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Updated, 12:32
A HACKER from the Anonymous ‘hacktivist’ movement has accessed website passwords of a number of government employees and officials, and posted them online this evening.
A user posted the details in an online chat room used by the collective for its ‘#OpIreland’ campaign, which targets the websites of Irish governmental agencies in protest at government plans to introduce new legislation reinforcing the rights of copyright holders in the sharing of online materials.
The passwords were then widely disseminated on Twitter through an account used by the Swedish arm of the international movement.
Subsequent tweets from the Swedish account specifically referenced Seán Sherlock, the junior minister behind the plans for the new legislation, urging him to “hear the good people of Ireland or expect us!”
The distributed data showed what appeared to be the passwords for 19 user accounts, 17 of which belong to the Department of Foreign Affairs, used by staff in the Department to edit the website for Irish Aid, the government’s overseas development programme.
The other two accounts appeared to belong to staff at Arekibo, a digital media company credited as having designed the site.
The chat room used by Anonymous later identified the website of the Labour party, of which Sherlock is a member, as another target. It is understood that access to the site was disrupted for periods overnight as a result of that attack, though the site itself was not compromised.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said there had been “some unusual activity” on the Irish Aid site, which has since between taken offline by the Department and remains inaccessible this lunchtime.
“We are aware of website user login information being posted online,” the spokeswoman said. “The website server has been taken offline as a precautionary measure and the matter is being investigated by our IT specialists.
“This is an external service and is separate to the internal Department servers; these have not been affected.”
The attack follows earlier activity by Anonymous, which had previously engineered attacks on Sherlock’s own personal website, as well as those of the Departments of Finance and Justice.
Those websites were the subject of DDoS attacks, where websites are deliberately flooded with traffic in order to make them inaccessible, almost exactly a week ago. On that occasion, however, no sensitive data was thought to have been compromised.
Sherlock yesterday told a Dáil discussion on his plans that he would not be changing the proposed wording of his statutory instrument, despite the fears of opposition TDs and businesses that its current format could allow the courts to grant injunctions blocking access to major websites like YouTube or Facebook.
An online petition against the legislation, launched nine days ago, had attracted just under 80,000 signatures at the time of publication.
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Don’t f**k with our freedom Sherlock.
I feel like that kid in school who got off on seeing a shit storm happen in class, secretly wishing the troublemaker would continue to entertain us all and make the class fly by.
There’s bound to be more and more of this. The world is being driven into two lots – them and us. Where it will all lead now God only knows.
why dont they just hack the ECB and delete a little bill we owe lol put the powers to good use lol
Or even better … turn the negative figure into a positive one. Then we can rake it in! :)
The 2 people who had their passwords as “password” are probably feeling quite embarrassed right now.
And the government is asking us to register personal details in relation to household charges etc?
I would be more than cautious before I reveal ANYTHING to anyone on the world wide web.
So..Michael Manson isn’t your real name then? Is it Charles by any chance?
Howdy John O’Neill
Lol.
But you must be Sherlock Holmes!!
And yes. My real name is not that of a famous convict.
Man, some of those passwords are really weak!
Where’d you see the list?
Fair play to Brid with the password -”password”!!
Excellent work lads. Breach every system you can get your keyboards locked on to and do as much damage as you can. What Sherlock is doing needs to be stopped!
Welldone lads good on you to get the secret passwords. Sherlock needs to be stopped, before he does any more damage. Power to the people!
Some really dreadful passwords from those who were hacked including ‘apple’, ‘password’ and ‘password1′. Clearly the public service aren’t very worried about security of data.
Serves them right. They should be listening to the people, not
infringing on our civil liberties and freedom of expression.
This is going to happen a lot more.
1234
Password
Password0
@ joost..I agree with u mate..hack the fuck out the files emails etc give them to wikileaks or something and expose them for the world to see..expose any transparency available! Power to the people. Some fools actually think that’s a bad idea,I find it hard to understand the mindset that brings on that kind of opinion..delusional I suppose!
Wikileaks said that Bertie Ahern was “essentially honest”. I know the CIA didn’t give much thought to their report but how in god’s name is that info useful or accurate?
