Hacktivism: The Internet As a Tool
George Washington University
Management of Information Security
Professor Julie Ryan
By: Patti Chanthaphone
November 27, 2002
Introduction:
The growth of the Internet and the application of computer technology have come
a long way since the early 1980’s. Today’s, computers are highly interconnected and can
process information at rapid speeds with very little human interaction. Societies rely
heavily on computers to do research, read the news, shop, exchange ideas and
information, conduct financial transactions or occasionally browse the World Wide Web.
However some activists see the technology as an opportunity to exploit government
policies and convey their dissatisfaction with the status quo in order to initiate social
reform. Because of this influence and dependability of computers to conduct day-to-day
activities, any disruption or lack of availability to operate and provide services can have
many negative impacts towards the Internet community.
People often refer to being online as being connected to the world. The Internet is
often referred to as the “information superhighway” or “cyberspace”. Just as each person
has their own uses for the Internet, some people strongly believe the Internet should be
“free” for all, without any limitations, while other including many governments, fear the
Internet is too “free” and should be censored. The issue regarding Internet censorship
remains an active subject of debate. This paper focuses on what motivates hacktivists
organizations and the goals they seek to achieve by engaging in cyber-civil disobedience.
The Internet has become for the hacktivist what the sit-ins and protest marches were to
the activists of the 1960s. Hacktivists feel it is a both a necessary and powerful tool in
assisting them in expressing their First Amendment Right to free speech.
Hacktivists use the Internet as a tool to express their discontents about
government policies and to illustrate their personal beliefs and objectives about social
issues. The days of protesting in the street, in front of government buildings is now
coupled with on-line protest and virtual demonstrations. People holding up signs and
yelling slogans are almost extinct. Now, activists are relying on computers and the
Internet to yell for them. The digital voice is louder and more influential because of its
ability to reach a large range of audiences all over the world instantaneously. About
thirty years ago, demonstrators required some from of organization and gathering of large
numbers of people. They spent many sleepless hours preparing for one demonstration.
Now, the “netherworld of cyberspace offers an unrestricted, unregulated and certainly
unorganized refuge as an alternative to conventional assembly…cyberspace provides the
ideal mechanism for cyber-civil disobedience, the protest of choice for the Information
Age.”1 Multiple demonstrations can occur all at once, with the click on one button.
Disgruntled citizens have realized that the percentage of the population that uses the
Internet is rapidly increasing. By taking their demonstrations and protests to the Internet
their actions are difficult to ignore.
There is an abundance of free information and tools available online for people
that want to learn how to hack. Hacktivist require very little skill sets and can launch
successful attacks with limited computer and Internet knowledge. There are underground
1
Winn Schwartau. Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and
Weapons of Mass Disruption.
2
IRC or chat rooms hackers can visit to exchange new hacking techniques. Hacker
conventions are held all over the world on a regular basis to discuss developments in
technology, its vulnerabilities and ways it can be exploited. One myth about hackers that
participate in hacktivism is that they are mainly made up of rebellious pimple faced
teenagers with nothing better to do with their time. The truth is they consist of educated,
knowledgeable and successful people with a mission to change social and political order.
Who Hacktivist Are:
There is a wide range of activists groups; they consist of environmentalists, antiabortionists, socialists, and opponents of globalization seek to challenge government
policies, actions or the lack of actions. These groups use the Internet as a tool to
influence political, social or personal change. Hacktivist consist of hackers, crackers,
phreakers who want to call attention to an issue that conflict with their own beliefs, and
with the aid of the Internet hacktivists are finding it easy to successfully complete their
mission.2 A hacktivist can be anyone, a neighbor, co-worker, friend, parent or even a
business executive. It is hard to pin point exactly who hacktivists are and what their next
target will be, unless advertised. An Internet-related term known as a “swarm” refers to a
“global body of people with a similar beliefs that use the Internet as a tool to share
information, mobilize support and coordinate direct action online”.3 Although, the
actions of one hacktivist using an automated tool is enough to cause havoc for any
network or security administrator, a coordinated attack by multiple hacktivists make it
harder for network administrators to recover from the attack.
Well known hacktivists groups such as Cult of the Dead Cow, Electronic
Disobedience Theatre (EDT) and Electrohippies are active participators in hacktivism.
They continuously recruit and encourage people to become hacktivists, to aid them in
their mission. Without hiding their organization’s purpose and mainly their identity,
individuals involved in these groups feel their actions are legal. These organizations are
composed mainly of political and government protesters. “By interacting with Internet
users who are likeminded, the individual no longer is an isolated voice but a part of a
network.”4 The thrill of knowing they can penetrate a government system gives them the
satisfaction in thinking that they have some form of control and power over government
policies. But what these groups are unaware of is the fact that their actions may lead to
bigger and more serious problems for government entities in the future. Outside
organizations or terrorist organizations may use hacktivist actions to their benefit. For
instance by diverging the government’s attention to the hactivists activity, the terrorist
may see an avenue of opportunity to attack when the government is distracted. There are
many more hacktivist organizations that exist and new ones are continuously emerging.
New coalitions can be built on-line that allow people in rich and poor countries to unite in
2
Dequendre Neeley, Hacktivism or Vandalism?; Security Management; February 2000 v44 i2 p30.
Giles Trendle, Cyberspace: A 21st Century Diwan, Middle East; London; September 2002.
