Aaron Swartz Will be Honored With Posthumous 'Freedom of Information' Award

Aaron Swartz Will be Honored With Posthumous 'Freedom of Information' Award 

Well-known Internet activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz who committed suicide earlier this year causing a havoc temblor in the cyber domain. The reason behind his suicide was mainly disgrace, for which he would face a trail for an alleged cyber crime counts for downloading and publishing roughly 4 million academic journal articles from the database JSTOR. Before the day of his court trial; Swartz, a political activist and computer programmer, reportedly hanged himself last week in his Brooklyn apartment. After this mishap a massive protest came from several part of the world which really arises question against the law and order and the justice system. Along with this, the name of Swartz have been linked with many controversies like being linked with WikiLeaks and so on. What ever, today the entire world of activists will be pleased after hearing that Aaron Swartz is slated to receive posthumous recognition in Washington for his efforts promoting free access to taxpayer-funded research. The James Madison Freedom of Information Award is administered by the American Library Association, and recognizes "individuals who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public’s right to know national information." The award will be presented by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a strong advocate for digital rights in Congress who rallied in support of Swartz shortly after his suicide in January. Swartz had faced charges under the decades-old Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for downloading a large amount of academic research articles from the JSTOR database at MIT. But despite MIT dropping its own charges, the government pursued a criminal case against Swartz which some evidence suggests was politically motivated and subject to prosecutorial overreach. 

Lofgren, a Democratic congresswoman who represents Silicon Valley, will present the award to his family during a ceremony at Newseum's Knight Conference Center in Washington, D.C. Lofgren, who received the award last year for her efforts to ensure public access to government information, has introduced legislation to reform computer fraud laws linked to his death. The award will be accepted by Swartz's family this Friday at the Newseum in Washington, DC. 

-Source (The Verge & Cnet)

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#opSOTU By Anonymous To Oppose Executive Cyber Security Order (The Revised CISPA)

#opSOTU By Anonymous To Oppose Executive Cyber Security Order (The Revised CISPA)

Last year the Internet and its trillion of users across the globe has faced several barrier when, number of approach from Senate and government, along with few corporate and other organization were in the target to make the entire Internet censored. To engage this motive they have approached and introduced a number of regulations and act such as SOPA, PIPA, CISPA & ACTA. But to implement those enactment was not that easy, as huge number of organization (including White House, Wikipedia & so on), billions of mass people stand against those controversial act, and as expected those acts were ruled back, that said protest might not get the full success, if hackers around the globe did not take part in it. It was the hackers communities who forced the govt to roll back those rules. But the victory was not that easy to achieve, as the president of U.S. appeared before a joint session of Congress to deliver the State of the Union Address and he plans to sign an executive order for cyber-security as the House Intelligence committee reintroduces the defeated CISPA act which turns private companies into government informants. As soon as the deceleration of the executive order for cyber-security came, immediately protest came. Hacktivist group Anonymous yet against stand against the controversial CISPA, and called an operation dubbed Operation SOTU (#opSOTU). In the campaign the hacker group states a clear intent to obstruct Internet broadcasts of the president's State of the Union address, an action the group justifies by pointing to renewed interest in Congress to pass the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a measure Anonymous has long opposed. 

Press Release of Anonymous (#opSOTU):- 

Citizens of the Internet,
Last year we faced our greatest threat from lawmakers. We faced down SOPA, PIPA, CISPA and ACTA.

And we won!

But that victory did not come easily. Nor did it come without a price.

Aaron Swartz was one of the leading voices in the fight against these idiotic and destructive efforts to control the last free space on Earth.

Aaron Swartz was persecuted. Now Aaron Swartz is dead.
Tonight, the President of the United States will appear before a joint session of Congress to deliver the State of the Union Address and tomorrow he plans to sign an executive order for cyber-security as the House Intelligence committee reintroduces the defeated CISPA act which turns private companies into government informants.

He will not be covering the NDAA, an act of outright tyrannical legislation allowing for indefinite detention of citizens completely outside due process and the rule of law. In fact, lawyers for the government have point-blank refused to state whether or not journalists who cover stories or groups the Government disfavors would be subject to this detention.

He will not be covering the extra-judicial and unregulated justifications for targeted killings of citizens by military drones within the borders of America, or the fact that Orwellian newspeak had to be used to make words like “imminent” mean their opposite.

He will not be covering Bradley Manning, 1000 days in detention with no trial for revealing military murders, told that his motive for leaking cannot be taken into consideration, that the Government does not have room for conscience.

He will not be covering the secret interpretations of law that allow for warrant-less wiretapping and surveillance of any US citizen without probably cause of criminal acts, or the use of Catch-22 logic where no-one can complain about being snooped on because the state won’t tell you who they’re snooping on, and if you don’t know you’re being snooped on, you don’t have a right to complain.

We reject the State of the Union. We reject the authority of the President to sign arbitrary orders and bring irresponsible and damaging controls to the Internet.
The President of the United States of America, and the Joint Session of Congress will face an Army tonight.
We will form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet. Armed with nothing more than Lulz, Nyancat and PEW-PEW-PEW! Lazers, we will face down the largest superpower on Earth.