Damn straight…the people who think this is a bad thing would’ve been the fools that supported bombing Iraq, believing Bertie Ahearn was right to tell people to go commit suicide, and all the other crap middle aged bores in government and their minons in media tell them. They’re the sort of wall paste that tut tuts and says things like ‘quite right’.They think the wisecracks made by Sky newsreaders are hilarious. Bores that get a hard on for being bores…
In my above comment, I was replying to Neil McRedmond, not Tom “need a ride” Neville
Looks like labour.ie is getting a hammering tonight.
You can tell a lot by an organisations password enforcement policy (or lack of). I bet these clowns still have usb enabled ports when working with sensitive data. I would to see a security audit review of government departmental IT policies. And each dept put into a league table.
When the Department of Justice was taken down Anonymous said it was “warning shots”. If only the Government would listen for once.
Question. Must ACTA pass through the Oireachtas to be implemented or is it now law as it has been signed? Anyone able to answer?
ACTA, as any international agreement, would need to be ratified by the Oireachtas (most probably delegated to its Jobs, Social Protection and Education committee, which oversees the Dept of Jobs, Innovation and Enterprise).
Before that it has to go through the European parliament; a vote on that is probably due in June.
Keep hacking the government websites please. Cause absolute chaos.
These hackers REALLY need to get laid…very unlikely to happen though.
Tom my old friend I’m off to bed now but it may surprise you to know that jackets are not seen as the nerds as they were in the nineties but are actually part of ordinary society. There are lots of people with computer smarts that use having as a protest. But they could be anyone. But they are generally cool so you wouldn’t know them ;) night.
Hackers…not jackets :) my auto correct thinks it can outsmart me.
Niamh,
If a person wants to protest then fair play.
If some hacks a government website annonymously….then no matter what they think they really do need a ride.
Good night
If I say I hacked it do I get a ride?
Not without buying me dinner.
at least you’ve taken the time to think about and discuss the issue thoroughly. Absolute dope.
Get off your high horse tom and live a little!
This is no different to a group of students having a sit in at a government department. With passwords like “password” and “password0″, they deserve to be caught, be they government officials or not!
I’ll bring the sandwiches and you bring the David Gray CD..
Be carefull Tom,if one of those hackers see’s your post….hmmm I wouldn’t like to test them!!! Hehe..just saying!
All this anger….some fellows need a ride. Swap details gents and up to you from there on.
Good point Neil. It’s not like any of them will be busy having sex.
Because “getting a ride” is all we need to do to get the recognition of one Fine Gaeler. Think before realising that the very computer you’re working on, the website you’re on, and the social networking you use, are all programmed by people who, according to you, should “get laid”.
The term is cracker not hacker but oh well.
Joost what makes you think computer programmers need to get laid?
Computet hackers by contrast hacked government websites…at night. They need a ride…or a life.
Goodnight now.
Hacking is programming Tom.. Duh.. Granted it’s not what you get taught in college, but if you have a brain that’s good at working things out and thinking outside the box, then it’s easy enough to do..
And leave out the stereotypes man, it just shows pure ignorance.. Most of the “nerds” I know are nothing like that stereotype, they’re a far more dynamic bunch than you give them credit for!
Anyone who uses the term “Get Laid” needs to get out more.
Anyone who uses the term “Get Laid” needs to get laid more. :P
Anyone who uses the term ‘get a ride’ needs a lobotomy…Tom Neville makes Podge and Rodge look like a suave, sophisticated Barry White/Al Green duet…
Wuhoo! Since late last night 143 people have given me the thumbs down…at night!
Up all night on the internet…..hmmm and to think I thought they needed a ride.
:)
Ironically an IT savvy friend explained why it isn’t great legislation….but I love the fact that hackers thought pissing off lawmakers would change their minds.
Tom in all fairness you had over 140 down votes before you made your last comment last night because I left a comment right before you and laughed at how much people disliked you :D
Everytime you use the word hacker you make me cringe.
Hacking has nothing to do with breaking networks. People who reverse engineer things, whether its software, hardware etc are hackers.
It means you take things apart to figure out how it works. Sometimes its sending random messages to a piece of hardware to see which ones get responses and sometimes its sending random messages to software to see what responses you get.
