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United States Crime IT

FBI Cyber Division Adds Syrian Electronic Army To Wanted List 74

coolnumbr12 writes "The U.S. government has had enough of the Syrian Electronic Army's hacks of Western media and government outlets. A week after the SEA shut down the New York Times, the FBI Cyber Division unit has officially added the pro-Assad hacker collective to its wanted list. The FBI issued an advisory that included information about the SEA, its capabilities, and some of its more heinous attacks. The advisory also warns networks to be on the lookout for attacks, and that anyone found to be aiding the SEA will be seen as terrorists actively aiding attacks against the U.S. websites."
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FBI Cyber Division Adds Syrian Electronic Army To Wanted List

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  • haha (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06, 2013 @12:32AM (#44771895)

    Hacking websites = terrorism now ?

    See the danger of such a slippery slope ? The government can't see it. They're dead serious. Hacking websites = terrorism. It boggles the mind.

    Frankly, what the U.S. government does on a daily basis is far more terrifying than anything some script kiddies hijacking DNS entries could do.

    Captcha: encroach

    • by ZiakII ( 829432 )
      Where do you see the mention of terrorism at all? This seems pretty standard for the FBI cyber group.
      • by ZiakII ( 829432 )
        Nope I'm an idiot I see it now anyone found helping speel.
        • Re:haha (Score:5, Informative)

          by Derec01 ( 1668942 ) on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:19AM (#44772105)

          No, you were right. Direct link below to the FBI advisory PDF. There is no mention of terrorism.

          http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-SEA.pdf [publicintelligence.net]

          • Thanks, that's helpful. The summary is rather sensationalist (whodathunk, right?). Although, on the other hand, this would have been a lot more obvious if these TLAs did not make such a habit of conflating terrorism with whatever else they want to "tackle". In other words, no-one would (should) have been surprised if their original advisory did label them terrists.

            Honest question, though, how does this Federal BI propose to get at these guys, assuming most of them are not US citizens nor located within its

            • I think partially it's unclear, despite the name, where exactly they are, or if it is anything more than a loose affiliation, some of whom may be in the US.

              I'm sure there's evidence aside from the group's own testimony. However, come to think of it, if I were a domestic hacker group, and I wanted to throw a sensationalist red herring in there, this isn't a bad idea. You could potentially end up drafting unsuspecting Syrian experts into running cover for you while they do their own thing.

            • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
              The term CNO is used. I wonder if that links back to some new law?
            • by AJH16 ( 940784 )

              The most wanted list has frequently (probably the majority of the time) been primarily composed of people that aren't within the US. It isn't people they think they CAN go after necessarily, it's just people they want if the opportunity arises. So basically, it's more a way to provide information about the group and give a heads up to authorities everywhere to be aware of them. Traditionally, it was to limit someone's ability to operate in the US, though the value of listing a hacker group is possibly a

    • Hacking websites = terrorism now ?

      Everything is terrorism now. See, e.g., "terroristic threatening."

    • Slippery slope (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fox171171 ( 1425329 ) on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:09AM (#44772059)

      Hacking websites = terrorism now ?

      See the danger of such a slippery slope ? The government can't see it. They're dead serious. Hacking websites = terrorism. It boggles the mind.

      Frankly, what the U.S. government does on a daily basis is far more terrifying than anything some script kiddies hijacking DNS entries could do.

      Captcha: encroach

      This week it's hacking a website.

      Next week it's: "You broke a website's TOS! Terrorist! Off to Gitmo with you!"

      • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )

        Hacking websites = terrorism now ?

        See the danger of such a slippery slope ? The government can't see it. They're dead serious. Hacking websites = terrorism. It boggles the mind.

        Frankly, what the U.S. government does on a daily basis is far more terrifying than anything some script kiddies hijacking DNS entries could do.

        Captcha: encroach

        This week it's hacking a website. Next week it's: "You broke a website's TOS! Terrorist! Off to Gitmo with you!"

