one in four US hackers 'is an fbi informer'

from guardian: The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established. Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.

So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25% of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. "Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation," Corley told the Guardian.

"It makes for very tense relationships," said John Young, who runs Cryptome, a website depository for secret documents along the lines of WikiLeaks. "There are dozens and dozens of hackers who have been shopped by people they thought they trusted."

related defcon updates:
hackers attack fbi partner website; atlanta infraguard exposed*
pbs website hacked with fake news*
video: did hackers deface fox news building in nyc?*
after cyberattack targeted lockheed martin -
second defense contractor l-3 'actively targeted' with rsa securid hacks*
gmail hack targeted white house*
cyber attacks can count as act of war*
writer urges internet junkies to 'switch off' and think*
video: sony loses $3.2b after playstation network hacked*
hackers attack another sony network, post data*
'world of warcraft' blamed for divorce as men 'prefer them to their wives'*
un report declares internet access a human right*
oregon senator wyden freezes second internet censorship bill*
facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default*
apple patent will cripple devices when in proximity of 'a concert or a classified facility'*
how could so many crooks have managed to scam the national security agency?*

cnn broadcast major 'cyber shockwave' propaganda

from kurt nimmo: CNN rolled out a slick propaganda presentation this evening [feb20]. It is called "Cyber Shockwave" and it posits a cyber attack on the United States... How should the government deal with the threat? Federalize the National Guard to deal with unruly mobs freaking out over the loss of electricity. Nationalize utility companies so the NSA and the government get electricity. The participants also recommended new powers be granted to the president. Not surprisingly, they declared the president has the authority to take unprecedented action against the states and the private sector under the Constitution. CNN and the participants agreed the slick propaganda presentation is aimed at the American people.

video: cnn's cyber attack war game 'we were warned'

flashbacks: miltech insiders stage 'cyber shockwave' &
former US officials in cyberattack simulation

miltech insiders to stage 'cyber shockwave' drill on feb16

update: former US officials in cyberattack simulation

from kurt nimmo: The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) plans to simulate a cyber attack on America’s infrastructure on February 16, 2010. Dubbed Cyber ShockWave, the simulation “will provide an unprecedented look at how the government would develop a real-time response to a large-scale cyber crisis affecting much of the nation,” according to a BPC press release issued today.

The “cyber attack is going to be war-gamed, in public, for all the country to see. It will be quite realistic, featuring senior intelligence and national security officials, including former directors of intelligence agencies and combatant commands and homeland security advisers,” writes Marc Ambinder for The Atlantic.

In other words, a handful of well-placed corporations stand to make a fortune on the prospect of a cyber attack. In addition, a message will be sent to the Senate warning that it should pass “cybersecurity” legislation (a 2009 Senate bill would have given Obama the authority to shut down the internet).

General Dynamics is a leading death merchant at the very heart of the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about a few decades ago during the contrived so-called Cold War. “When it comes to military spending, the tradition of the ‘iron triangle’ — Congress, the Pentagon, and defense industries — joining to push costly weaponry is nothing new,” Brad Knickerbocker wrote for The Christian Science Monitor. BPC directors hail from Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications (a spook merchant), JPMorgan Securities, and the Rockefeller connected Aspen Institute...

It is business as usual — the government and large corporations setting off fire alarms in order to stampede the American people into the government’s high-tech surveillance and control grid, an operation that will reward the likes of General Dynamics and L-3 Communications handsomely.

The BPC’s Cyber ShockWave will take place on February 16, 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. The simulation will begin at 10:00AM followed by a question and answer session with the participants, the audience and media. Concerned citizens may want to attend and ask why the government and an insider think-tank stacked with neocons, neolibs, death merchants, and spook corporations are pushing a largely contrived threat on the American people.