And then you need to figure out what the messages do.
And then the order to pass them.
Basically all engineers are hackers.
People who break network security are crackers. People who make money breaking networks in order to make them secure are white hat crackers and people who break networks for personal gain are black hat crackers.
People who do both are grey hat.
Not sure what anonymous are because its seems too ethical to be put into the black hat category. They tell you when you have been broken into.
I am more worried about how many times we have been broken into by other governments without us knowing and what information they have been stacking up against our representatives to use as collateral.
You also make the assumption that their members are all men which I am sure is why the group will never be completely cought.
You kind of remind me of the movie idiocracy, I just hope stupid people like you dont end up degrading society a few hundred years into the future.
Now, time for breakfast :D :P
John the fact that you knew more accurately than I did how many thumbs down I had…..not really helping to convince me. :)
Hackers, crackers, whatever…they are the kind of people who stay up at night worryng how many thumbs up and down someone gets on a website….they need a ride.
Idiocracy is a great movie but I prefer Office Space….people who can’t think outside of their own sphere of work…
Lol Tom, Whatever helps you feel better. Only reason why it stuck in my head is because I remember numbers and its not that often you see someone get that many dislikes on a new story.
I wasn’t worrying about it at all, why would anyone other than you worry about how much people think you are a tit :) :P JK lol.
The hacker thing is just a pet peve of mine, nothing to do with you personally as its used incorrectly everywhere including Hollywood.
You could apply it to everything else, when you hear someone talk about something and completely fail at the basics then it slightly irratates.
Happens with people who share their views on ecconomics, politics, nuclear fission, sugar tax’s etc.
Ignorence is irrating whatever package it comes in, the only people who dont find it irratating are the ignorent.
I would much rather be slightly irratated yet completely functional over disfunctional from ignorence.
I like that smart people are taking action and becoming unreasonable. After all George Bernard Shaw once said:
““Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”
Btw John, I don’t recall saying that tge hackers were all mrn but if I did then I apologise. I’m pretty sure that the female hackers/crackers etc are equally sexually frustrated.
I gave you a like for your movie taste :D
Tom, are you offering yourself to the hackers?
Also, I don’t see what ‘a ride’ has to do with the topic???
Tom, it was implied with the sexually frustrated geeks stereotype you where putting out there.
Its a pity because I think that stereotype is a contributing factor to why there are so few women in Ireland applying for engineering and computing courses.
I could be wrong from an Irish context but all the women I have spoken to who do work in IT in the states and Europe find that to be one of the main things which prevented a lot of their friends from choosing similar career paths as unfounded as it is.
TBH I dont think your special in your views, you got a lot of dislikes but statistically speaking it seems that alot share your view, they just don’t admit it.
It’s a pity though as special volunteer groups have had to be started by women in the industry to try and reject those kind of stupid stereotype’s to try and entice more women in.
Tom. You are a moron. The type of moron who reduces everything to stereotypes and assumptions. You are living in fallacy land and I’m afraid it is you sir who needs to get a life (or ride, as I said, your unhealthy obsession with it hints at a deeper frustration.. You were the only one going on and on about it.. It’s pretty apparent by your words, that you’re the one not getting any)
You have used the spotlight fallacy (the error of reasoning that assumes because a certain stereotype is pushed in the press then it must be true of every member of the group) this is related to the guilt by association fallacy, but actually shows a lack of intellectual incompetence and critical thinking – in other words, it shows you up as the kind of fool who is either willing to or simply just believes every nonsense bit of propaganda they are shown..
You are relying on an appeal to ridicule to attempt to assert your own masculinity (but failing miserably may I add), and your repeating it as if it’s some sort of mantra is also a form of fallacy.. Your constantly bringing it up is called “needling”.
Maybe it’s not just that you’re frustrated and feel the need to impress your failings on others so you may ridicule them.. Perhaps you feel threatened by the fact that these guys (or gals) are more intelligent, more capable, more organised, more succinct and more creative than you will ever be.. And FYI, all those things are far more attractive and sexy than a gombeen who keeps repeating the same bad joke and thinking that they’re somehow superior..