4
Giles Trendle, Cyberspace: 21st Century Diwan, Middle East; London; September 2002 p 14-15.
3
3
order to bring about social change.5 These organizations need to realize that they are a
threat to the Internet community as a whole and their actions will not be ignored and
tolerated.
Defining Hacktivism:
Hacktivism is a fairly new term that describes a method of cyber protesting.
Security expert, Dorothy Denning states,” hacktivism is the convergence of hacking with
activism, where hacking is referred to the action or operations that exploit computers in
ways that are unusual and often illegal, typically with the help of special software or
hacking tools”.6 It is basically breaking into a computer or network without authorization
(unauthorized access). Once activists take protesting to the Internet they are known as
hacktivists and their actions are known as hacktivism. This type of protesting is known
as “cyber-protesting” or “cyber-civil disobedience.” They are attacking the networks,
websites and computer systems of their opponents. Activists have chosen to participate
in hacktivism to display propaganda because it is cheap, available to diverse audiences,
easily distributed and has the ability to bypass many national laws.7 Newly developed
software such as; Peekabooty, Six/Four and Triangle Boy imitate the peer-to-peer file
sharing architecture used in Napster but allows parties to transfer encrypted files coupled
with other forms of advanced technology.8 Such software, created by hacktivists
organizations is used, “…to grant unrestricted access to users in China, Iran and other
countries whose governments use filtering or censoring software to control their Internet
connection.”9
There are different hacking techniques in use by hacktivists to convey their
discontents. The most common ones are, “virtual sit-ins and blockades; automated e-mail
bombs; web hacks and website defacement and sending computer viruses or worms”.10
These various techniques will be discussed and examined later in the paper. Depending
on what the hacktivist wants to accomplish, any one of the above techniques can be used
or all can be used at once. If the attack is successful, the damages on the target/victim
computers are detrimental and expensive to repair.
Electronic civil disobedience is appealing for extreme activist groups because of
5
Ashraf Patel, Between Street Battles and Cyberspace: Activism for the 21 st Century; LINK Centre,
available at http://link.wits.ac.za/ners/v3_8.html accessed on
6
Dorothy E. Denning, Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing
Foreign Policy; Internet and International Systems: Information Technology and American Foreign Policy
Decision making Workshop; available at (http://www.nautilus.org/infopolicy/workshop/papers/demming_html) accessed on 6 October 2002.
7
Kathy Crilley, Information Warfare: New Battlefields Terrorists, propaganda and the Internet; Aslib
Proceedings; London; July/August 2001.
8
Mitch Wagner, Hacktivists Against Censorship, Washington Post, 13 October 2002, pH07, electronic
copy available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15124-2002Oct11.html accessed on 14
October 2002.
9
Ibid
10
Kathy Crilley, Information Warfare: New Battlefields Terrorists, propaganda and the Internet; Aslib
Proceedings; London; July/August 2001.
4
the publicity the media gives it. There is very little a hacktivists has accomplished if their
actions are left unrecognized. After the attack on the Untied States on September 11,
2001 the media and government entities are more responsive to hacking cases because
acts of hacktivism and acts of cyber terrorisms are becoming blurred. Not only is the
media finding it difficult to find the line between hacktivism and cyber terrorism, it is
also becoming harder for law enforcement to distinguish between the two. Hacktivists
were not always militant. In the past, they use to hosts their own sites, post their own
content and wait around for people with the same interest to visit their website. But the
wait is over, now they are taking a more proactive approach by forcing the people who
have different beliefs and opinions to listen.
Hacktivism is prevalent in many countries around the world. There have been
instances where acts of hacktivism have caused severe economic loss for many
businesses and organizations. Hacktivist have the Internet to thank when it comes to
providing the necessary tools and information that assist them in their mission.
Hacktivism even occurs in countries that try desperately to censor the Internet. With the
aid of outside organizations and various hacking tools and software, hacktivist have
found ways to work around Internet censorship.
Common Techniques used by Hacktivist:
Virtual sit-ins and virtual roadblocks are methods used in cyberspace. Unlike
physical sit-ins or roadblocks used in traditional protests, in cyberspace such tactics can
be very disruptive. In cyberspace there is often only one “road,” the entities web site, that
can be attacked, creating a single, critical point at which an organization is vulnerable to
attack. The objective of this method is to block access to websites or services intended for
legitimate parties. The goal is get an organized group of hacktivist to point their web
browsers to target sites at the same time in order to max out the circuit or bandwidth.
“To facilitate the strikes, the organizers set up special websites with automated
software…participants had to visit one of the Flood Net sites and their computers would
automatically download the software that would access the site every few seconds…in
addition the software allowed the hacktivist to leave a personal statement on the target
server.”11 The idea is to make it painless for hacktivist to participate.
E-mail bombs are used by hacktivist to flood the opponent’s e-mail box or mail
server. Again, with automated software tools, this attack can be facilitated very easily.
The objective is to “jam” the opponents mail so severely that they will not be able to send
or receive mail. This attack can be very harmful for businesses or government officials
that rely on the use of e-mail to communicate between parties and organizations.
