[P2P-F] Article : "US spy operation that manipulates social media"

Fri Mar 18 12:23:50 CET 2011

note : an older post / related topic , mentioning the HBGary case, which was
already documented , march 4 2011 by Michel via Jodi, on

http://p2pfoundation.net/Persona_Management

*"According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary
emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated
"persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people
to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally
cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually
automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks
Brothers riot online."*

*
http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/2011/03/daily-kos-updated-the-hb-gary-email-that-should-concern-us-all.html
*

--------------

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/anonymous_hacks_security_company_hbgary_dumps_5000.php

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/anonymous-hacks-hbgary/

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02/07/hbgary-federal-hacked-and-exposed-by-anonymous/

<http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02/07/hbgary-federal-hacked-and-exposed-by-anonymous/>Anonymous
unleashed their anger at a security firm who had been investigating their
membership.

HBGary Federal had been working on unmasking their identities in cooperation
with an FBI investigation into the attacks against
companies<http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2010/12/09/mastercard-visa-paypal-and-4chan-the-furor-of-wikileaks-unleashed/>
who
were cutting off WikiLeaks access and financing.

Unlike the DDoS attacks for which Anonymous has made headlines in recent
months, this incident involved true hacking skills. Anonymous compromised
the HBGary website and replaced it with an
image<http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2294/internetsanon.jpg>
explaining
their motivation. In addition to the defacement, they downloaded over 60,000
emails from the company and posted them on The Pirate Bay.

----------

*Thanks to Xavier for informing me*

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:15 AM, Dante-Gabryell Monson <
dante.monson at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
>
> excerpts :
>
> *" The US military <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-military> is
> developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites
> such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence
> internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda. "*
>
> *" Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to
> create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome
> opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its
> own objectives. "*
>
> *" The multiple persona contract is thought to have been awarded as part
> of a programme called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was first
> developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon ... "*
>
> *" OEV was discussed last year at a gathering of electronic warfare
> specialists in Washington DC<http://www.crows.org/the-io-institute/infowarcon-2010-agenda.html>
>  "*
>
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