And we will win!

There will be no State of the Union Address on the web tonight.

For freedom, for Aaron Swartz, for the Internet, and of course, for the lulz.

We Are Anonymous,
We Are Legion,
We Do Not forgive,
We Do Not forget,
Expect Us.

..."

But unlike last year, this time the approach of CISPA is more organized, as not only Congress but also the White House will also unveil President Barack Obama's long-awaited executive order on cyber security. So to stand against such an organized and well planned act, the protester need to be more decent and more united. As we all want and prefer freedom and privacy in our personal life as well as in the Internet, so we will fight and expect to win. So stay tuned with VOGH, and lets see what is coming for us. 

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President Obama & Congress Will Issue Long Awaited Executive Cyber Security Order

President Obama & Congress Will Issue Long Awaited Executive Cyber Security Order 

Last week we reported that Pentagon has declared that they are moving toward a major expansion of its cyber security force to counter increasing attacks on the nation’s computer networks, as well as to expand offensive computer operations on foreign adversaries. Just one week after this declaration another crucial movement came from the U.S. government.  A secret legal review on the use of America’s growing arsenal of cyber weapons has concluded that President Obama has the broad power to order a pre-emptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad. According to sources President Barack Obama will issue a long-awaited cyber security executive order this week. Two former White House officials told the publication that the order is expected to be released after Tuesday night's State of the Union address. 

Given his status as commander-in-chief, Obama seems to be the clear choice, but since cyber warfare is such a new and unknown thing, the government hasn't actually figured out the rules of engagement yet. In the past couple of decades, the power to use America's cyber weapons has been shared between the Pentagon and the various intelligence agencies. With the exception of a series of strikes on the computer systems that run Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities an attack that Obama ordered himself the U.S. hasn't launched any major cyber attacks in recent memory, however. This probably won't be the case in the future. So the government is working on new rules of engagement, as it realizes that the capabilities of cyber weapons are evolving at a startling rate. The rules will be not unlike the set that governs how drone attacks are ordered and who orders them. Cyber warfare certainly stands to affect the average American more, though.  On Capitol Hill this week, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) and Rep. Mike Rodgers (R-Mich.) are set to reintroduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

According to an exclusive report the bill would allow the government to share classified cyber threats with the private sector so that those companies can then protect their systems from cyber attacks. The bill was killed last year due to privacy concerns. Civil-liberty groups argued that the bill allows companies to exchange too much personal information back and forth without regulation. 

-Source (Bloomberg, NY Times & Atlantic Wire)

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NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

The cyber security directive of United States President Barack Obama has been twisted a little as the National Security Agency (NSA) has refused to release details of a secret presidential directive document that would establish a broader set of standards that would guide federal agencies in confronting Cyber threats. Several experts are presuming that the cyber security directive could allow the military and intelligence agencies to operate on the networks of private companies, such as Google and Facebook. According to the last week report by Washington Post, cited several U.S. officials saying that Obama signed off on the secret cyber security order, believed to widely expand NSA’s spying authorities, in mid-October. “The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyber war and cyber terrorism,” the report states.  

The Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to make the document public because it said the measure could expand NSA’s Cyber security authority. “Transparency is crucial to the public’s ability to monitor the government’s national security efforts and ensure that federal agencies respect privacy rights and comply with their obligations under the Privacy Act,” said EPIC’s request.
EPIC said that NSA denied the request on Nov. 21 arguing that it doesn’t have to release the document because it is a confidential presidential communication and contains information that is classified “Secret” and “Top Secret” by the agency. NSA said disclosure of the order could “reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.” The agency said EPIC could file an appeal with the NSA/Central Security Service denial and EPIC said it plans to do so. The privacy group said it is litigating similar FOIA requests with NSA, including the release of NSPD 54, a 2008 presidential directive setting out the NSA’s cyber security authority. The group called NSA a “black hole for public information about cyber security” in an official statement to Congress earlier this year. National Security Agency whistle blower William Binney said in Mid July that the U.S. government is secretly gathering information “about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country”, in “a very dangerous process” that violates Americans’ privacy.
Former President George W. Bush signed a presidential order in 2002 allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor without a warrant the international (and sometimes domestic) telephone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds or thousands of citizens and legal residents inside the United States. The program eventually came to include some purely internal controls -- but no requirement that warrants be obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and the foreign intelligence surveillance laws require.

-Source (GSN Magazine & Press TV)

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US National Archives Has Blocked Search Containing 'WikiLeaks'

US National Archives Has Blocked Search Containing 'WikiLeaks'

The movement of WikiLeaks faced another bar, as the searches for “WikiLeaks” in the public search engine for the US National Archives have been blocked. Any search containing the word “WikiLeaks (like “Congress” and “WikiLeaks”; "Obama" and "WikiLeaks") turns up an error message saying "The page you have requested has been blocked, because the URL is banned" as shown the picture below.

The whistle blowing website of WikiLeaks already lashed out at the move, saying the Archives has  literally turned into “Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.” In a tweet the official twitter account of WikiLeaks said “The US state is literally eating its own brain by censoring its own collective memories about WikiLeaks.” And, in another tweet WikiLeaks said, “The US National Archives censoring searches for its records containing the word ‘WikiLeaks’ is absolutely absurd.” 