        It is worse.. it is not just hacking the site, it is aiding the hackers in any way. "Oops, grocer you sold that terrorist a bagel, you are a terrorist. Sorry Mr, Consultant, you set up this asshats home network, you are a terrorist!"
        (Yes the jewish food/muslim terrorist dichotomy was intended).

        And before you guys step in and say it is about 'intent', intent matters not one whit when you are against the -letter- of the law (or how it is enforced), and some prosecutor/lea has an axe to grind (be it becaus

      • Next week it's: "You broke a website's TOS! Terrorist! Off to Gitmo with you!"

        Could be worse. They could use the DMCA on you!

    • Wish I had mod points right now. Eventually, everything's going to be terrorism. Robbery? Terrorism. Mugging? Terrorism. Shushing someone in a theater? Terrorism.

      Terrorism is by definition a slippery slope. Everyone gets terrorized at some point in time. If not by parents during early childhood, then by experience later, or by interacting with different people during adulthood.

      • And above it all: resisting terrorist government activities (like: US govt financing and arming al-quaeda terrorsits in Syria and waging iillegal war against Syria in order to aid and bring al-quaeda to power) is now considered terrorism. Strong double think abilities are required to grasp conduct of US government officials.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Derec01 ( 1668942 )

      The one page advisory does *not* use the word terrorism.

      The story mentions terrorism. The headline mentions terrorism.

      However, the actual one page FBI advisory does NOT use the word terrorism.

    • Hacking websites = terrorism now ?

      Weren't you here for the Aaron Swartz thing?

    • what the U.S. government does on a daily basis

      You should pay closer attention, daily was 10 years ago.

    • by gagol ( 583737 )
      Being upset in front of a cop can be considered terrorism, especially if you have the wrong name...
    • by Xicor ( 2738029 )
      hacking websites in general may not be terrorism, but hacking news sites and saying the white house was attacked, causing the stock market to plummet 5% in an hour does count as terrorism
  • He's a very naughty boy!

    I'm sure defacing websites may be some sort of crime, but terrorism? Terrorism seems to have suffered from mission creep. Defacing websites may be highly annoying, but probably ought to qualify as a semi-legitimate form of protest.

  • Isn't it a kind of perfect storm? The rise of the Internet and 9/11 making terrorists of everyone. Without the Internet going through growing pains and the general public woefully sad of security would we have the mess we have now? 9/11 would have been just another horrible terrorist act but it happened while the Internet was going through it's growing pains and law enforcement agencies and all the three lettered organizations were given ever broader powers to try to tame a new world wide venue for every as
  • by Derec01 ( 1668942 ) on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:24AM (#44772133)

    I commented on this elsewhere, but I'll do it again because people are getting whipped up about it.

    The IB Times is entirely responsible for using the label terrorism. The FBI did not call it terrorism. Here's a direct link to the FBI advisory requesting information about website defacement. Consistent with the FBI's domestic focus.

    http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-SEA.pdf [publicintelligence.net]

    To be honest, that is incredibly bad journalism. No one is sourced for the word terrorism; it is an invention of this Ryan Neal fellow.

    • Ryan Neal is a pseudonym for Bill O'Reilly, who is just Joe Biden in a costume. Obama doesn't exist - he's a shadowpuppet.

  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Friday September 06, 2013 @01:59AM (#44772273)

    from TFA

    The advisory also warns networks to be on the lookout for attacks, and that anyone found to be aiding the SEA will be seen as terrorists actively aiding attacks against the U.S. websites.

    i'm no friend of the SEA (or the sea) but if you read the actually advisory [publicintelligence.net] then you likely noticed that neither "terrorism" or "terrorist" is anywhere in the advisory.
    since he's written a flat out lie under the guise of fact, i think people should inform him of the error of his ways.

    his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ryanwneal [facebook.com]
    his twitter feed: https://twitter.com/ryanWneal [twitter.com]

    feel free to mod up +1 pwn4g3

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Great link GZ. One question, the wording "CNO efforts against" is it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network_operations [wikipedia.org]? Under US mil as "Information Warfare" How the US gov see/use the term?
      Would it fall in the "terrorists, nation-states, and criminal groups" as a new terrorist definition or still under criminal law?
      Thanks
      • sorry but propaganda/psyops doesnt qualify as military CNO. check your own wikipedia article.