Hacking and website defacements is more common among hacktivist who are
looking to take a more proactive approach. Once hacktivists gain unauthorized access
into the target web server, they rewrite code that replaces the websites content with their
own content and propaganda. Hacktivist are aware that “websites can provide an
inexpensive and yet pervasive medium by which to address a global public with more
11
Ibid
5
direct control over the message.”12 Often times the messages are defamatory, extreme and
graphical. Hacktivists tend to use this method of attack because pictures are often worth
more than a thousand words. For instance, after the attack on 9/11, may hacktivists
groups quickly united with other hacktivists groups around the world to penetrate, deface
and crash hundreds of web servers in the Middle East.13 Pictures of Bin Laden with
pistols pointing towards his temple were very common. Actions such as the one
mentioned is very common after such an incident but the war unfortunately tends to move
into cyberspace rather quickly and the retaliation process by the opposing party is almost
predictable in the cyber world. In the end, these types of propaganda tend to lead to
cyber war between two opposing party and instead of using bombs or guns, the weapon
of choice becomes a keyboard and computer.
Lastly, computer virus and worms are also very popular methods used by
hacktivist. Viruses and worms are very problematic for network administrators to clean
up. Both are types of malicious code that can infect a computer or network by and
propagating from one system to the next. This method is harmful because some viruses
and worms can go undetected until triggered by some agent that causes it to react and
damage the victim computer. Sometimes the only way to stop the virus or worm from
spreading into other areas of the network is to take it off-line until the damages are
repaired. Once again, the hacktivist is successful in taking down their intended target.
Hacktivist Motivations and Expectations:
Activists groups are motivated to use the Internet as a tool for engaging in cybercivil disobedience mainly because of its global visibility. It offers access to numerous
amounts of information at very little cost for those groups who have limited budgets. If
individuals are afraid of disclosing their identity for any reason, the Internet can mask
their identity. People who live in countries where the government regulates the use of the
Internet can launch successful attacks without the fear of being caught and prosecuted. In
a sense, cyber-civil disobedience is safe when compared to the old traditional form of
protesting. Hacktivists also take advantage of the opportunity and availability to be able
to publish freely on the Internet to advance their cause. They offer free software and host
numerous web sites on how to hack. Unfortunately, these sites do not offer any
disclosures or warning labels that indicate what the implications and consequences of
hacking are. But it is difficult to determine whether or not hacktivism would decrease
even if the warning banners existed.
Drawing media attention and publicity is a hacktivist’s objective. They disrupt,
manipulate and destroy their opponents systems by engaging in illegal activity. In the
end they think they can bring about some form of social and political change by engaging
in cyber-civil disobedience. In the pasts, the actions of many hacktivist groups were
considered to be more of an annoyance than a threat. But many network and security
administrators are learning that it requires many hours of reprogramming and large sums
12
Giles Trendle, Cyberspace: A 21st Century Diwan, Middle East; London; September 2002.
John Lasker, Hackers Use Computers Skills to Promote Politically Motivated Mischief, Mayhem; Knight
Ridder Tribune Business News; Washington; 14 May 2002.
13
6
of money to bring the site back to its original form.14 In today’s Internet environment
hacktivists groups are becoming as much as a threat to the Internet community as cyberterrorists because of the impact and damage they cause to the opponent systems. One
major obstacle for hacktivists groups is to reach people in underdeveloped countries that
have limited Internet and communication infrastructures. If technology continues to
grow at the pace it currently is, this obstacle will soon be obsolete.
Concerns for Law Enforcement and Government Entities:
The boundaries between acts of hacktivism and acts of cyberterriom are now
being considered two of the same things. “Cyber-civil disobedience is waged by remote
control, over vast distances, yet the effects can be highly focused against selected
targets”.15 Policing the streets and maintaining social order during protests and
demonstration on the streets use to be feasible but policing the Internet is virtually
impractical. Traditional methods of protests use to allow law enforcement to plan ahead,
make sure they have enough man power to keep protestors in line and most importantly
have the ability to arrest a protestor quickly if they got out of control. Law enforcement
agencies are finding out the hard way that in the world of cyberspace the hacktivists are
the ones in control. Hacktivism poses a threat on two levels: the private
industry/intellectual property level and the national and government/national security
level.”16
The frightening feature that law enforcement faces is the fact that the Internet has
no concrete boundaries. As mentioned earlier, hacktivist can find ways to bypass local
national computer laws. One person or entity does not own the Internet, it is ungoverned
and impossible to police. “The laws governing material on the Internet are not as clearly
defined as those governing print based material and it appears that legislation cannot keep
pace with the issues of today.”17 The government has to find a balance between the
fundamental right of persons constitutional right to free speech and the threat of national
security. Actions such as hacking and defacing government web sites can constitute an
act of cyber war. The inability to distinguish between the acts of hacktivist and the acts
of cyber-terrorists the government is taking a more strict approach on computer related
crimes. “Cyberspace is increasingly used as a digital battlefield for rebels, freedom
fighters, terrorists and others who employ hacking tools to protest and participate in
broader conflicts.” 18 Hacktivist no longer have to worry about police officers with guns
and tear gas. They do not have to worry about other extremists who are on the opposing
14
John Lasker, Hackers Use Computer Skills to Promote Politically Motivated Mischief, Mayhem; Knight
Ridder Tribune Business News; Washington, 14 May 2002.
15
Winn Schwartau. Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and
Weapons of Mass Disruption.