The block is likely to be in line with the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act,” a form of internet censorship the US adopted back in 2010. It did not become law, but it prompted various US government agencies such as the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Air Force to advise their employees not to read or access classified documents being made available by sites like WikiLeaks. The Library of Congress went further by blocking access to WikiLeaks content from its server in 2010. According to the official blog post of  Library of Congress “The Library decided to block Wikileaks because applicable law obligates federal agencies to protect classified information.  Unauthorized disclosures of classified documents do not alter the documents’ classified status or automatically result in declassification of the documents.” The White House’s Office of Management and Budget today provided the guidance that “federal agencies collectively, and each federal employee and contractor individually, are obligated to protect classified information pursuant to all applicable laws, as well as to protect the integrity of government information technology systems.” -said Matt Raymond in the blog post of LOC. 

Though it is unknown when the Archives began blocking searches, but according to diplomatic cables released over the past months the US Justice Department’s investigation targeting of both Assange and WikiLeaks is real. So may be this block has connection or may be a return from the U.S. Govt of the last release of WikiLeaks that is  'Detainee Policies'  in what it said more than 100 classified or otherwise restricted files from the United States Department of Defense covering the rules and procedures for detainees in U.S. military custody. At the moment WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London as the UK has forcefully asserted that it will deny him safe passage to Ecuador. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in August over fears that if extradited to Sweden, Assange could be transferred to the US and once there, face execution.

-Source (RT)

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SOPA Returns! Not From Congress But As a Ransomware Virus

SOPA Returns! Not From Congress But As a Ransomware Virus

Last month in a report we said, that "SOPA & PIPA are dead, they're not coming back". Former Senate Christopher Dodd, now chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act aren’t going to be floated again in Congress. Now it seems that he was not fully right as The Stop Online Piracy ACT also known as SOPA the most controversial act which terrified almost every people, who is associated with Internet still chasing us, though the bill was defeated after massive protest; still  SOPA is not leaving us. I know its a tragic news, but do't be panic, this time its not the comeback of SOPA act from Congress but as a nasty cryptovirus that locks up people’s computers and accuses them of distributing copyright infringing files. Infected users can get their data back after a payment of $200 – at least, that’s what the virus makers promise. Several researcher have figure out and warning that new ransomware that claims to be an alert from the "Stop Online Piracy Automatic Protection System." It goes on to tell you that your computer is on a "S.O.P.A. IP Black List" because it was used to download copyright infringing materials, child pornography or illegal software. The malware encrypts all of your data files and holds them hostage, offering to decrypt them if you pay a fee to the criminals. According to report by Torrent Freak- the SOPA virus holds all files on the host computer ransom.

“Your computer is locked!” the splash screen above warns, adding:

If you see a warning.txt or warning screen, it means your IP address was included in S.O.P.A. Black List. One or more of the following items were made from your PC:

1. Downloading or distributing audio or video files protected by Copyright Law.

2. Downloading or distributing illegal content (child porn, phishing software, etc.)

3. Downloading or distributing Software protected by Copyright Law.

As a result of these infringements based on Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) your PC and files are now blocked.

The SOPA virus is so-called ransomware, meaning that it holds computers hostage and only promises to free data after victims hand over cash. In the U.S. and Canada people are instructed to pay with a MoneyPak prepaid voucher, and in other parts of the world they can use Western Union. Those who don’t pay within three days are in trouble, the virus maker warns. “WARNING!!!: If you don’t pay the fine within 72 HOURS at the amount of 200 USD, all your computer data will be erased.”

People who are affected should of course ignore all the above. Searching online for “Stop Online Piracy Automatic Protection System Removal”” is a better option, there are plenty of ways to defeat the resurrected SOPA and get your data back.

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US House of Intelligence Committee Warn American Companies Doing Business with Huawei & ZTE

US House of Intelligence Committee Warn American Companies Doing Business with Huawei & ZTE

Though US is very much advance and updated on cyber security but after facing so many large cyber attacks from China, now American government taking few steps to avoid any kind of cyber espionage. Recently the US House Intelligence Committee says that the American companies should avoid doing business with two of China's leading technology firms, ZTE and Huawei. Many of us will not agree with this decisions  but while keeping in mind latest cyber attacks and damages, the authorities have no other way left. 

The Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers (R-MI) and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger released a report recommending to U.S. companies considering doing business with Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE to find another vendor.  The report encourages U.S. companies to take into account the long-term security risks associated with either company providing equipment or services to our telecommunications infrastructure.  Additionally, the report recommends that U.S. government systems, particularly sensitive systems, exclude Huawei or ZTE equipment or component parts. The report highlights the interconnectivity of U.S. critical infrastructure systems and warns of the heightened threat of cyber espionage and predatory disruption or destruction of U.S. networks if telecommunications networks are built by companies with known ties to the Chinese state, a country known to aggressively steal valuable trade secrets and other sensitive data from American companies.  Additionally, the report notes that modern critical infrastructure is incredibly connected, everything from electric power grids to banking and finance systems to natural gas, oil, and water systems to rail and shipping channels. All of these entities depend on computerized control systems. The risk is high that a failure or disruption in one system could have a devastating ripple effect throughout many aspects of modern American living.