You’re Arnold Rimmer.. Now go off and indulge in some elbow rotting you sad case..
AMN YOU AUTOCORRECT!!
Elbow titting.. The only way Arnold Rimmer ever got close to a woman..
Aw wow, Tom, you’re such a cool guy! I’ll bet you get laid all the time and were a real player back in your youth.
Haha, tool.
Ah Patrick, I wasn’t great with the ladies in my younger days…and according to my wife, I’m still fairly crap. :)
Labour should get a hammering forget about their site!
Labour.ie being targeted.
I knew a guy once while traveling in Asia that got so annoyed with the people’s arrogance in the Internet cafe nearby,they had about 40 pc’s,he took them down for 3 days they still hadn’t it figured out by the time I left the area!!
Now HE needed a ride.
Tom what is your obsession with other people’s sex lives? The fact you keep saying it actually implies you are the one in need of a “ride”..
This guy in the internet cafe was obviously unhinged. He took down their pcs as revenge for people being arrogant….that’s the mark of someone who has lost all cop on.
He needs a ride.
Tom.. You have problems, your obsession with other peoples sexual habits is quite disturbing..
Neither you or I know the exact details of the situation, save what Neil has said, so for you to start throwing out your assumptions is really not sound basis for your argument.. Really you’re just making juvenile comments that are severely outdated and irrelevant, never mind completely illogical..
I put it to you again, your obsession with the sex life of the caracatured mental image you have of a nerd suggests a deeper frustration.. Not getting any yourself eh?
Tom, While I don’t agree with this type of hacking or the cracking saw in the article, the fact you generalize everyone is quite absurd. There are ethical hackers which I’m hoping to have as I am very good on computers and will be pursuing 2 masters in relation with computers anyway ethical hackers are people who with permission test systems to make sure they as hard to penetrate as possible, without these people the internet would not be as secure as it is and clearly these people are something the departments mentioned above lacked. You can’t generalize all of the people in a community when there is divides within a community. Its like me saying every toms generalize just because of your comments which I won’t say as I am above that.
have should be become in the first line.
Did you ever try crack, Tom?And no, I don’t mean anything sexual…You’re someone in actual need of mind altering medication…
Stop feeding the troll. :-D
That guy in the internet cafe is one prozac away from killing his neighbours dog for barking too loudly.
So someone in an internet cafe was being arrogant. Big deal. Be a grown up and move on.
This guy was clearly unhinged.
Wonder what the daily mail ( dirty word i know ) will write about this tomorrow considering they called anonymous terrorists last week, a word that is too loosely throw around these days. Bankers – financial terrorists, yeah. Hacktivists, nah.
Oops…. ;)
The people that like to thing they are in charge aren’t really in charge at all and once again this has been proven. These really are interesting times we live in.
So interesting Ciaran. The truth is out there.[Cue eerie music]
‘gangster’ wtf? I’m imagining Daniel Rowan as some wannabe hood type decked out in Burberry and with his hands stuffed down the front of his jogging pants. Sad.
I was imagining Dainiel as more of the suited and booted 1920s style gangsta – hahaha fookin eejit. Although I suppose we should give him some credit for showing some form of creativity and imagination, unlike those of his colleagues that come from Balbrigan, Limerick, Uganda and Tanzania!!!!!!!
Well I thought I would go straight to source and ask Daniel himself – this is a copy of the email
Given that you were the subject and cause of much amusement last night in the “Journal.ie” I was wondering if you could clarify what type of gangster you see yourself as? Paul O’Keefe sees you “as some wannabe hood type decked out in Burberry and with his hands stuffed down the front of his jogging pants” while Ann Reddin pictures you as “more of the suited and booted 1920s style gangsta “.
As for me – well I’m imagining you as more of a Rubber type bandit. Any chance you could clear this up for this???
OMG – you didnt, did you PSML. If he emails you back with an answer please please let me know what he said.
