Latest Operation Payback attack: bombard corporate fax systems

Operation Payback has at least temporarily shifted their focus from DDoS attacks on the web servers of corporations which denied their support to WikiLeaks, and is using some older office technology in attempt to get their message across.

On Monday the rogue group of hackers announced Mission: Leakflood, which urges members to bombard corporate fax machines with WikiLeaks material.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Mission:Leakflood flyer outlines the activity and urges participants to refrain from sending disrespectful content:

“We must remind the corporations that the truth cannot be stopped.

ADVERTISEMENT

Send faxes of random WikiLeaks cables, letters from Anonymous, Guy Faukes/V, and the Wikileaks logo to the target fax numbers all day long. NOTHING ELSE. No porn, no gore. BE RESPECTFUL.”

Fax numbers listed on the flyer include prior DDoS attack targets Amazon, MasterCard, Paypal, Visa, and Tableau Software, and include what is purported to be the direct fax lines to the CEO of each corporation.

Tableu Software is a relatively new Anonymous target, included in this attack for removing graphs published by WikiLeaks to the company’s public data visualization tool. A message on Tableu Software’s website explained the move: "Our decision to remove the data from our servers came in response to a public request by Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, when he called for organizations hosting WikiLeaks to terminate their relationship with the website"

ADVERTISEMENT

Also, indications of the next Anonymous mission are already finding their way around the web. A flyer announcing “Operation Paperstorm December 18th” encourages members to take to the streets, litter them with papers containing Operation Payback propaganda, and “give them a Christmas that shall never, ever be forgot.”

As Operation Payback attacks continue, so do the attacks on WikiLeaks and AnonOps servers. A real-time performance graph from Netcraft shows total downtime for each group to be over 23 of the last 24 hours.

It’s difficult to say at this point whether these new missions are being run by original Operation Payback members or others who have recently picked up the cause due to the recent WikiLeaks publicity. AnonOps now seems to be setting up everywhere, including an unlikely new blog on Google-owned Blogspot.com. There may now be several splinter groups out there all running under the same Anonymous label. Time will tell if any of these groups can gather enough steam to manage effective protests.

No posts to display