16
Mark Manion and Abby Goodrum, Terrorism or Civil Disobedience, Toward a Hackitivist Ethic,
Computers and Society, June 2000.
17
Kathy Crilley, Information Warfare: New Battlefields Terrorists, propaganda and the Internet; Aslib
Proceedings; London; July/August 2001
18
P Stepheson, Portents of Things to Come; SC/Info Security News Magazine; v12 n3 p72-73; 1 March
2001.
7
side showing up and disturbing their demonstration. Government agencies are learning
the hard way that, “the information age population doesn’t have to take to the streets to
voice its discontents.”19 . If hacktivists continue to trade blows by crashing the
government server of their opponents their actions could be considered an act of cyber
war by the opposing government. In turn this could lead to more devastating long term
affects than what the hacktivist intended.
Government systems are relying more heavily on many private organizations to
provide Internet services. Disruptions or attacks on private entity networks have negative
impacts on the government system. According to the National Infrastructure Protection
Center (NIPC), sub-entity under the Federal Bureau of Investigation, “the potential for
future attacks could bring about large economic loss as well as potentially severe damage
to the national infrastructure, affecting global markets as well as public safety.”20 When
hacktivism start to borderline the actions of cyber-terrorists, government officials become
involved for safety of the nation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also formed an
alliance group with private entities known as the, “Information Sharing and Analysis
Center (ISAC) that is responsible for sharing information on vulnerabilities and cyberattack data within various industry sectors, including; the energy, banking and
telecommunications industry.”21 Infrastructure related information is and can be accessed
from all around the world and much of the nations most critical infrastructures such as
the physical phone lines, electric grids, air traffic control and water supplies are
connected and operate with the aid of computers.22 This interconnectivity has made the
government very dependent on private entities to secure, monitor and maintain the
integrity of their network infrastructure from attacks by hacktivist and cyber-terrorists.
The idea that government and private organizations can work closely together to
mitigate computer related crimes is very promising toward the future of the Internet.
“Dependence implies vulnerability, and to military thinkers, vulnerability implies
opportunity”.23 More now than ever, militaries all around the world now depend on
computers to manage massive amounts of data for logistics, process intelligence and plan
operations, design and manufacture weapons.24 To many anti-government hacktivists
groups the servers and networks that hosts this information become potential targets.
Since the terrorist event on September 11, 2002, new laws have been passed to
combat cyber terrorism. Laws in place today such as the United States Patriot Act and
the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act address the implications of hacking and what the
19
Winn Schwartau, Would Thoreau Approve?: Technology Can Be an Effective Tool for Expressing
Political and Social Discontents; InformationWeek; 27 March 1995
20
Department of Defense News Letter, NIPC Says Cyber Protest Threats will Increase, Technobabble; v2
issue 6, November 2001
21
Brian Kerbs, Hacktivism’ Spike Expected Following US Retaliations, Newsbytes News Network, 13
September 2001.
22
John Lasker, Hackers Use Computer Skills to Promote Politically Motivated Mischief, Mayhem; Knight
Ridder Tribune Business News; Washington, 14 May 2002.
23
24
Bruce D. Berkowitz, War logs On, Foreign Affairs; New York; May/June 2000. p 8-12.
Ibid
8
consequences of hacking are. A representative from the FBI states, “the law does not give
special treatment or legal immunity to hacktivism, denying service to a computer is a
federal crime.”25 Computer hackers now face life imprisonment if convicted under the
convicted under the United States Patriot Act. Whether or not this is going to discourage
hacking and make a hacktivist think twice before acting is too early to speculate.
Concerns for Security Professionals, Private and Commercial Organizations:
The concerns for many security and network administers are similar to those that
the government faces. Commercial entities are also becoming targets for hacktivists
organizations because some hacktivists organizations are against globalization and
merging markets. Others feel U.S companies and International companies should not
conduct business with each other. Hacktivist have targeted entities such as, Microsoft,
Nike and Ford Motor to name a few. By denying service to these corporations server,
causes severe financial damage. These companies are targeted because they are large
corporations that are a figure for economic growth for the United States. Other
hacktivists feel these large corporations are becoming a monopoly and disagree with their
business objective or agenda. Another extreme example is if a hacktivist group attacks a
financial institution because they feel the bank is processing transactions for the AlQuetia. Instead of letting law enforcement investigate the matter, hacktivist take matters
into their own hands. Although the hacktivist group considers their actions are good for
the community as a whole, other parties that desperately depend on the bank to conduct
their financial transactions are negatively impacted by the lack of availability to their
funds.
The NIPC have provided some recommendations to private entities on how to
secure their network from hacking and hacktivist activities. They encourage companies to
re-evaluate their security procedures, implement network intrusion detection software,
limit the size of inbound traffic, review system logs, disable inactive accounts, change
passwords regularly and keep patches updated.26 They should monitor and analyze
network traffic to determine if there is a pattern of constant requests or pings coming
from the same source. Web administrators should always keep back-ups and have
redundancy plans. There is no such thing as a network that is 100% secure from any
threat. One of the hardest reasons to detect the actions of a hacktivist is the mere fact that
the traffic or requests they make to the target web server appear to be legitimate. Before
the network administrators can determine what is going on, the hacktivist has already
disrupted service, replace web site content or crash the server. Government entities do
not recognize the acts of hacktivists as a form of civil disobedience, and the penalties for
breaking into a computer can be very extreme and hacktivists need to be aware of their
actions and thus must take responsibility for the damages they create.