The report, released in a Capitol Hill news conference, states that Huawei and ZTE provided incomplete, contradictory, and evasive responses to the Committee’s core concerns.  The report comes after a year-long investigation into the national security dangers posed by Huawei and ZTE, the two largest Chinese telecommunications companies doing business in the United States.

The Report Includes Five Recommendations:-

1. US government systems and US government contractors, particularly those working on sensitive systems, should exclude any Huawei or ZTE equipment or component parts.  Additionally, the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) must block acquisitions, takeovers, or mergers involving Huawei and ZTE given the threat to U.S. national security interests.

2. U.S. network providers and systems developers are strongly encouraged to seek other vendors for their projects.

3. Unfair trade practices of the Chinese telecommunications sector should be investigated by committees of jurisdiction in U.S. Congress and enforcement agencies in the Executive Branch.  Particular attention should be paid to China’s continued financial support of key companies.

4. Chinese companies should quickly become more open and transparent. Huawei, in particular, must become more transparent and responsive to U.S. legal obligations.

5. Committees of jurisdiction in Congress should consider potential legislation to better address the risk posed by telecommunications companies with nation-state ties or otherwise not clearly trusted to build critical infrastructure, including increasing information-sharing among private sector entities and expanding a role for the CFIUS process to include purchasing agreements.

To Download the Full 60 Page Report Click Here

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Former Senate & MPAA Chief Said -SOPA & PIPA "are dead, they're not coming back"

Former Senate & MPAA Chief Said -SOPA & PIPA "are dead, they're not coming back"

It seems that the mass protest against controversial act SOPA & PIPA finally succeed. Former Senate Christopher Dodd, now chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act aren’t going to be floated again in Congress. In an interview after an appearance at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club Tuesday night, Dodd told  “My own view, that legislation is gone. It’s over. It’s not coming back,”  Still, he said the massive protest against the measures, which included online petitions and massive e-mail campaigns, “was over the top.” SOPA, the more draconian of the two failed bills, would have required ISPs to prevent Americans from visiting blacklisted sites by altering the system known as DNS that turns site names like Google.com into IP addresses such as 174.35.23.56. Instead, for the blacklisted sites, ISPs would have had to lie to their customers and tell their browsers that the site doesn’t exist. 

SOPA and its sister bill PIPA were both definitively killed off earlier this year after an overwhelming campaign of online action by citizens and tech companies. Dodd sounded chastened, with a tone that was a far cry from the rhetoric the MPAA was putting out in January. "When SOPA-PIPA blew up, it was a transformative event," said Dodd. "There were eight million e-mails [to elected representatives] in two days." That caused senators to run away from the legislation. "People were dropping their names as co-sponsors within minutes, not hours," he said.

"These bills are dead, they're not coming back," said Dodd. "And they shouldn't." He said the MPAA isn't focused on getting similar legislation passed in the future, at the moment. "I think we're better served by sitting down [with the tech sector and SOPA opponents] and seeing what we agree on."

Dodd also continued to laud the "six strikes" plan that US Internet providers have agreed to enforce on behalf of the entertainment industry, insisting that it's an "educational" program aimed at illegal downloads. "If people are aware they're downloading illegal content, they'll go to a legal service," he said. "It's an experiment to see if we can get cooperation. It's not a law—you don't go to jail."

The MPAA won't have any kind of back-door to subscriber records at Verizon or other ISPs, Dodd said.

-Source (WIRED & ars technica)

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A Tribute to The 10 Most Infamous Student Hackers of All Time

A Tribute to The 10 Most Infamous Student Hackers of All Time

Since last two years, we the VOGH team has been covering all the latest cyber security updates. But today lets do some thing different. One of our frequent reader and fan Katina Solomon has requested us to share a fantastic article. Everyday VOGH draws headlines of hackers around the world and their activities. While trying to maintain speed with time, we usually forgot our past. Today we will take you into the past, where we will discuss about those heroes, who are always been ill treated by the society & the system while revamping those heroes into cyber-criminals or infamous hackers. Its our question to our humanity "Did the system has done justice with them??" 

Hacking has always been inherently a young person’s game. The first usage of the word “hacker” was to describe pranksters meddling with the phones at MIT. Many hackers have cited boredom, a desire for change, or the thrill of going somewhere one is not supposed to go as their motivation for hacking, all of which could apply to scores of common activities on college campuses. While today’s hacking scene is dominated by large hacking groups like Anonymous and Masters of Deception, many of the greatest hacks ever have been pulled off by college, high school, and even middle school kids who rose to infamy armed only with a computer and the willingness to cross the bounds of legality.

1. Sven Jaschan: In the words of one tech expert, “His name will always be associated with some of the biggest viruses in the history of the Internet.” The viruses: the Sasser and NetSky worms that infected millions of computers and have caused millions of dollars of damage since their release in 2004. The man behind the viruses proved to be not even a man at all, legally. Seventeen-year-old hacker Sven Jaschan, a student at a computer science school in Germany, claimed to have created the viruses to become a hero by developing a program that would eradicate the rampaging Mydoom and Bagle bugs. Instead he found himself the subject of a $250,000 bounty courtesy of Microsoft, for which some of his classmates turned him in.
   
