.

“It does not matter who you are, if we find you to be hosting, promoting, or supporting child pornography, you will become a target,” it said.

Foreign hackers 'putting UK firms out of business'

In The Telegraph

Maj Gen Jonathan Shaw told The Daily Telegraph that cyber attacks represent the biggest threat to national security and that British firms are routinely having valuable commercial information stolen from them by overseas rivals.

In a recent instance, a firm in Warrington, Cheshire, that designed a revolutionary blade for wind turbines went bust after hackers stole the blueprint and produced a cheaper version.

Maj Gen Shaw, the head of the Ministry of Defence’s cyber security programme, said that Britain will lose its position as one of the world’s leading hi-tech manufacturers unless companies improve cyber security.

“The biggest threat to this country by cyber is not military, it is economic,” said Maj Gen Shaw, a veteran of the Falklands War and Iraq.

“The cyber threat could affect anyone, and we all need to take measures to protect ourselves against the threat it poses.

Microsoft Youtube Channel Hacked

In Cnet

The background on the channel has been changed to one that includes the title "Predator Cinema," and a message has been posted that says: "I DID NOTHING WRONG I SIMPLY SIGNED INTO MY ACCOUNT THAT I MADE IN 2006 :/"

The channel's archived videos have been removed and replaced with short clips titled "We are sponsoring!" and "Make us a background to get a Subbox!!!"

Microsoft confirmed the hacking of the channel this afternoon.

"We have regained control of the Microsoft channel on YouTube, and we are working to restore all of the original content," a Microsoft representative told CNET. " We will continue to work with YouTube to ensure safeguards are in place for the future."

This is the second high-profile YouTube channel to be hacked in the past week. Sesame Street's YouTube channel was hacked last weekend, leaving its normally family-friendly content replaced with pornographic content.

Anonymous starts activism via corporate securities research

In Cnet

Members of the Anonymous collective are not just taking their activism to the Internet and the streets; they're now targeting corporate financials with a securities research arm.

The mission of Anonymous Analytics is to "expose companies that practice poor corporate governance and are involved in large-scale fraudulent activities," according to the Web site.

Anonymous researchers--who include unnamed and unnumbered "analysts, forensic accountants, statisticians, computer experts, and lawyers"--will base their investigative reports on information "acquired through legal channels, fact-checked, and vetted thoroughly before release."

Their first target is a produce firm listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange that is under investigation by the Hong Kong government. Anonymous Analytics released a 38-page report (PDF) this week accusing Chaoda Modern Agriculture of China of deceiving shareholders and investors, falsifying financial statements, using a shell company to siphon money out, and perpetrating "one of the Hong Kong Exchange's largest, and longest running frauds." The report predicts that the company will be eventually delisted.

Despite the unorthodox provenance of the report, financial news service Reuters reported on it.

Representatives from Chaoda did not respond to a CNET request for comment via e-mail. A spokesman told Reuters that the company was looking at the report and might issue a statement later.

"Think of them as Muddy Waters on steroids: no regulation, no supervision, no accountability--just pure content, and credibility-driven merit (or, of course, lack thereof): a model which if validated will totally revolutionize the field of public company research," wrote a blogger on Zero Hedge.com.

The Financial Times interviewed an unidentified Anonymous Analytics researcher who explained the new focus on corporate financial activities and governance as "the logical next step."

"When you target a company's share price, suddenly the message gets heard really quick," the activist is quoted as saying.

In another article, an Anonymous Analytics researcher disclosed to the Financial Times that "associates, partners, affiliates, consultants, clients," and other parties have short positions on Chaoda's stock price and thus have an "indirect interest" if the share price drops.

Anonymous is using various methods to promote its anti-corporate, anti-censorship, pro-civil liberties messages. It used to just organize distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on targets like Sony, and repressive regimes in other countries in solidarity with Arab Spring uprisings, but is expanding its scope.

In offline activities Anonymous activists have promoted demonstrations in San Francisco to protest alleged police brutality by Bay Area Rapid Transit police. And more recently they have been active in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Anonymous supporters leaked personal information this week of a New York police officer who pepper sprayed a group of protesters in a holding area in what appears to be an unprovoked act, based on video footage. Hackers also released personal information for Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.

Borrowing a page from the WikiLeaks whistleblower site, Anonymous launched LocalLeaks and HackerLeaks sites earlier this year for insiders and other hackers to leak sensitive information from governments and corporations.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20113668-245/anonymous-starts-activism-via-corporate-securities-research/#ixzz1ZQhIGdVC

Microsoft online services hit by major failure

In BBC

Millions of Microsoft users were left unable to access some online services overnight because of a major service failure.