25
Dequendre Neeley, Hacktivism or Vandalism?; Security Management, v44 i2 p30; February 2000.
NIPC Watch and Warning Unit, Hacktivism in Connection with Protest Events of September 2002, 23
September 2002, electronic version available at http://www.nipc.gov/warnings/assessments/2002/02002.html accessed on
26
9
Conclusion:
Hacktivism is becoming a very serious threat to the Internet community because
of the interconnectivity of government systems and private networks. As one depends on
the other to operate, disruptions in normal operations or lack of availability in services
can have very serious side effects on a nation and it’s critical infrastructures. Since
information is so easily available over the Internet it is almost impossible to validate its
authenticity. Hacktivists organizations use the Internet to recruit more participants in
order to form a union of like-minded people. With the ability to manipulate information
on local and national news servers, innocent web surfers may not even realize that they
are being swayed by misleading information. Hacktivists organizations stand firm by the
fact that their actions are nothing more than an act of civil disobedience. Instead of
taking their discontents to the street, they are taking it to the information highway. They
feel their actions are not illegal, dangerous or life threatening. Some security
professionals and law enforcement agencies seem to think otherwise. Manipulating or
destroying data that is an essential part of a company’s financial well-being, or crashing a
government server that regulate air traffic control is illegal and life-threatening. As these
organizations become more aggressive in the future, there is no telling how much damage
can result from their actions.
Regardless of whether or not hacktivist feel their actions are legal, Unites States
computer laws and some International computer crime laws identify hacking as an
extreme threat to the Internet community and therefore illegal. Various government and
law enforcement agencies around the world feel unauthorized access to any computer;
network is the destruction of private property. Those who violate these laws will be
punished. In the past, computer laws alone have not proven to discourage hacktivism.
However, through education and training, those that commit these crimes will be brought
to justice and used to set a standard or example.
Activist who disagree with hacktivism feel their counterparts are misusing the
Internet. Instead of using the Internet as a weapon, activist should use the Internet as
positive communications tool. Instead of going out and causing damage to the opponent
systems, they should take the time and effort to divert their attention to the importance of
creating their own web site whereby they can hosts their own material. The Internet does
allow people to express their First Amendment right to free speech without breaking local
and international law. There are other ways of expressing political, social and personal
discontents without being unethical and disregarding the laws of other countries. Human
conflict is inevitable and impossible to ignore. The whole idea behind civil disobedience
is to allow people to challenge government policies and actions. It is not about taking
down a web site or destroying a network because “they” feel it is not worthy of being on
the Internet. Hacktivism is a double standard, people that participate suggest they are
expressing freedom of speech but what they have really done is take away someone else’s
freedom of speech. For those that feel hacktivism is an act that is nothing more that a
nuisance should not undermine their ability to cause extreme damage.
10
Annotated Bibliography
1. Baguley, Richard. “Hacktivism' Spike Expected Following US Retaliations,”
[CD-ROM] Newsbytes, 13 September 2001 pNWSB01.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s, National Infrastructure Protection
Center (NIPC) is working closely with information security firms to
prepare for the Anti-US hackings after the incident on September 11th.
NIPC is requesting private firms to increase monitoring of any suspicious
communications being transferred electronically, especially in the
banking, transportation and energy industries.
2. Baguley, Richard. “SEND THE GOVERNMENT TO JAIL,” [CD-ROM]
Boardwatch Magazine, December 1999 v13 i12 p120.
A bill sent to Legislation in the United Kingdom stirs up controversy among the
strict privacy groups in the nation. The Bill if passed, will allow the UK police to
access encrypted information that they think may be linked to a crime. Penalties
for not complying could lead to jail sentences, if the person did not provide the
key. The Bill states that a person (s) with encrypted files needed by the police
must supply them with the key needed to decrypt the message. Hacktivist argue it
is an invasion of privacy, what happens if the receiver of the message was framed
and did not have the key. Will the police arrest the individual if he never had a
key to begin with? An outrage sprung amongst many hacktivists groups opposing
such strict enforcement.
3. Denning, Dorothy. “Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a
Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy,” available from
http://www.terrorism.com/documents/denning-infoterrorism.html ; accessed on
6 October 2002.
Cyber protesting is a popular avenue for individuals to express a political opinion
and persuade political leaders to sway one-way or the other. Regardless of the
message the hacktivist is trying to relay, hacking is still considered a computer
crime and must be treated that way. The people involved in this movement use
their programming skills along with their knowledge of the Internet to disrupt
their opponents. To some, hacktivisim is viewed as cyber terrorism. To others it
is a legitimate social movement with purpose with thought out methods.
11
4. Denning, Dorthy. “Cyberwarriors,” [CD-ROM] Harvard International Review,
Summer 2001 v23 i2 p70
Hacktivism occurs all over the world. As the world becomes more interconnected
and access to the information highway becomes more available, people are
finding computers as a source for expressing political and social movements.
Those opposing certain issues the government is doing, hacks into government
systems hoping to disrupt operations. Other who disagree with certain social
issues, deface the opponents website. Activists have chosen to take their actions
to the Internet because of its global visibility. Hacktivists state, their actions are
not life threatening and less harmful than the old method of protesting. Security
experts left to clean up the mess seem to think otherwise.
