Reuters is reporting that over 25,000 protesters took to the streets across various German cities to protest ACTA. They also report that 4,000 Bulgarians were outside protesting the treaty in Sofia.

There were many more protests in other cities around the world, mostly in Europe, including Warsaw, Prague, Slovakia, Bucharest, Vilnius, Paris, Brussels and Dublin.

It’s reported that the protests are especially active in Eastern Europe. Protesters are comparing the treaty to the all-encompassing surveillance employed by the former Communist regimes.

The people protesting all seem to have the same thoughts in regards to ACTA. They feel that they are being forced to give up their rights to copyright holders and big business interests.

As expected, when it comes to the Internet, most of those protesting were young people. Many of them, of course, were wearing the Guy Fawkes mask as it has become synonymous not only with Anonymous but with the global protest scene as a whole.

A spokesman for the Internet freedom group Quadrature du Net said that the anti-ACTA protests are a “demonstration without precedent” because it is taking place all over Europe “at the same time.”

The protests seem to be working as Germany has held off on signing the controversial treaty. The Czech government has also held off ratifying it as they say it “needs to be analyzed.”

Anonymous did their part by hacking the Web site of Croatian president Ivo Josipovic, who has been known to support copyright legislation. They also attacked ZAMP, a Croatian service that protects the copyrights of composers, and the Institute of Croatian Music.

Lithuania, while maybe small, showed off massive support for the protests as well. About 600 people stormed the government building in Vilnius. Lithuania Justice Minister Remigijus Simasius said that ACTA could pose a threat to Internet freedom.

“I don’t know where it (ACTA) comes from and how it originated, but I don’t like that this treaty was signed skillfully avoiding discussions in the European Union and Lithuania,” Simasius wrote.

[Lead image courtesy of luisfmgoncalves' flickr]

What you’re seeing is a screenshot of what happens when you try to access the CIA’s website — CIA.gov — as of the time of this posting. As per usual, Anonymous is taking credit for the takedown.

No, the outage probably won’t last for a long period of time, but even if Anonymous is erroneously taking credit for the site being down, the connection is being interrupted by some entity. As the news of this particular takedown spreads, it will inevitably lead back to the “is Anonymous helping when they do things like this,” and while that’s valid, the ease at which they, or whatever entity they are covering for, accomplishes these takedowns says a great deal.

For one, these nuisances, even if they are using tools developed by “real hackers,” have a knack for taking down big targets and doing it in a very public manner:

Furthermore, these takedowns are making an absolute mockery of the security the United States government uses to “protect” their multitude of sites. This isn’t a small, random government department being temporarily removed from the Internet, it’s the CIA, perhaps one of the most infamous, most powerful acronyms in world, especially the one we currently reside in.

And Anonymous, or whatever group they are covering for/taking credit for, is toying with their secure web presence.

The only problem is, the CIA has many more resources than these hacker groups do, and if they find out who is responsible, we’ll probably never find out about it, but the world will, in all likelihood, have one less hacker to worry about.

H/t to Boing Boing for the heads up.

The Next Web is reporting that Web sites using the “https” protocol are being blocked. Those include banks, Yahoo, Gmail, Google and any other site that relies on Google’s API.

The reports state that the blocks are widespread and began taking effect earlier this week. They covered the capital, Tehran, as well as Shiraz, Bushehr and Isfahan.

It’s assumed that the blocks will continue until Esfand – the 12th month of the Iranian calendar that begins at the end of February and ends in March.

A report on Hacker News seems to confirm the blocks:

I’m writing this to report the serious troubles we have regarding accessing Internet in Iran at the moment. Since Thursday Iranian government has shutted down the https protocol which has caused almost all google services (gmail, and google.com itself) to become inaccessible. Almost all websites that reply on Google APIs (like wolfram alpha) won’t work.

Accessing to any website that replies on https (just imaging how many websites use this protocol, from Arch Wiki to bank websites). Also accessing many proxies is also impossible. There are almost no official reports on this and with many websites and my email accounts restricted I can just confirm this based on my own and friends experience.

It would appear that Anonymous has also confirmed the blocks. They are now in the process of setting up proxies so that Iranian citizens can access the Internet.

None of this is officially confirmed and tomorrow might be yield interesting results from Iran. We’ll keep you updated if anything goes down.

While these masks have become incredibly popular because of these protests, and because Anonymous has adopted them as their logo, for those who may not know, the masks were first made popular by Alan Moore and his V for Vendetta comic series. Inspired by the story of Guy Fawkes, the protagonist in “V” also dons the Guy Fawkes mask as part of his ensemble.

Because of the resurgence in popularity of the masks, the BBC asked Moore to discuss his viewpoint on the use of these masks. Considering his rebellious nature against the establishment, it’s not surprising to see Moore supports seeing the masks he introduced to the public used in such a manner:

After that, it wasn’t long before the character’s enigmatic Time-Warner trademarked leer appeared masking the faces of Anonymous protesters barracking Scientologists halfway down Tottenham Court Road.