Hotmail, Office 365 and Skydrive were among the services affected.

Microsoft was still analysing the cause of the problem on Friday morning, but said it appeared to be related to the internet's DNS address system.

Such a major problem is likely to raise questions about the reliability of cloud computing versus local storage.

Especially embarrassing is the temporary loss of Office 365, the company's alternative to Google's suite of online apps.

Its service also went offline briefly in mid-August, less than two months after it launched.

The latest disruption is believed to have lasted for around two-and-a-half hours, between 0300 GMT and 0530 GMT.

In a blog, posted at 0649 GMT, Microsoft said: "We have completed propagating our DNS configuration changes around the world, and have restored service for most customers."

The Domain Name System (DNS) is responsible for translating URL web addresses , such as bbc.co.uk into the internet's native system of IP addresses, e.g. 212.58.246.95.

Anonymous Hackers group is rumoured to kill facebook

In The Telegraph

YouTube video labelled as a message from Anonymous claimed that "Operation Facebook" would take place on November 5. its aim was to destroy the social network on the grounds that it abused the privacy of users, the video said.

But an Anonymous spokesman told AFP that even heads of the group were uncertain how seriously to take the threat since the loosely-knit organisation doesn't have a strict command structure and members mask their identities.

"I found groups of people who say we absolutely are and have a trick up our sleeves," said the spokesman. "I found others that say it isn't us and that this is stupid."

The video displayed a gray image of the Anonymous logo as a digitally masked voice announced a plan to destroy Facebook and called for others to join in the cyber attack.

The video accused Facebook of holding onto the data people post in accounts and of even sharing some of it with law enforcement agencies.

Low cost Smartphones - the Smartphone Boom

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Dual SIM Android 2.2 3.5'' Capacitive Touchscreen Smartphone Support WiFi + GPS for 160.49 USD or 112,42 EUR

A dream....No! See it here

Specifications:
•Function: 3.5 Inch Touchscreen Android 2.2 Smartphone
•This phone belongs to the capacitive touchscreen, with glass panels, with much thinner, better pervious to light quality, providing more sensitive touch and fluent operating.
•Operation System: Android 2.2 OS
•Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
•CPU & Memory:
- MTK 6516, 460MHz
- ROM: 512 MB
- RAM: 256 MB
•Display Screen:
- Screen Size: 3.5 inch
- Resolution: HVGA, 480 x 320 Pixel
- The screen belongs to Capacitive screen
•Dual SIM Card Dual Standby
•Support GPS
•Support WIFI, Java
•Support gravity acceleration sensor
•Support FM radio, MP3, MP4, E-book reader
•Support word, excel, ppt, pdf format document
•Support wireless stereo headphone for hands-free answering and wireless transmission
•Support Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo, eBuddy, Weather, Wiki Mobile, Google Talk, ect.
•Camera:
- Front-facing camera resolution: 0.3 MP
-Back-facing camera resolution: 2 MP
•Messaging: SMS / MMS
•Storage:
- Support extend card up to 16GB
- Packed with memory card: N/A
•Interfaces:
- 1 x USB Cable / Charger
- 1 x Earphone
•Support Format:
- Ringtones Type: Polyphonic
- Video File Format: MP4,AVI,FlV
- Image File Format:JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF

•Support touch screen / handwrite / keyboard input
•Languages:Indonesia, Malay, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, Thai, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
•Multimedia menu includes: File Manager, Photos, Camera, Image Viewer, Video Recorder, Video Player, Audio Player, Sound Recorder
•Organizer menu includes: Calendar, To Do, Alarm, World Clock, Currency Converter, E-book, Reader, Latitude, Maps
•Data Transfer & Connectivity:
- Data Transfer: USB / wireless transmission
- GPRS: Yes
- Mobile internet: WAP
•Battery: Lithium Batteries
•Battery standard voltage: 3.7V
•Charge voltage: 4.2V
•Battery standard capacity: 1600mAh
•Battery Life:
- Talk Time : Up to 4 hours
- Stand By : Up to 150 hours
•Color: black
•Dimension(L x W x D): 112 x 60 x 13 mm
•Approved: CE / FCC
•After sales service: 1 year warranty

Accessories:
•1 x Earphone
•1 x Data Cable
•1 x Battery Charger
•1 x User Manual
•2 x Standard Batteries

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011

AVG launches the new 2011 free Edition.

Let see of it can continue being one of the most free home used anti-virus.

You can download it here