5. Foley, John. “HACKTIVISM -- The Road To Web-Site Security,” [CD-ROM]
InformationWeek, 13 November 2000 p8.
Electronic social Disobedience is on the rise. Information security is becoming
top priority for many companies and government agencies. The amount of
downtime and the cost of fighting cyber attack are on the rise. When companies
such as Microsoft and Lucent Technology and along with other top technology
companies become victims of cyber attacks, information security must be top
priority for any business and agency that want to protect their network
infrastructure and the information it is intended to protect.
6. Gold, Steve. “Chinese Hacktivist Threat Continues To Build – Vigilinx,” [CD-ROM]
Newsbytes, 30 April 2001 pNWSB01120010.
Hacktivists lash out after an accidental collision between the Chinese fighter jet
and the United States spy plane. Pro-American hackers retaliate by hacking over
100 Chinese website. But reports indicate that the Chinese are also hacking into
web site maintained by individuals in the United States. U.S. website operators
say that this may be a cyber war in the making.
7. Harmon, Amy. “Hacktivists' of all persuasions take their struggle to
the Web,” [CD-ROM] The New York Times, Oct 31, 1998 v148
pA1(L) col 5.
A group known as the Electronic Disturbance Theater seeks to express their
political agenda the new traditional way, over the Internet. They believe their
actions are not illegal because they do not break into systems to destroy data.
They think their intentions are pure, without masking their identity. They think
their methods of cyber protest will bring political and societal change. They
strongly believe in the free flow of information and governments should not
regulate the use the World Wide Web. By using the Internet as a tool for reaching
12
a wide range of audiences, they think it is more influential than protesting the old
conventional way.
8.
Hasnain, Ghulam. “School for Hackers: The Love Bug’s Manila Birthplace is Just
One of Many Third World Virus Breeding Grounds,” [CD-ROM] Time, 22 May
2000 v155 i21 p59.
People who hack have their own reasons and motivations. There is no real clearcut answer to why people do it. Those who disagree with Internet censorship lash
out on government systems, deface government websites to make a statement. As
people in third world countries see technology growing in other nations, they too
want exposure to such inventions. Unfortunately, the free flow of information is
not so “free” in many nations that make the Internet so expensive their own
citizens cannot afford to use it or the any information entering or leaving the
country is filtered and monitored. Amazingly, however, some of the most
renowned hackers are borne in such countries.
9. Ives, Jim. “Know the Code,” Technobabble, The DCIS Cyber Crime Newsletter.
Volume 2, Issue 6. November 2001. [Newsletter on-line]; available from
http://dodig.osd.mil/dcis/newsletters/100111.pdf ; accessed on 6 October 2002.
Prosecutors are having a very difficult time prosecuting computer related crimes
because of inadequate laws. 18 USC 1362-Communication Lines, Stations, or
Systems is a statute that deals with hacking into the U.S. Department of Defense
systems and other critical government systems or communication lines.
Regardless of the intent of the hacker, those charged under this statute can receive
3 to 10 years in prison and receive fines ranging from $1000 to $10, 000.
Originally, the statute was intended to protect systems utilized by military and
civil defense agencies.
10. Krebs, Brian . “FBI Warns Of Increased Hacktivism, Cyber Protests,” [CDROM] Newsbytes, 16 October 2001 pNWSB0128901F.
After the September 11th attack on America, a growing trend in cyber
attacks is expected to rise from pro-Afghanistan groups. Similar to
hackings performed by the Chinese when the two planes crashed.
Hacktivist that are discontent about how the U.S government is handling
International issues will take their protest to the Internet. The Federal
Bureau of Investigation warns the United States must take extra steps to
protect the nations most critical infrastructures that are likely targets by
the pro-Afghanistan hacktivists groups.
13
11. Komiega, Kevin. “Political hacking: Crime or Activism,” 2000. available from
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/orginalContent/0,,sid14_gci506135,000.html
Internet ; accessed on 20 October 2002.
A decade ago, the world was not as electronically connected as it is today.
Households with personal computers were low and so were the number of people
with the skills needed to operate it. Ten years later, one cannot enter a home
where a computer does not exist. With the emergence of the Internet and its
popularity for personal and business use it has opened up more ways to share
information. It also opens the gate for people who exploit it to express their
opinions about certain issues. In virtual form, computers are becoming more
involved with social disobedience. Hacktivists who call themselves,
“Electrohippies” use computers and the Internet network to stage hacktivism.
Their main purpose is to disrupt it’s opponent’s electronic communication.
12. Lasker, John. “Hackers Use Computer Skills to Promote Politically Motivated
Mischief, Mayhem,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News; Washington, 14 May
2002.
13. Manion, Mark and Abby Goodrum. “Terrorism or Civil Disobedience: Toward a
Hacktivist Ethic,” Computers and Society, June 2000.
The potential power that hacktivism has is very frightening and cannot be
ignored. This form of electronic civil disobedience is considered unethical. It is
one thing to protest and speak out about discontents in relation to government
polices and actions but to destroy personal property by hacking is unethical.
