Is the International Cyberwar over WikiLeaks a Sign of the Future?

Supporters of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange have begun waging on online counter-offensive against companies attempting to shut down the functionality of the controversial media organization.

/ AP Photo

Supporters of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange have begun waging on online counter-offensive against companies attempting to shut down the functionality of the controversial media organization.

(Credit: AP Photo)

As Julian Assange sits in jail, the cyberwar over WikiLeaks continues to rage. It's an indication of how technology will play an increasingly central role in conflicts.

Governments, organizations and corporations are building cyber-fortresses, and some of the actors are building formal or loose armies of hackers to attack the opposition.

Most recently, China has attacked Google. The powerful Stuxnet internet virus of mysterious origin attacked Iran. Now, WikiLeaks and its detractors are going after each other on multiple fronts.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offered assurance that the U.S. Government is not afraid of "one guy with one keyboard and a laptop," but the one guy and his organization are creating daily challenges for the U.S. government.  

The government has responded to the WikiLeaks' cable dump aggressively with rhetoric and tactical moves. The State Department is asking companies, such as MasterCard and PayPal, to sever ties with the controversial  organization, maintaining  that the diplomatic cables were provided to WikiLeaks in violation of U.S. law.

Several major corporations have ended their online relationship with WikiLeaks in recent days, bowing to direct pressure by the U.S. government.

But WikiLeaks exists primarily as an Internet-based organization, with no country to call home and no central earthly presence to attack, other than its founder, Julian Assange. In addition, WikiLeaks has yet to be indicted by any nation for conducting illegal activities.

Jumping into the cloudy ethical waters of the WikiLeaks situation have come hackers. At first, jingoistic hackers went after the functionality of WikiLeaks and its online hosts. Now, however, another set of online troublemakers claiming to be the website's supporters have begun to fight back against companies who attempt to deny the media organization's ability to function and raise money. 

CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks' supporters claim to have disabled Mastercard's website in response to the credit card giant's Monday decision to cease its payment service for the website. Although Visa has also denied WikiLeaks their services, no reports of them coming under attack have surfaced yet. 

WikiLeaks' hacker supporters also claim to have shut down PostFinance's website, the online portal of the Swiss bank which used to be founder Julian Assange's bank; and attacked PayPal's website, because they too denied WikiLeaks access to their services.

Per Hellqvist, a security specialist with the firm Symantec, told the Associated Press that a loose network of web activists called "Anonymous" from the 4chan imageboard appeared to be behind the attacks. The group, which has previously focused on the Church of Scientology and the music industry, has promised to come to Assange's aid by knocking offline websites seen as hostile to WikiLeaks.

"While we don't have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons," the group said in a statement on its website. "We want transparency and we counter censorship. ... This is why we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."

WikiLeaks Hacker Friends Claim MasterCard Attack
PayPal Takes Punches from Pro-WikiLeaks Hackers

The next round of warfare over WikiLeaks may move offline, however, as IT firm Datacell said it would take immediate legal action to try to force Visa and Mastercard to resume allowing payments to the whistle-blowing website, the BBC reports. Datacell claims they are being hurt financially by the credit card companies' questionable decision to stop payments to WikiLeaks.

For now, WikiLeaks' presence on Twitter and Facebook--perhaps the most important online portal for modern Internet organizations--is safe. Spokespersons for both Facebook and Twitter, which has become the main mouthpiece for the WikiLeaks organization, have said they have no immediate plans to kick the media organization off their sites.

As online attacks become more frequent, the price of cybersecurity will continue to rise in the cat and mouse game hackers continue to play with each other.

More on WikiLeaks: 

WikiLeaks Winning the Info War So Far
Timeline of Attacks on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange
Julian Assange Arrested in UK, Denied Bail
WikiLeaks: U.S. Can't Stop Middle East Arms Race
Swiss Cut Off WikiLeaks' Bank Account
WikiLeaks' Swedish Servers May Be Under Attack
Video: Julian Assange's Life on the Run
WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Strategic Sites List
WikiLeaks' Assange May Seek Swiss Asylum

[muzzamon]

Future is a localized species of WikiLeaks-type digital dead drops in every state capital,in every county seat. Template is right there for all to see and copy. Certainly there is a surplus of qualified Assange hacker wannabes out there, and whistleblowers aplenty. Turns the tables on those self-righteous anti-privacy hypocrites who preach "if you got nothing to hide, why be afraid?" I like this People Power rush...sort of like Poland in the 80's -- where everyone flipped Russia the bird and the Russians were helpless to stop them. We've been at this Ware on Terror Cringe Game for almost a decade now. Our own government clearly has lied to us repeatedly and fear creates jobs at the expense of freedom. Time is now for more freedoms, not fewer.