2. Jonathan James: In 2000, at the age of 16, James, or “C0mrade” as he was known in the hacker community, infamously became the first juvenile federally sentenced for hacking. The targets of his notorious hack jobs were a wing of the U.S. Department of Defense called the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, NASA, and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (By hacking the latter James gained the ability to control the A/C in the International Space Station.) All of these were pulled off “for fun” while James was still a student at Palmetto Senior High in Miami. Unfortunately, the fun ran out when James was tied into a massive identity theft investigation. Though insisting he was innocent, James took his own life, saying he had “no faith in the justice system.”
   
3. Michael Calce: Yahoo. CNN. Ebay. Amazon. Dell.com. One by one in a matter of days, these huge websites crashed at the hands of 15-year-old Canadian high school student Michael Calce, aka “MafiaBoy.” Armed with a denial-of-service program he called “Rivolta” that overloaded servers he targeted, the young hacker wreaked $7.5 million in damages, according to court filings. Calce was caught when he fell victim to a common ailment of teenage boys: bragging. The cops were turned on to him when he began boasting in chat rooms about being responsible for the attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, MafiaBoy was sentenced to a group facility for eight months on 56 counts of cybercrime.
   
4. Kevin Mitnick: Before performing hacks that prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to declare him “the most wanted computer criminal in United States history,” Kevin Mitnick had already made a name for himself as a hacker in his school days, first at Monroe High School in LA and later at USC. On a dare, Mitnick connived an opening into the computer system of Digital Equipment Corporation, which some fellow hackers then used to steal proprietary source code from the company before ratting on him. While still on probation for that crime, Mitnick broke into the premises of Pacific Bell and had to go on the run from police in the aftermath, during which time he hacked dozens of systems, including those of IBM, Nokia, Motorola, and Fujitsu.
   
5. Tim Berners-Lee: “Scandalous” is a synonym for “infamous,” and for this legendary computer scientist, knight of the British Empire, and inventor of the World Wide Web to have been a hacker in his school days is certainly a juicy factoid. During his time at Oxford in the mid-’70s, Sir Tim was banned from using university computers after he and a friend were caught hacking their way into restricted digital areas. Luckily by that time he already knew how to make his own computer out of a soldering iron, an old TV, and some spare parts. And also luckily for him, he will always be revered as the father of the Internet.
   
6. Neal Patrick and the 414s: In the early ’80s, hacking was still a relatively foreign concept to most Americans. Few recognized the enormous power hackers could hijack with a few strokes on a keyboard, which explains why a young group of hackers known as the 414s (after a Milwaukee area code) were virtual celebrities after they hacked into the famous Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and elsewhere. While today hacking a lab where classified nuclear research is conducted could earn you a one-way ticket to Guantanamo, the 17-year-old ringleader and high school student Neal Patrick was on the cover of Newsweek. The group members got light sentences but prompted Congress to take a stronger role in cybercrime.
   
7. Robert T. Morris: The first ever Internet worm, the Morris Worm derived its name from Cornell grad student Robert Tappan Morris. In 1988, Morris released the worm through MIT’s system to cover his tracks, which would seem to contradict his claims that he meant no harm with it. But that’s exactly what resulted: the worm spread out of control, infecting more than 6,000 computers connected to the ARPANET, the academic forerunner to the World Wide Web. The damages reached as high as an estimated $10 million, and Morris earned the ignominious distinction of being the first person prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Morris got community service but was apparently not considered too infamous to be offered his current job as a professor at MIT.
   
8. George Hotz: To some, George Hotz (aka “geohot,” aka “million75,” aka “mil”) is a public menace, a threat to electronic businesses everywhere. To many, Hotz is a hero. The high-schooler shot to fame/infamy in 2007 at the tender age of 17 by giving the world its first hacked, or “jailbroken” iPhone. He traded it for a new sports car and three new iPhones, and the video of the hacking received millions of hits. Apple has had to grudgingly come to terms with jailbreaking, seeing as the courts have declared it legal, but Sony Corp. is definitely not OK with such tampering. When Hotz hacked his PlayStation 3 and published the how-to on the web, the company launched a vicious lawsuit against him. In turn, the hacker group Anonymous launched an attack on Sony, stealing millions of users’ personal info.
   
9. Donncha O’Cearbhaill: According to the FBI, this 19-year-old freshman at Trinity College Dublin is one of the top five most wanted hackers in the world. Well, he was; now that he’s been arrested he’s not really “wanted” anymore. The Feds contend the young man is a VIP member of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacking groups that have already been mentioned and whose targets have included the FBI, the U.S. Senate, and Sony (in the Hotz backlash). It seems “Palladium” (O’Cearbhaill) took the liberty of listening in on a conference call between the FBI and several international police forces who were discussing their investigations of the hacking groups. He could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted for that hack alone.
   
