Hello Everyone,

First off, someone out there employed some kind of PHP-based attack against our website.  Basically, they found a way to gain access to the code on one of our pages or configuration files and modified it to direct to a virus of some sort.  Luckily, this also generated a PHP error, which tipped us off to a problem.  This has since been corrected and we apologize if anyone was infected.  To the individual who did this, well played, sir.  However, I do not appreciate the setback. [UPDATE: Still having issues with this, working on a plan to correct]

Anyway, that was not the main topic of this post…

The general public tends to be oblivious of critical computer-related security news.  It is only important to them if it directly causes problems for them.  For example, when the Playstation Network was down for almost a month because of a security breech, everyone cared, but, when a potential social movement has been started by hackers/hacktivists online, nobody seems to be any the wiser.

About a week ago the hacker group LulzSec, which has since been disbanded, and the hacker group Anonymous teamed up to start a movement called Anti-Sec or the Anti-Security Movement.  The goal is to basically un-earth corruption in governments, businesses and in the security industry in order to expose these dark deeds to the people of the world so that justice might be served.

I will say that this announcement immediately prompted me to change a vast majority of my passwords to more secure ones, and so that I wasn’t using the same password on multiple websites.  I would highly suggest that anyone reading this do the same.  An example of a secure password might be something like “a7X2!4T”.  Notice it contains upper and lowercase letters, numbers and at least one special character.  Yes, it is harder to remember but, it is also harder to guess.

That aside, I was intrigued.  I wonder, what is the level of morality on these hackers’s efforts.  One one side, two wrongs never make a right and stealing/breaking and entering is definitely wrong.

On the other side, there are many governments, companies and organizations who are committing crimes against the people they should be serving and getting away with it for an extended period of time.

Some of the recent information releases from the AntiSec movement have revealed things like the DOD discussing a vaccine to turn off the so-called “God-gene” which is what inspires religious belief and fanaticism.  There have also been breaks into a security consulting firm HB Gary, which revealed plans to use emails, text messages and other activities to try to root out “extremists” without notification to anyone.  Basically privacy being intruded upon.

So the fundamental question becomes, is finding out this information pointing toward the common good or not?  I for one, don’t like the idea of a vaccine to “cure” me of my religious belief, even if not designed to be implemented on me.  I also don’t like the idea that my emails and communications could be read or listened into without my consent.

Granted, some of these things have been going on for a while, and there hasn’t really been too much public outcry, after all, giving up some liberty and privacy for the sake of security is ok, right?  I’m not always sure about that.

I will say this, I think that taking down websites and releasing users’ information for their paypal, AOL, Gmail and Amazon accounts is not exposing corruption.  it does expose people for not being security minded and for using easy passwords but, there are moral ways to do this.

However, when there are releases of databases from government and security organizations clearly pointing towards something sinister, I can’t help but think that we should know about this.  I can’t help but think that there are some bigger things out there being hidden from us.  While, I am not a conspiracy theorist, I can say that I think that personal privacy is quickly dying and that there are some links of corruption and conspiracy between some companies and certain governments.  I also think that any of these activities which are illegal should be brought to light and that the people committing said crimes should be punished.

Now, again, the moral issue comes into play.  Is stealing right? No.  Is a company or government misleading its citizens or exploiting them right either? No.  Which is the greater evil?

I can’t answer that.  However, I can say that I can’t help but support the Anti-Sec movement on some level, even if simply from an observation standpoint.

I must also point out that this doesn’t only apply to the American Government.  There are many countries that we take for granted, such as Brazil, Zimbabwe and countries in the Middle East that are exceedingly corrupt and commit serious crimes against their own people, including genocide and removing those who speak out against the government.  Our military forces are not big enough or strong enough to battle on behalf of those people and neither are they.  Perhaps getting some information out might inspire the people of the world to stand up against some objective evils being committed.  I don’t know.

In the end, I will be a silent observer and supporter.  I don’t support anything that does further harm to the average person, nor anything that does illegitimate harm to someone’s reputation, even if they are a politician or CEO.  However, if there is real evidence of crimes against the people of the world, I hope and pray that justice will be served because of said evidence.

So, to Anonymous, whoever you guys are, I support you to that extent, and hope that just maybe your actions might inspire some legitimate change for the better, both for the United States and the World.