What's worse than a domestic vigilante hacker cadre that launches disruptive cyber attacks against corporations, law enforcement authorities and government entities alike? One infiltrated by a foreign power's spies and then used like a puppet for their nefarious agenda.
The idea was broached by Simon Moores, a UK technologist and Chair of the International eCrime Congress. The IEC counts protecting IT systems and data assets among its chief goals.
Moores speculated this week on the possibility that foreign spies could potentially enter well-known, if loosely organized hacker groups without their knowledge and then use the subsequent power and information for far more than putting up cyber graffiti or shutting down a site with a DDoS attack:
So you could have the teenaged hacker who thinks they’re doing something for the greater good by revealing information or attacking greedy billionaires, but in fact they are being manipulated for more sinister purposes by someone who has infiltrated their network. If you were a spy master wouldn’t you be doing that?
The expert named both Anonymous and LulzSec as possible targets for foreign infiltration and drew parallels to the past. "It takes us back to the days of the Stasi and the KGB, which were manipulating [anti-nuclear campaign group] CND quite easily from Moscow," he explained.
The two groups - which formed an alliance of sorts in June - currently have more to worry about then the possibility of spies joining their ranks.
U.S. authorities apprehended over a dozen suspected Anonymous members last week, adding to the tally of hackers previously picked up by police in Italy, Turkey and Spain for alleged ties to the faceless organization. Regardless, LulzSec and Anonymous announced an anti-PayPal protest on Wednesday - singling out the online currency platform as a target for the joint AntiSec movement ostensibly because it "continues to withhold funds from WikiLeaks."
Neither hacker group has come forward with a response to Moores' concerns. If they should, we will update this post. (via TechDirt)
