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The cyber war between Pakistani and Indian hackers is intensifying. A group called the Indian Cyber Army (ICA) has claimed access to scripts from more than 375 Pakistani websites, including those belonging to the government, high-level organizations, and notable individuals. Hackers from both countries are targeting significant public and private websites. Last week, a group named Pak Cyber Army (PCA) hacked approximately 300 Indian websites. The ICA has warned it could hack another 375 Pakistani websites by December 31, 2010. In response to these threats, the government has taken serious measures. A special cell under the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), known as the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), has been established to monitor Pakistani websites, particularly government sites, according to Inam Ghani, Project Director NR3C. He added that the cybercrime wing of the FIA has already recovered 36 hacked websites. To prevent further attacks on public websites, a...

On December 10, 2010, Anonymous released a press statement to clarify its identity and objectives. Who is Anonymous? Anonymous, often misunderstood, is not a conventional group. Instead, it is an internet gathering without formal structure. Both Anonymous and the media acknowledge the perceived internal disagreements within the group. However, this does not imply a failure in their command structure. The decentralized nature of Anonymous is based on shared ideas rather than hierarchical directives. Unique in its form, Anonymous learns through trial and error. The collective is now working on better communication of core values to its members. They also aim to inform the public and media about their identity and principles. Contrary to popular belief, Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Members are average internet citizens driven by frustration over daily injustices. They do not seek to steal personal information or credit card details, nor do they intend to attack critical infras...

Do you support WikiLeaks? Are you angry at critics trying to suppress it? Maybe you're considering joining online protests to shut down the websites of its opponents. Don't. A group of vigilantes named Anonymous has turned their Operation Payback campaign, previously targeting antipiracy organizations, on PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Senator Joe Lieberman, Sarah Palin, and others who have criticized WikiLeaks or stopped doing business with the document-sharing project. The fallout from WikiLeaks has reached a fever pitch since the site began releasing diplomatic cables last month, causing embarrassment for U.S. diplomatic efforts. Launching denial-of-service (DOS) attacks against target websites to send a message and disrupt their operations is the modern-day equivalent of walking the picket line with a sign. However, the electronic version is illegal. "Participating in a botnet with the intention of shutting down a website violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," ...

Gathering evidence on Facebook has become a standard legal practice, so a social sting operation was inevitable. This method led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apprehend a would-be terrorist in Baltimore. An FBI informant initially contacted 21-year-old Antonio Martinez after he publicly posted about his desire for jihad on Facebook earlier this fall, according to AFP. The U.S. Justice Department released a prepared statement that AFP cited: "An affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that on September 29, 2010, Martinez publicly posted on his Facebook account a statement calling for violence to stop the oppression of Muslims, and that on October 1, 2010, he publicly posted a message stating that he hates any person who opposes Allah and his prophet." The FBI set Martinez up with a fake car bomb, then apprehended him when he attempted to detonate it remotely. The faux explosive was rigged in a vehicle parked outside a U.S. military recrui...

Dutch authorities announced the arrest of a 16-year-old hacker involved in the pro-WikiLeaks attacks on the websites of MasterCard and PayPal. The Dutch National Prosecutors Office reported that the teen, whose name was not disclosed, was arrested by a high-tech crime team last night. The arrest follows a series of attacks organized by the group known as Anonymous. This group has previously targeted entities such as the Church of Scientology and the Australian government. Recently, they launched distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on companies distancing themselves from WikiLeaks. These attacks use thousands of computers to overwhelm a target by making simultaneous connections. Yesterday, Visa.com was briefly taken offline, though the company assured CNET that no payments or transactions were affected. MasterCard.com was also unreachable in the morning. Additionally, the website for the Swedish prosecution agency, which is seeking the extradition of WikiLeaks editor Julian A...