10. Nicholas Allegra: Just as George Hotz moved on from the Apple hacking game, Brown University student Nicholas Allegra is also hanging up his jersey. “Comex,” as he is known to millions of rooted iPhone fans, created the simple-to-use Apple iOS jailbreaking program JailbreakMe in 2007 and has since released two newer versions of it. However, Comex seems to have gone over to the dark side, accepting an internship with the very company whose products he became famous exploiting. Still, Allegra’s hacking skills are so advanced (one author puts him five years ahead of the authors of the infamous Stuxnet worm that corrupted Iran’s nuclear facilities) and so many people availed themselves of his talents, he will forever live in hacking infamy.
    

We want to dedicate the above post to the legendary hacker, who left us -Jonathan James aka “C0mrade”. Also the post is a tribute to all the so called 'infamous hackers'. You are our heroes and inspiration, you will always be there in our soul. Team VOGH salutes you...... 

-Thank you Katina & Online Degrees

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Anonymous Hacked Trinamool Congress Website & Posted A Fake Message

Anonymous Hacked Trinamool Congress Website & Posted A Fake Message

Just few hours before the 66th Independence day of India, the official website of AITMC- All India Trinamul Congress, current ruling party of West-Bengal get hacked and the Archive page which records important announcements made by chief minister of West Bengal & Party Chairman Mamata Banerjee get defaced. Infamous hacker collective group Anonymous took responsibility of this hack. 

One of the hacker announced the hack publicly on twitter while saying- "At last a world leader listens to anonymous and decides to make great changes Mamata Banerjee Confesses : aitmc.org/chairperson_ar… WE LOVE DIDI". As per sources the hacker broke into the TMC's server, gained access on the website and posted a fake announcement :-

“I AM A MAOIST at heart and  always have been, It always pained me to speak and act against the ideology that I myself loved so much. I also appologize to the people whom I have hurt, The artist who tried to speak the truth, the writers who saw the right thing and every and any person who  tried to tell me I was going in the wrong direction, I am at your feet asking you to forgive me for the misguided acts I have done In life,”

Team VOGH took the above screen shot was taken from TMC's website, at the time when it was hacked. 

The hacker group also made the effort of giving a link to a morphed image of Mamata Banerjeeand a link to another document. For privacy reason we can't mention the link here. Trinamool's cyber team removed the offensive post within few minutes. According to the party's spokes man -"TMC website was hacked at 7.30 pm and detected within six minutes by the party's cyber team that works round-the-clock , updating the site every 15 minutes." Also the Party have lodged a complaint, immediately after the mishap. 

This hack is not the very first attack on TMC, earlier in this year (At the time of Indo-BD Cyber-War)  Bangladeshi hackers have hacked and defaced the index page of TMC's official website. We would also like to give you reminder that, Mamata Banerjee is not the first victim, In 2011Pak Hacker named KhantastiC haXor penetrated the official site of Indian Congress and defaced the Profile page of Party President Sonia Gandhi.  Also few other Pakistan hackers in early 2011 have hacked the official website of All India Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and so on. 

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Cyber Security Bill Has Been Rejected By The US Senate

Cyber Security Bill Has Been Rejected By The US Senate

A cybersecurity bill that had been one of the Obama administration’s top national security priorities was blocked by a Republican filibuster in the Senate on Thursday. Still the topic of cyber security remains controversial in the US Congress. The Senate voted 52 to 46 to cut off debate, falling short of the 60 needed to force a final vote on the measure, which had bipartisan support but ran into a fight over what amendments to the legislation could be proposed.

Soon after the vote, the White House released a statement calling the outcome “a profound disappointment.” White House regretted that the act failed to gain approval, saying that it could have protected the US from "potentially catastrophic cyber attacks". According to the White House, the proposed legislation fell victim to "the politics of obstructionism, driven by special interest groups seeking to avoid accountability". US civil rights campaigners Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), on the other hand, are celebrating a "victory over cyber spying". 

However, many further amendments were proposed by senators over the week. Ultimately, many voted in line with their concerns. For instance, in a statement after the vote, Democrat Ron Wyden said that in his opinion the Cybersecurity Act in its current form does not sufficiently safeguard Internet users’ privacy and civil liberties. According to Wyden, the act would not create enough incentive to actually promote the exchange of information. Republican senators mainly explained their rejection by pointing out that, despite the amendments, companies would be made to comply with too many bureaucratic reporting requirements.

The bill called for the government to provide businesses with classified information about cyberthreats and gave companies the option of sharing information about cyberthreats with the government. White House officials said the president opposed that bill because it called for too much information sharing between the government and businesses, which could have led to violations of Americans civil liberties.

-Source (The-H & NYTimes)

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The White House Hires Michael Daniel As New Cyber Security Chief

The White House Hires Michael Daniel As New Cyber Security Chief

The White House announced that they have picked a new cyber-security officer amid furious debate between the White House and both chambers of Congress around the future of American cyber defence.

Michael Daniel, a longtime member of the Office of Management and Budget’s national security squad, will fill the gap left by Howard Schmidt, who announced his departure earlier this week. Daniel has been working with securities issues for 10 years and watched over multiple Defense Department programs, as well as the budgets for the federal government’s various cybersecurity programs. He has been involved with “virtually every major issue affecting the Intelligence Community,” according to a White House statement.