Shortly thereafter it began manifesting at anti-globalisation demonstrations, anti-capitalist protests, concerted hacker-attacks upon those perceived as enabling state oppression, and finally on the front steps of St Paul’s…

It also seems that our character’s charismatic grin has provided a ready-made identity for these highly motivated protesters, one embodying resonances of anarchy, romance, and theatre that are clearly well-suited to contemporary activism, from Madrid’s Indignados to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Moore also comments on the protests themselves, approving of the nature of these citizens who are eager to speak out against various government positions, and it’s clear he embraces the public’s backlash towards their respective governments:

Today’s response to similar oppressions seems to be one that is intelligent, constantly evolving and considerably more humane, and yet our character’s borrowed Catholic revolutionary visage and his incongruously Puritan apparel are perhaps a reminder that unjust institutions may always be haunted by volatile 17th century spectres, even if today’s uprisings are fuelled more by social networks than by gunpowder.

Some ghosts never go away.

Considering the protests that are scheduled to go on all over Europe on Saturday, expect Moore’s pride in these protesters to grow even further, as masked citizens take the streets to speak out against ACTA, all while securing a modicum of personal privacy.

A hacker going by the handle Casi dumped information from the United Nations Web site yesterday that contained many vulnerabilities that other hackers could use to get inside the UN’s database to cause some real damage.

I guess the question here is why did Casi hack the UN? Well, he tells us himself:

I fuck actually system… I fighting for Internet Freedom, equiality & rights for all. You’re FREEDOM my brothers & my sisters ! <3

What does it mean? I don’t know, but it must have been a pretty good reason to expose almost every weakness currently in the UN’s database.

Similarly, the reason behind listing the vulnerabilities is just as cryptic:

I give vulnerabilities because it’s fucking asshole ! We are FREEDOm !

We are clearly dealing with a criminal mastermind here, or maybe not according to Aaron Titus, Chief Privacy Officer for Identity Finder. Speaking to Fox News’ New York affiliate, he said that the breach was a “very simple attack” and that the UN “could have prevented this very easily and should have prevented it.”

So it seems that the UN just has bad cyber security. It must be embarrassing for the them to be hacked by such a basic SQL injection attack.

Passwords were not exposed, but the real danger lies in what other hackers can do with the information. Identity Finder has reached out to the UN to alert them of the potential danger, but the organization has not replied.

With all these hacks, it’s just a matter of time until every governmental organization’s Web site is laid bare for the world to see. I personally can’t wait to see the database for the White House’s Web site. It must be so scandalous, probably full of photos of the President’s pet.

The Guardian is reporting that the emails detail conversations between Vasily Yakemenko, the Kremlin’s Federal Youth Agency head, and its spokeswoman, Kristina Potupchik. The emails talk of payments to journalists and bloggers.

The Guardian contacted Potupchik for comment who only said, “I will not comment on illegal actions.”

The current leader of Nashi, Nikita Borovikov, said that the group is used to its email getting hacked every few years, and the news of this potential hack doesn’t surprise him. He says that he is a “law-abiding person, and have nothing to fear of hiding.”

The emails detail a period between November 2010 and December 2011 where the group, funded by the Kremlin, attacked enemies and paid for positive reports while reasserting Putin’s popularity.

The emails detail the group’s attempt at boosting pro-Putin coverage on the Internet. They claim that the group hires pro-Putin bloggers and commenters to leave hundreds of comments on press articles that are critical of the Kremlin. It goes on to say that some of these people are paid upwards of $19,000 to improve Putin’s online image.

One email suggested that the group was going to spend about $335,000 to buy a series of articles about its annual Seliger summer camp in two popular Russian tabloids. The tabloids denied any such action and said that their journalists were not paid money for their articles.

Other tabloids said that the news that they were bought and paid for to run stories on a pro-Putin event doesn’t interest them.

The emails point out that Nashi manipulates YouTube viewcounts and ratings and has anti-Putin videos bombarded with “dislikes.”

The emails also point out that Nashi pays particular attention to an anti-Putin blogger named Navalny. They talk about various things they can do to discredit the blogger such as dressing up as him and begging in front of the U.S. embassy.

The hackers told a Russian Web site on Monday that they had been planning the attack since last year “as a sign of protest against the government’s actions in the public Internet sphere.”

As the Guardian points out, these leaks could not have come at a worse time as anti-Putin sentiment is rising in Russia. Thousands of Russians turned out last Saturday at the Kremlin to protest Putin and his bid for the presidency.

According to the leaked emails, Nashi went into high gear looking for ways to counter the protests. Borovikov allegedly said that they need to keep up the pro-Kremlin rhetoric or the country will see a revolution like the 2004 Orange Revolution in the Ukraine.

