[liberationtech] #OpIsrael

[Gregory Foster]

It is with some trepidation reaffirmed with verification that I pass 
along the following.  ymmv, yhbw, ianal, wtf, etc.

Hold onto your lolcats, because the US Senate voted down the (outgoing) 
Lieberman/Collins/Rockefeller CISPA cybersecurity legislation on 
Wednesday...
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/senate-rejects-second-chance-to-safeguard-most-critical-cyber-networks-

...around the same time many found out US President (and 
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces) Obama had already 
signed a classified cybersecurity (and cyberwar) Presidential Directive 
- in mid-October:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-signs-secret-cybersecurity-directive-allowing-more-aggressive-military-role/2012/11/14/7bf51512-2cde-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story.html

More recently, there's a situation going on with Israel and Palestine.  
I don't mean to be glib - I cannot as I have noticed the unusual volume 
of information produced by the unusual organization Stratfor the last 
few days:
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/considering-israeli-ground-assault-gaza

And the unusual phenomenon of a combatant live tweeting while actively 
engaged in warfare:
https://twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson/status/269112373208551425

Allegedly, Israel has threatened an Internet and/or telecommunications 
shutdown.  I did not find a primary source documenting that statement, 
but did notice a report of an increasing number of reports on The Voice 
of Russia:
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_14/Israel-launches-Gaza-op/

The possibility of a (partial) telecommunications shutdown is real as 
networks in the Palestinian Territories are dependent upon physical 
infrastructure in Israel (at least in 2011 according to page 9 of this 
Renesys presentation):
http://www.renesys.com/tech/presentations/pdf/GeopoliticsOfInternetInfrastructure.pdf

That possibility has gotten the attention of a certain portion of the 
Internet---unnamely---Anonymous.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/11/15/anonymous-hackers-deface-israeli-sites-in-retaliation-for-gaza-attacks/

Tonight I received notifications of two newly uploaded videos to YouTube 
on accounts that have published Anonymous media over a span of years, 
though that is no guarantee of consistent pwnership.

YouTube (Nov 15 ~8:01pm) - "Anonymous: Operation Israel" by @TheAnonMessage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkC357RQt0c
http://twitter.com/TheAnonMessage

YouTube (Nov 15 ~9:32pm) - "Anonymous Operation Israel" by @anonyops_
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl7svqBVq0U
http://twitter.com/anonyops_

In the videos (whose production and messaging IMO demonstrate focus), 
mention is made of a care package for download.  I took the liberty of 
quarantining that zip file [ MD5 1acf8950d398220c0f243b59ea9c2653 ], 
running a local scan and more importantly 44 documented remote scans at 
VirusTotal on the zip and the two contained PDFs.  Here are those 
results confirming no known malware (which should not be taken to 
exclude zero days):
https://www.virustotal.com/file/2ed49cdcbe45c12d48addf1e5ab1a039884fa1cf303a0e31a00489bd0d80060e/analysis/1353047954/
https://www.virustotal.com/file/481411a0fed2b934f791a703b7e4a9661d0c3f6314e880b45260bf59a4d1fd40/analysis/
https://www.virustotal.com/file/2ed49cdcbe45c12d48addf1e5ab1a039884fa1cf303a0e31a00489bd0d80060e/analysis/1353047954/

One of the video descriptions links to this Arabic translation...
http://www.anonpaste.me/anonpaste2/index.php?89452a7861b4af1d#hFCbUSaOGM+ZBIgJPGEOBwxEjxV0lNNnbdPQnx0uQRw=

...of this blog re-posting of information resistance information 
aggregated by Telecomix:
http://katatus.blogspot.com/

In closing, an observation of serendipity: earlier tonight and however 
momentarily insulated though unimmune to the influence of events, I 
watched Christopher Poole's 2010 TED talk on "The case for anonymity 
online."  He's the creator of 4chan, whence provided Anonymous (I almost 
said "custodian" but can anyone have that job?).  I've always noticed 
Mr. Poole has interesting things to say:
http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online.html

...especially about people's' right(s) to speak.  Much love to all.
gf

-- 
Gregory Foster || gfoster at entersection.org
@gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/

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