“I am very honored to be asked to take on such an important role, especially at a time when cybersecurity issues are so prominent,” said Daniel in a statement. 

What does that mean for the future of the cyber security issue? Probably that we can expect his knowledge of the intelligence community to play a part in not just tracking down hackers, but determining the lines that need to be crossed with future SOPA-like bills. So while this sounds like a relatively nondescript appointment, Daniel will almost definitely be a major player the next time someone comes for your internet.

-Source (Mashable, Gizmodo)

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Supreme Court & Congress Both Denied Anonymous Attack

Supreme Court & Congress Both Denied Anonymous Attack  

We all are aware of Anonymous movement regarding the decision of Indian govt for controlling internet content. Immediately after this step, few unnamed hacker claiming to be a part of hacker collective Anonymous engaged cyber attack on India's cyber fence. Supreme Court of India & All India Congress became the victim of that attack. Even one of the legitimate twitter resource of Anonymous said :- "Namaste #India, your time has come to trash the current government and install a new one. Good luck." After this tweet we have seen Supreme Court & Congress website faced denial of service attack which interrupts the service for a certain time. Hacker group Anonymous is believed to have attacked the websites in response to the Centre blocking torrent portal Pirate Bay and video-sharing Vimeo. The group is said to have launched “MT Operation India” to protest the government's censorship plan. 

This is not the first time earlier in 2011 hackers from Pakistan have hacked the official website of All India Congress. Also in an attack another Pak Hacker named KhantastiC haXor penetrated the official site of Indian Congress and defaced the Profile page of Party President Sonia Gandhi.

But this time both Supreme Court & Congress completely denies the cyber attack. Congress party's computer department chief Vishwajeet Prithvijeet Singh said-  “The site is not hacked at all. It was not opening for sometime because the load on the particular server was too heavy due to huge number of hits after the news of website hacking spread. It went slow at that time due to over-traffic.” 

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Worse Than SOPA- CISPA Will Allow Monitoring Any Online Communication (#Censorship)

Worse Than SOPA- CISPA Will Allow Monitoring Any Online Communication #Censorship

In the wake of SOPA and PIPA, there is yet another terrifying bill on the table. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (or CISPA for short) which is currently being discussed by Congress. The title of this controversial act is H.R. 3523 and it has been dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. It is feared that CISPA is far worse than SOPA and PIPA in its possible effects on the Internet.
While this paper has been created under the guise of being a necessary weapon in the U.S. war against cyberattacks, the wording of the paper is vague and broad. It is thought that the act could allow Congress to circumvent existing exemptions to online privacy laws and would allow the monitoring and censorship of any user and also stop online communications which they deem disruptive to the government or to private parties. CISPA is described as a “cybersecurity” bill. It proposes to amend the National Security Act of 1947 to allow for greater sharing of “cyber threat intelligence” between the U.S. government and the private sector, or between private companies. The bill defines “cyber threat intelligence” as any information pertaining to vulnerabilities of, or threats to, networks or systems owned and operated by the U.S. government, or U.S. companies; or efforts to “degrade, disrupt, or destroy” such systems or networks; or the theft or “misappropriation” of any private or government information, including intellectual property. CISPA has also been condemned by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online advocacy group. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) adds that CISPA’s definition of “cybersecurity” is so broad that “it leaves the door open to censor any speech that a company believes would ‘degrade the network.’” Moreover, the inclusion of “intellectual property” means that companies and the government would have “new powers to monitor and censor communications for copyright infringement.” According to both CDT and EFF, this means some of the largest corporations in the country, including online service providers like Google, Twitter, Facebook or AT&T could, if pressured, copy confidential information from a user and send this information to the Pentagon, as long as the government believes there is a reason to suspect wrongdoing.
Critics warn that CISPA gives private companies the ability to collect and share information about their customers or users with immunity — meaning we cannot sue them for doing so, and they cannot be charged with any crimes.

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Library of Congress (Govt. of United States) Under Cyber-Attack, Database Exposed By BlitzSec

Library of Congress (Govt. of United States) Under Cyber-Attack, Database Exposed By BlitzSec 

Official website of Library of Congress (Govt. of United States) faced cyber attack from a newly formed hacker group named BlitzSec. The hackers have found SQL-i vulnerability on the Library of Congress official site which leads them to gain access on the database and exposed many credentials. In a pastebin relase BlitzSec revealed full database including DB Tables, Columns, User-id, Email, Password, Admin details and so on. 

Earlier this group has found serious security flaws in AOL.com & Ask.com which can even lead to cookie catching attacks.

Press Release of BlitzSec :- 

"Congress this is a message to you, STOP passing laws of tyranny, STOP letting those such as Rothschild and Rockefeller control the government.  Get the printing press out of the hands of the FED and back under the houses of congress!  STOP throwing the Constitution of the United States on the ground and using it as your personal doormat, stand by the Constitution, protect it from those who wish to abolish it which inturn will abolish any and all rights we have.  We are in a police state, you have the power to stop it, you have the power to return us back to what we were before thing such as NDAA and the infamous "Patriot Act". 
You say we are the criminals?  You say we are the terrorists, well ladies and gentle men of congress, I'm sorry to say but you are wrong... Dead wrong, you my friends are the criminals, you my friends are the terrorists.  The Constitution is not just "An outdated piece of paper" as you and the rest of the government think, it is what our country was founded the those principles were what helped form this great nations, and you are destroying it now.  If you do not do something soon, you can take our word, We The People will rise up, We The People will put an end to it and We The People will return this country back to its former greatness..."