Haha All Aboutdavey, that’s hilarious. Knowing civil servants he will have plenty of time to respond:-)
I decided later on last night that I would give all of Daniels workmates their chance to give an opinion as to the type of “gangster” he is, so I sent them all a copy of the emai….all the blokes anyway! Wonder how his day is going
Ah Tom,Tom Tom Tom..I’m really not interested in your opinion on this matter. Think your just looking to talk shite or riding.. Either way couldn’t be arsed(no pun intended)! I’ll leave Shanti to take care of ya,hold onto your arse…go for it shanti put this deluded fool to bed, haha
I get the uncomfortable feeling that Tom is sitting somewhere, alone and possibly wearing Enda Kenny signed spandex underwear, getting excited every time he get to write ‘ride’
Hope this hactivism doesn’t encourage that upstart Sherlock to continue his great nanny FG firewall of Ireland further… grrr… courses!
Yes indeed, those Irish Aid fellows are a dangerous bunch. The way they evilly administer foreign aid and maliciously set up development programs makes me sick! I’m so happy now that the volunteering and information centre is now offline. That’ll teach ‘em, Vive la Revolution!
I don’t think they were targeted somehow.. Chances are it was a smash and grab (it often is) whatever you can get in a certain time frame.
Although Irish Aid are no saints either.. I know someone pretty high up in one of our NGOs and he said the amount of funds misappropriated that are supposed to be aid would shock you. He’s had to withdraw funding from other NGOs who call themselves charities (hint, your lent box and those annoying chuggers) because their funds were simply going to gangsters and not the development programmes..
I doubt this is Anonymous’s primary concern – but it is not impossible to conceive it could be relevant.. One way or the other, don’t be so quick to assume just because it’s an aid agency that they are saints.. They scribble the dates out on out of date pharmaceuticals and write them off as aid – were you aware of that?
Hi Gavan
This topic indicates 65 comments.
I only tally a handful.
Why?
Are you using an app by any chance? The app is pretty limited, once the subject gets over 50 or thereabouts they seem to start going missing.. It’s a pity, it makes going to the actual site sorta essential (and then that is missing some functions on the mobile site like search)
Gavan has assured me they’re updating the ap in next few weeks so you’ll be able to see all comments. ‘Bout bloody time too. Hi Gavan :P
What the ladies said – Apple are vetting an update which should be available for download any hour now. :)
Wow, they are amazing, the must be from the Kerry division of Anonymous hackers, they managed to get 19 email addresses, wow, here’s another few for them to put them over the twenty mark
@ Rory…your point is???
got the passwords to go with them? :-D
“Power to the People” Wolfie Smith
I realise they are targeting for certain reasons, but employing these tactics puts us the ones they are trying to serve (I think at least) at risk even more so. At least this highlights such.
How does this help engage with the Democratic Process? First we have government unwilling to use the Process, then we get Swedish based hackers unwilling to do the same?
This behaviour simply affirms to people like Buttimer that the Internet is a scary place full of naughty people who need to be constrained.
“the Internet is a scary place full of naughty people who need to be constrained.”
Like Africa was a few hundred years ago! We definitely need some good ol’ British Imperialism to civilize the Internet…
…and to re-introduce slavery…
…and inbreeding.
[Homer Simpson voice] Mmmmm…. inbreeding.
Mr Headwound, I’m not saying that I think the Internet is a scary place full of naughty people who need to be constrained. I’m saying that people like Deputy Buttimer think this to be the case and that “jacktivixm” simple affirms that belief.
Hacktivism, even, slight keyboard failure.
Um, my comment not @Damocles…
@Buttimer
Protest has to start somewhere, most of the times it comes from a scary place like violence, such as in tunisia, egypt, libya. Thats how people make their point heard when they feel the powers that be are not listening (which they aren’t in this case). Its a shot across.the bow but as I said it has to start somewhere.
As protests go, an online protest is the most peaceful.
Perhaps with this those out of touch politicians will realise that the Internet is
A) Free and Neutral – as we all aspire to be as nations.
B) not theirs to regulate
C) too complex for them to try
They are outsmarted, the sooner they realise this the better, as their attempts continue to fail they may realise this – unless the suffer from the Downing effect.
As my partner pointed out, this is the beginning of world war 3, but this war is not a war for land or money, it’s war for the ultimate power – your mind. This is a war of information.. If you thought Orwells 1984 sounded good, then support the governments. If you like your Internet as it is – neutral, then it’s time to get on the side of Anonymous..