Civil disobedience should be focused on non-violent acts in order to promote
social change, hacking on the other hand is an act of violence that could lead to
severe financial loss for the target / victim. Hacktivism is currently in its’ infancy
and expected to increase in the near future. It is fair to say that the freedom of
speech should be extended into the digital world and thus it has, but abusing the
privilege will demand the government to take a more stringent stance and punish
those that are out to destroy government and personal property.
14. McKay, Niall. “The Golden Age of Hacktivism,” available from
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,15129,00.html ; Internet ; accessed
on 16 October 2002.
As hacking tools become more easily accessible to hacktivists over the Internet,
security experts are becoming more concerned about how far someone will go to
express their political and social interest. A group known as, Cult of the Dead
Cow launched a hacktivist resource site, known as hacktivist.org whereby
hacktivists can have access to numerous hacking tools and instructions on how to
14
launch a successful cyber protest. Hacktivist do not believe that their actions are
to considered cyber warfare; instead they believe it should be coined as
expressing an interest on behalf of those who are oppressed by the government
and cannot do it for themselves.
15. Neeley, Dequendre. “Hacktivism or Vandalism?” Security Management,
February 2000 v44 i2 p30.
There are many hacktivist groups, some support each other while others
are parties of the opposite side. Hacktivist say, their actions are nonviolent and a right to free speech. Security professionals say, it is a crime
and should not be tolerated. Today, it is hard to tell a hacktivist who is
fighting for a political cause to a bored script kiddy sitting at home
defacing websites for fun. More seriously, it is even harder to distinguish
between an hacktivist and a cyber terrorist. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation says, they do not treat hacktivism any differently than it
would any computer crime, it is breaking into a computer system without
authorization. Launching a coordinated sit-in is a method of a denial of
service attack that disrupts legitimate communication, which could
potentially crash the server.
16. Patel, Ashraf. “Between Street Battles and Cyberspace: Activism for the 21st
Century,” available from http://link.wits.ac.za/nes/v3_8.html ; Internet ; accessed
on 19 October 2002.
Conventional methods of social disobedience are portrayed every year during the
WTO meeting, and IMF-World Bank meetings. Different groups with different
purpose gather yearly to protest issues ranging from Anti-Globalization to DebtRelief. While the street protests and picketing draw concerns from law
enforcement, more and more protests are occurring electronically. The
emergence of the World Wide Web and its’ use of information sharing have
paved a new way for protesters to disrupt their opponents. During the WTO
meetings, over 137,000 requests were sent to the WTO public website, brining the
website down to a crawl. The website published information regarding the
meetings, intended for the attendees of the meeting. Another method used by the
protesters was to repeatedly send emails to WTP personnel with large
attachments, which can cause bottleneck in the email system.
17. Samuel, Alexandra. “Decoding Hacktivism: Purpose, Method, and Identity in a New
Social Movement,” available from
http://www.ltas.fzk.de/esociety/preprints/egovernance/samuel.pdf ; accessed on 6
October 2002.
Social movements have changed throughout the years, especially with the
emergence of the Internet and powerful PCs. Methods of social movements such
as picket lines and sit-ins still occur today, however, a new movement called
15
hacktivism uses different methods to communicate the movement’s purpose.
Methods such as DOS attacks, flood nets and site takeovers are becoming more
common in the news pages.
18. Schwartau, Winn. Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves,
Internet Terrorists and Weapons of Mass Disruption. Thunder’s Mouth Press,
New York, NY. 2000 pp 69-211.
Standing in the middle of the street or in front of an abortion clinic with picket
signs is becoming a thing of the past. With the Internet being the information
highway, people can reach millions of people all over the world with little to no
effort. It no longer takes hundreds of people to “block” off the streets because of
protesting. Protesting that occur over the Internet only require at the most 1
person and the “block” could be more devastating. Cyber-civil disobedience
offers protest over the Internet with no boundaries and no limits. Hackers are
becoming more knowledgeable as tools and “how to” sites are readily available.
Hacktivists and hackers are no longer made up of teenage kids, today; they are
sophisticated people on a mission to make a statement.
19. Schwartau, Winn. “Would Thoreau Approve?” available from
http://www.informationweek.com/520/20uwfw.htm# ; Internet ; accessed on 15
October 2002.
Decades ago, civil disobedience meant that a group of people gathered together to
express their views against subjects such as war and government policy. They
protested by gathering groups of people with similar beliefs and marching in the
streets, picketing, and or staging a sit-in. The bigger the cause, the bigger the
crowd, often times out numbering the number of law enforcement tasked to
contain them. Today, protests are still waged, but now on different grounds with
different tactics. Cyber civil disobedience is the use of computer technology and
the Internet to stage protest. Through the vast network for telecommunication
networks, the protesters with right skills can wage their protest in a virtual state to
anywhere in the world where these networks reach.
20. Thomas, Julie L.C. “What is Hacktivism,” Sans Institute, 12 January 2001; available
from http://rr.sans.org/hackers/hacktivism2.php ; accessed on 16 October 2002.
Modern times calls for modern methods of social disobedience. The days of
picket signs and sit-ins have not yet passed, however, people involved with the
hacktivism movement are creating virtual counterparts of the traditional methods.
Instead of using picket signs, various groups are taking over web servers and
publishing their views on the opponent’s web pages. Groups like the
“Electrohippies” create virtual sit-ins by staging DDOS attacks against their
16
opponent’s web server, causing the website to become inaccessible for legitimate
visitors.
21.