It remains to be seen if the leaked emails will have any effect. The attitude being displayed by the those in power in Nashi seem to indicate that it’s business as usual for them.

The document begins with a message to the people of Oakland with Anonymous offering their support to the Occupy Oakland protesters:

Anonymous has been watching. Since the inception of Occupy Oakland, We have been actively monitoring your behavior, and exposing the identities and sensitive information of Officers of the Oakland Police Department; as they have continued to act in an unprofessional and violent manner. You tear gassed Us. You shot Us with your weapons. You arrested Us. You beat Us. You also did this to Our Friends, and to Our Families. We watched as you cut budgets, cut Our jobs, closed Our schools, Our parks, and Our libraries, while leaving your own salaries alone. We laughed in disgust as Deanna Santana said she would need to speak to her attorney before discussing her pay cut. The people on this list are supposed to represent the best of what the City of Oakland has to offer. If they are the best, why is there so much trouble within the Police Department, and in the City of Oakland?

We are shocked and disgusted by your behavior. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people again, think twice.

The document then lists all of the personal information of the officials including address, phone number, all previous addresses, their place of work, social media accounts and personal Web sites. They also list any crimes that the officials have been involved in.

They leave Council Member at Large Rebecca Kaplan alone with a message that says: “Thank you for your support and being a true leader in the community.”

They then specifically ask a question of City Attorney Barbara Jean Parker:

Our question to you Barbara – Why did you allow numerous targeted arrests to happen, with no charges filed? We expect more out of you. From your community involvement, one would think you would be front and center in the fight against the corruption in OPD and in our Government.

They leave the city officials with a stern warning that is classic Anonymous:

We are the ghosts in the dark of night.
We are the voice that carries silently in the wind.
We are that feeling you get when the hair stands up on the back of your neck.
We live in the space between awake and your dreams.
We move in the shadows.
We are always watching.
We know who you are.
We are in your networks.
We are everyone.
We are everywhere.
We are the Final Boss of the Internet.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect Us.

The information is still up on Anonymous’ Facebook page where they have other Occupy Oakland related items including this video:

A Symantec representative commented on the attempt:

“In January an individual claiming to be part of the ‘Anonymous’ group attempted to extort a payment from Symantec in exchange for not publicly posting stolen Symantec source code they claimed to have in their possession. Symantec conducted an internal investigation into this incident and also contacted law enforcement given the attempted extortion and apparent theft of intellectual property. The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation. Given that the investigation is still ongoing, we are not going to disclose the law enforcement agencies involved and have no additional information to provide”.

Here are some segments from the impatient ‘Anonymous’ @YamaTough hacker as he negotiates the $50,000 demanded payment from a Symantec employee:

“If you are trying to trace with the ftp trick it’s just worthless. If we detect any malevolent tracing action we cancel the deal. Is that clear? You’ve got the doc files and pathes [sic] to the files. what’s the problem? Explain.”

“If we dont hear from you in 30m we make an official announcement and put your code on sale at auction terms. We have many people who are willing to get your code. Dont f*** with us.”

Apparently, the Hackers were on to Symantec for contacting higher authorities but never the less continued in their negotiations until they finally cut contact with the Symantec employee who claimed they needed more time:

“Since no code yet being released and our email communication wasnt also released we give you 10 minutes to decide which way you go after that two of your codes fly to the moon PCAnywhere and Norton Antivirus totaling 2350MB in size (rar) 10 minutes if no reply from you we consider it a START this time we’ve made mirrors so it will be hard for you to get rid of it.”

Symantec insists that users of their products are not under any significantly higher risk of attack due to the theft however; Symantec asked its PCAnywhere users to disable the product until the company could issue a software update. They assure clients that this will protect them against attacks resulting from the theft of the source code.

Anonymous also posted the following message to the firm’s site at Puckettfaraj.com (hat tip to Mashable):

A film called Battle For Haditha was released in 2007, based on the the Haditha incident.

Here’s more of what Anonymous have been up to as of late.

UK police and the FBI held a conference call last week concerning cyber security, especially focusing on Anonymous and LulzSec members. The email planning the conference call was intercepted by Anonymous and shared on the net.

Naked Security confirms that the email titled “Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call” was sent to “over 40 law enforcement officers in the USA, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, France and Sweden.”

Anonymous used the leaked email to get into the phone conference and record the entirety of it. The entire 16 minute conversation has been uploaded to YouTube, among other places.

The conversation details the continued investigation into Anonymous and LulzSec. While most of the names of the hackers are censored, two hackers are explicitly named – Jake Davis (suspected of being the public face of Anonymous) and Ryan Clearly (who allegedly launched a DDoS attack on the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s Web site).

The FBI and UK Police did finally confirm that their call was intercepted, but the damage was already done.

Anonymous has, of course, been poking fun at the FBI since the hack was made clear:

We’ll continue to keep you up to date on the latest Anonymous escapades as they happen. They’re promising some “lulzy” stuff today.