Fantastic!
Isn’t it possible that they could or maybe can hack into many other government sites? Get into personal emails etc? So what does that say about our government and the people they employ who set these passwords? A child could do better. I have one word for them and thats ‘thick’ and another for crude tom that keeps talking bout the ride.. ‘perve’!!!
has anyone actually claimed credit for endakenny.com then?
That’s a rebel with a cause…. Thanks for sharing!
Who owns the domain name? It’s not owned by Enda Kenny or Fine Gael!
i dont know who owns it, i dont know how to check. i know its not official but its been giving me a smile since it appeared on thursday! surprised the government haven’t taken it down yet, as its so anti public image
It was first registered in 2004 but the details of the person who owns now it are hidden.
http://www.whois.net/whois/endakenny.com
Taking down any website, be it endakenny.com, or not would be detrimental to the passing of SOPAIreland. I’d say they are waiting for this bill to pass before they look into taking it down.
That was brilliant, would love to shake that persons hand!
Its registrant name is DomainsByProxy which is GoDaddy’s private registration service, it is however hosted in Ireland as it uses Black Night’s servers who are Ireland’s leading hosting company.
More direct action. I hate Direct Action, especially from foreign idealists. Especially foreign idealists trying to look all “oooh we’re the Internet we’re scary all your base are belong to us” and plastering on the airy fairy hyperbole.
Fear tactics don’t work. From either side.
foreign? we’re all one happy corporate state now, or did you miss the memo?
They’re not foreign in Internet land, which may as well be a different country, these guys are the natives who understand how it all works, and we are the tourists.. Some of us have been round a while, maybe on a longer visa, others are merely having a week there..
Anyways.. How do you know they weren’t actually based in Ireland and disguising their location?
You’re right, fear tactics don’t work.. But it’s not often the fear mongers get the tables turned on them. And in an area that they are hopeless to defend against.. I say more power to them, politicians need to be reminded of their station. We the people are the power, not them.
Aranthos Faroth likes this post.
I’m just curious. Did any of these guys think that engaging with politicians might be more productive than annoying them?
We all know the legislation is flawed. If all the IT experts who stayed up all last night came up with a solution to piracy while maintaining internet freedom, then happy days.
But where are all the clever IT people?
“where are all the clever IT people?”
We’re at work, and paying taxes to keep the country afloat.
Tom, that is brilliant: all we need is a group of clever people to come up with a solution to theft.
Why didn’t I think of that?!
And we can rule out IT experts – they’re obviously too clever at hiding.
Good of you to share that with the Internet!
We’ve tried talking to them. They don’t listen. They appear not to care. They don’t express remorse for their actions. They lie with ease. They have a sense of entitlement. No empathy etc. All signs of psychopathic influence if you ask me.
Tom: ‘I’m just curious’. Bi-curious you mean.
Tom: ‘I’m just curious’.
Bi-curious, you mean.
@Tom Neville
“But where are all the clever IT people?”
They’re off gettin der hole, Tome. Der gettin der ride. From de village bicycle…
Tom.. We live in a Pathocracy. Engaging with politicians just gets you a lot of promises and no more. People are sick and tired of not being listened to. They have protested, petitioned, wrote letters, spoke to politicians – what good does it do? Even being a TD in opposition doesn’t get you anywhere (notice how FG/Lab think that information on bills that should be debated in the Dáil before implementation is optional or “too sensitive”)
Democracy is an illusion. It’s time for a new paradigm. The power is supposed to lie with the people and politicians have forgotten that.
Although why I’m bothering to explain this to someone as juvenile as yourself is beyond me, perhaps it’s just that I have hope you may crawl out of your hole someday..
Ironically, the company that created the website Arekibo are giving advice on password security:
http://blog.arekibodigital.com/facebook-privacy-password-security-tips/
Maybe the should have given their customers the same advice.
Can’t help thinking of the ‘Password’ sketch from ‘Your Bad Self’ on RTE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3CBt25TBM
Yes it is….hark…but wait….wot is that noise that is massaging my sound holes….could it be…could it possibly be??? ;)
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