Verton, Dan. “White House Cyber defense Strategy Due Out on Wednesday,”
Computerworld, September 16, 2002; available from
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,74296,00.ht
ml ; accessed on 19 October 2002.
With the increase of cyber-attacks and the growing threat of war with Iraq, the US
Government is outlining a strategy to combat the possible cyber-attacks against
nation’s infrastructure. To name a few, the cyber-attack strategy will concentrate
on how to secure information and operations of the energy, telecommunications,
transportation, and utility industries. It also outlines plans for public companies,
private companies and the government for setting security standards for current
and emerging technology.
22. Wagner, Mitch, “Hacktivists Against Censorship,” The Washington Post, Sunday,
October 13, 2002; Page H07; available from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15124-2002Oct11.html ;
accessed 13 October 2002.
The government in countries such as China and Iran will face harder challenges to
censor Internet usage by their citizens. Individuals against Internet censorship are
developing new tools that use peer-to-peer technology to bypass Internet
censorship. When complete, software such as Peekabooty, Six/Four and Triangle
Boy will allow users to use peer to peer technology and encryption to secretly
retrieve content that would have been stopped by the government’s filtering
software.
23. Wang, Wallace. “Hacktivism: guerillas, rebels strike the net” [CD-ROM]
Boardwatch Magazine, Jan 1999 v13 i1 p98(2).
Before the hacking and web defacements and denial of service attacks
entered the minds of the hacktivists community, they use to post their own
web sites quietly waiting for people to find the website on their own.
Now, the wait is over. Hacktivists have taken a more aggressive
approach, they no longer post their messages or statements on their own
sites, instead they hack into the opposing parities website and post their
statements there, where they know the persons or parties they oppose will
know exactly how they feel.
24. Wray, Stefan. “Electronic Civil Disobedience,” available from
http://cristine.org/borders/Wray_Essay.html; Internet; accessed on 16 October
2002.
17
Social Disobedience has been around for generations, however, it was not till
recently that the methods of disobedience started to mutate in electronic form.
Similar to the Civil Rights movement in the 50s, Anti-Vietnam War movement in
the 60s, to the feminist activism in the 70s, electronic civil disobedience follows a
similar principle, which is to protest against what they believe are wrong actions
or policies set by their opponents. Electronic Civil Disobedience breaks
boundaries that were hard for the early generation to perform. For example, with
the right skills, a group or a person can set a “digital sit-in” from the opposite site
of the world by jamming up network traffic to a specific website, or taking over a
website to post information that is used to disrupt the opponents operations.
25. “Hactivism In Connection With Protest Events of September 2002,” available from
http://www.nipc.gov/warnings/assessments/2002/02-002.htm ;Internet; accessed
on 10 October 2002.
Various groups ranging from Anti-Globalization, Debt-Relief or Human Rights
activists protest IMF and the World Bank meetings every year. To this date, these
groups have used the traditional methods of protest, which are Sit-Ins, Picketing,
and group marches. Neither IMF nor the World Bank has been attacked virtually
during these meetings. By virtually, meaning ‘Hactivism’ where the protesters
use computer networks and it’s vulnerabilities to infiltrate the opponent’s
information infrastructure. IMF and World Bank are encourage to take
precautions during these times by monitoring network access, abnormal email
traffic, and excessive website requests.
26. “Steal This Modem,” available from
http://journalism.fas.nyu.edu/opensource/readme/index.php?art_id=122&page=4
;Internet ; accessed on 16 October 2002.
There is a fine line between electronic social disobedience and cyber-terrorism.
This fine line may be blurred for some that may cross it. Experts agree that the
deciding factors between the two are the results of the actions performed. Cyberterrorism intends to destructive where as hacktivism intends to be disruptive.
27. “The Cyber terrorism Threat: All Too Real,” Technobabble, The DCIS Cyber Crime
Newsletter. Volume 2, Issue 6. November 2001. [Newsletter on-line]; available
from http://dodig.osd.mil/dcis/newsletters/100111.pdf ; accessed on 6 October
2002.
As more and more government systems get hacked the United States Government
is becoming more concerned. Issues such as the economical impact, system and
network damage and possible leaks of confidential data are main concerns for the
government. Virginia’s Governor, James Gilmore states the events of September
11 was a rude awakening and the US government needs to be prepared for attacks
18
against government and civilian systems. Cyber threats and cyberterrorism needs
to be addressed not only at a local level but also at a national level. Securing the
national information infrastructure from hackers and other types of cyber attacks
needs to be a priority for the government since many critical organizations depend
on computers to operate.
28. “NIPC Says Cyber Protest Threats will Increase,” Technobabble, The DCIS Cyber
Crime Newsletter. Volume 2, Issue 6. November 2001. [Newsletter on-line];
available from http://dodig.osd.mil/dcis/newsletters/100111.pdf ; accessed on 6
October 2002.
An organization established under the Federal Bureau of Investigations, The
National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) states that cyber protesting will
become more desirable for people who want to reach a wide range of audiences at
rapid speeds with little to no extra costs. Cyber protestors are also known as
hacktivists who engage in hacking computer systems in order to express their
opinion about certain political and social issues. With the aid of computers, these
individuals never have to leave the house and their true identities are masked.
According to the NIPC, targeted systems include; government, educational,
commercial and cultural institutions.
19