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview & Windows Server 8 Beta By Microsoft (Freely Downloadable)

Microsoft Released Windows 8 Consumer Preview & Windows Server 8 Beta (Freely Downloadable)

A double boom for Windows lovers. Software giant Microsoft has officially released the Consumer Preview Windows 8 & Windows Server 8 Beta.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview :-

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers a more robust experience for testing the world's most popular operating system and is available to the widest range of people yet following the initial release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview late last year. The Developer Preview received more than 3 million downloads.

"With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one," said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft. "The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC."

The test "beta" version of the revamped system was introduced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the planet's largest cell phone trade show, and borrows some of the look of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software for Windows 8. Windows 8 doesn't have the traditional "Start" menu, and applications are spread across a mosaic of tiles in a design Microsoft calls "Metro" -- seen as an attempt by the company as a scramble to preserve its market share. And executives said it powers up on PCs in eight seconds, much faster than the previous version.

What is New In Windows 8 Consumer Preview :-

• Broad range of product changes and improvements. Since the Developer Preview in September, designed to preview the programming platform, Windows 8 has progressed across every dimension. From completing the user experience for touch, keyboard and mouse to refining the development platform, the Consumer Preview improves performance, quality and reliability across all subsystems.

• With the added features, it represents a more complete view of the capabilities of Windows 8. Windows Store with new apps. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview marks the beta opening of the Windows Store, which is filled with a variety of new Metro style apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft. During the Consumer Preview, these apps are available to try and experience at no cost to users. The Windows Store will offer personalised recommendations, and Windows 8 gives users the ability to take their apps and settings with them across multiple PCs, making it easy to discover and try new apps while offering developers the greatest opportunity of any platform.

• Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone 7. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers seamless integration with the content people care about across their Web services. An optional additional sign-on with a Microsoft account provides access to a host of features, including the ability to roam all settings, use cloud storage, communicate with email, calendar and contacts, and connect to a broad range of services. Your connection to the cloud works across your Windows-based PCs and your Windows 7 phones.

• Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5. The best way to experience the Web on Windows is with Internet Explorer 10. The browser has been re-imagined to create a new experience designed specifically for Windows 8 devices. It provides an edge-to-edge user interface that is all about less browser and more Web. Fast and fluid, Internet Explorer is hardware-accelerated to enable Web performance.

• Preview of new hardware capabilities. At the event, Microsoft also showcased Windows 8 running on a wide range of new x86- and ARM-based reference hardware. This hardware will be available to select developers for trial and testing as previously announced.

Additional details can be found on the official website of Microsoft Windows. Also Microsoft makes Windows 8 Consumer Preview is made available for free Download

Windows Server 8 Beta :- 

The beta of Windows Server 8 is now available for IT professionals and software developers around the world to download. In the Windows Server official Blog Bill Laing, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Corporation Said - In September we introduced Windows Server “8” with a preview to help developers and hardware partners prepare new and existing applications, systems and devices. The response from that community, along with hundreds of customers in our early adopters program, has been incredibly positive. A common theme of feedback has been how broad and deep the new capabilities are. Now is the time for you, IT professionals in organizations of all sizes, to get your hands on this new release, discover the new capabilities and contribute to the development of what we call the cloud-optimized OS.
I’ll highlight in this post just a few examples of new capabilities that you’ll want to explore. With the new Hyper-V we are taking virtualization above and beyond to provide a multi-tenant platform for cloud computing. For example, with Hyper-V Network Virtualization you can create virtual networks so different business units, or even multiple customers, can seamlessly share network infrastructure.  You will be able to move virtual machines and servers around without losing their network assignments. In Windows Server “8” we are delivering high availability and disaster recovery through software technology on much more cost effective hardware. For example, with File Server Transparent Failover you can now more easily perform hardware or software maintenance of nodes in a File Server cluster by moving file shares between nodes with little interruption to server applications that are storing data on those file shares. We’re also delivering a tremendous amount of new capabilities for multi-machine management and automation. You will want to explore the dramatic new improvements to Server Manager, as well as the new Windows PowerShell. With 2,300 commandlets provided out of the box, Windows PowerShell allows you to automate everything you can do manually with the user interface. And, with technologies like Intellisense, we’ve made it very easy for you to master all of that power. Additionally, Windows Server “8” provides a powerful server application platform that enables you to develop and host the most demanding of application workloads. For example, with .NET Framework 4.5 you can take advantage of new asynch language and library support to build server and web applications that scale far beyond what other platforms provide. Our new IIS 8 web server provides better security isolation and resource sand-boxing between applications, native support for web sockets, and the ability to host significantly more sites on a server.

For Additional Information & To Download Windows Server 8 Beta Click Here

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