        Types of Military CNO

        According to Joint Pub 3-13, CNO consists of computer network attack (CNA), computer network defense (CND) and computer network exploitation (CNE).[1]
        Computer Network Attack (CNA): Includes actions taken via computer networks to disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy the information within computers and computer networks and/or the computers/networks themselves.
        Computer Network Defense (CND): Includes actions taken via computer networks to protect, monitor, analyze, detect and respond to network attacks, intrusions, disruptions or other unauthorized actions that would compromise or cripple defense information systems and networks. Joint Pub 6.0 further outlines Computer Network Defense as an aspect of NetOps:
        Computer Network Exploitation (CNE): Includes enabling actions and intelligence collection via computer networks that exploit data gathered from target or enemy information systems or networks.

        u mad bro?

        • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          Why would anyone be mad?....
          So what is the line "may also be observed participating in CNO efforts against US Web sites and networks" about then in a US legal setting?
          Or is it just a way of saying groups of computers on a network?
          Thanks
          • I think the particular usage of CNO here is mostly descriptive rather than a legal category, as the term itself is broad. Therefore I don't think you can infer a legal classification into crime, terrorism, act of war, etc. from that usage.

            • I think the particular usage of CNO here is mostly descriptive rather than a legal category, as the term itself is broad. Therefore I don't think you can infer a legal classification into crime, terrorism, act of war, etc. from that usage.

              According to a reply to my tweet, that's exactly the statement he used to infer terrorism.
              Miles Mawyer @milesmawyer 33m
              @IBTimes @ryanWneal I'm irritated and disappointed by your use of the "T" word. It's not a generic term for "Bad Guys". FBI didn't use it..
              Ryan W. Neal @ryanWneal 29m
              @milesmawyer Good point, but that's what they mean with "CNO efforts against US Web sites and networks."
              Miles Mawyer @milesmawyer 3m
              @ryanWneal That just means you're equated hacking with terrorism. That's still a bro

  • Ya whatever, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Adult film producer ( 866485 ) <van@i2pmail.org> on Friday September 06, 2013 @02:15AM (#44772319)
    the FBI should add itself to its wanted list.
  • by symbolset ( 646467 ) * on Friday September 06, 2013 @02:50AM (#44772443) Journal
    Then have not the terrorists won?
    • I have question, What you mean with terrorists Hamlet Devnozashvili Las Vegas 11 Ave Email - hutt1-petviashvili1@hotmail.com Website - Stick War [stickwar.info]
    • The terrorists won around the time that the Patriot Act was passed. What we've been witnessing the last twelve years is occupation; constant fear and the ever ballooning corpulence of the security state.

  • Is there somebody the FBI doesn't want?
  • by umghhh ( 965931 )
    • anything US gov does now is said to be wrong/fascist/illegal/etc? That borders on stupidity to the point that one could have thought this could be a NSA attempt to disqualify /. as a valid forum to discuss issues. To me attacking sites like the one of new your times or banks etc is illegal activity. Sometimes it may be justified but that is rare.
    • summaries do not point to the source anymore? Usually one must click few times to get there only to find out that summary was inaccurate.
    • is /. following general m
  • Time to run security scans and make sure our security measures are buttoned up. Its just like a hard drive failure is a reminder to check your backups - its time to break out the security tools and double-check firewall settings. Its gone from script kiddies all the way to military organizations intent on screwing us over. These idiots have decided to wage a war on our computers. WTF
  • How can people tell if it's the SEA, NSA, CIA, or FBI that is misbehaving? Press releases?

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