[MurdochSucks]

What we should really do is cut up the Master Card and Visa. Get an American Express card or a Discover Card. Stop buying crap from Amazon.com, there are plenty of other resources and COMPETITION IS GOOD!

[MurdochSucks]

If you want to sign a petition to Congress to stop the planning of Internet Blacklists, and banning free speech, you can go here:

http://act.demandprogress.org/act/wikileaks/?referring_akid=33.309319.okQiA2&source=auto-e

[iamandami]

After all what's the point of freedom and responsibility and opportunity if you are denied such things only to have the world figured out and sold to you in convenient episodes that so often serve to conveniently serve the indoctrinated/vested power bases and their infomercial packages?

After all is it really all about freedom as Mastercard so often boasts in its commercials? I wonder...

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/12/media-transparency-mastercard-and-payback/

[paisano1]

To see the interviews with the hacker known as The Jester who initially took out the WikiLeaks site, including two videos of his XerXeS DoS attack tool in action see the following posts:

https://infosecisland.com/blogtag/427/Jester.html

[rick94--2008]

I call this a battle of idiots. The best the hackers can do is a silly DDoS tantrum, and the best "the rich and the powerful" (ie; the US Government) can do is?not even shut down WikiLeaks. The Morgan Doctrine.

[GOP_CrooksLiars]

In the Russian newspaper Pravda....they wrote this comment about WikiLeaks - "What WikiLeaks has done is make people understand why so many Americans are politically apathetic ... After all, the evils committed by those in power can be suffocating, and the sense of powerlessness that erupts can be paralyzing, especially when ... government evildoers almost always get away with their crimes. ..."

[Reality-Checker]

If you park your own car at any parking lot and walk away without locking it, you invite a theft and may suffer a loss.

The same applies for the losses encountered by the US National Security Agency. They own the infrastructure and own the losses when their network is operated in an unsecured way.

Calling for internet providors to restrict access to Wikileaks is not the answer. When you stop feeding a hungry person, their resolve intensifies and escalates until their appetite is satisfied.

It is just like finding coins on the ground. We are a nation of slobs and are always offering opportunity to both the honest and the unsavory.

Sometimes, I think the National Secrurity Agency is run by a bunch of North Koreans, Chinese or Iranians, because they take more freedoms away from us when they encounter mishaps they caused and as time goes by, I see us becoming less free and more constrained.

[pragmatist1]

Wiki should have been taken out of commission as soon as they played their first hand revealing documents a low-level punk in the military handed over to them....let the wars begin...poor Wiki...their smugness will soon be over...

[Red_Flare]

Uh, huh. Sure, whatever. Never mind that Wikileaks has NO CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS. Or that Assange is merely a figurehead of sorts.

Your comment belies your ignorance to the reality of free flow of information and the power of the web. Once it's one the net, it's there forever. Case in point; the Tom Cruise video that the 'Church' of Scientology tried to get removed because it showed their 'spokesman' in a less-than-flattering light. Translation; he was a total NUT. When they tried to get it purged from the net... well, the results speak for themselves. Just Google 'Scientology Anonymous' and check the hits.

NOTHING the U.S. government does (or ANY government, for that matter) will change that or undo anything that Wikileaks has done. The site's been mirrored (copied) over so many times that there will be no ridding of it. EVER. Even if Assange goes to jail, dies, etc. Wikileaks will continue. There are countless others there to fill his shoes. It will NEVER be completely shut down.

[pedris377]

There are always going to be issues, plans, etc, discussed behind closed doors that the general population will never know about. And sorry, thats just the way it is. If the US Military/Government needs to have secrets and or secret plans they better do a WAY better job keeping those secrets. Is Wiki really to blame here or any media outlet for that matter? Shouldnt the classified "information" be coded or encrypted so the normal joe can't discipher it if it really is that "important"? Accusing and pointing the finger at Wiki is only the admission of guilt the information is true to begin with. Who the hell knows whats true and what isnt anymore? Do people still think the information on Wikipedia itself is 100% the truth? Freedom of speech shouldnt be a national right alone, but a human right regardless if the information being delivered is correct or incorrect. Its up to us individually to CHOOSE who WE desire as credit worthy and who ist.

This is nor pro wiki or against...I just think people should quit ******* at them. They are just relaying information. I understand that it's sensitive material, but point the finger at the dumbasses who couldnt keep it a secret....if you must point.