anonymous

Jeremy Hammond was arrested in a major federal sweep last year on charges of computer hacking conspiracy, computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit access device fraud.

The self-described hacktivist pled guilty to these counts in court on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

"As part of each of these hacks, I took and decimated confidential information stored on computer systems websites used by each of the entities," Hammond told a judge in federal court in Manhattan, according to the Associated Press. "For each of these hacks, I knew what I was doing was against the law."… Read more

After the hacking collective Anonymous launched a Twitter campaign pledging to go after the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, the U.S. military barred all Wi-Fi access on the base, according to the Associated Press. All social media, including Facebook and Twitter, also has been banned.

Army Lt. Col. Samuel House told the Associated Press that the shuttering of the base's Wi-Fi was because of Anonymous' public plans to "disrupt activities" at the military prison.

While no disruptions have yet been reported, according to the Associated Press, Anonymous has promised to make good on its threats.… Read more

Anonymous is once again trying to raise the hackles of North Korea by hacking into one of the country's official news sites.

For the second time this month, the North Korean news and information site Uriminzokkiri.com has been taken down. Trying to access the site today delivers an eventual timeout error. In the official Twitter account for Uriminzokkiri, which Anonymous took over earlier this month, the group tweeted that "more of North Korean websites are in our hand. They will be brought down."

North Korean Web sites minjok.com, jajusasang.com, and paekdu-hanna.com had also … Read more

Anonymous claims that a cyberattack launched against Israeli government Web sites this weekend has caused billions of dollars of damage, although Israeli officials say there have been no major disruptions.

The group claimed it hacked more than a dozen official Israeli Web sites, including those for the Israel Police, the Prime Minister's Office, the Israel Securities Authority, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, and the Central Bureau of Statistics. The country's page for the Ministry of Defense was offline today as well, which Anonymous took credit for hacking in a tweet:

Anonymous Operation Israel | Target: DOWN | mod.gov.il | #Anonymous … Read more

Anonymous continues to target North Korea with its latest round of exploits.

Citing the threat posed by the North Korean government, the "hacktivist" group defaced the country's official Twitter and Flickr accounts yesterday.

The North Korean Twitter feed now displays a series of tweets with links that poke fun at the country's leader Kim Jong-un. One linked image portrays Kim Jong-un in a less than flattering light and criticizes him for "threatening world peace with ICBMs and nuclear weapons" and "wasting money while his people starve." The country's Flickr account shows … Read more

Matthew Keys, the deputy social media editor at Reuters who was recently indicted of charges of conspiring with Anonymous, has denied allegations he fed information to the hacktivist group that led to the defacement of the Los Angeles Times Web site.

Prosecutors alleged last week that Keys, a former Web producer for a TV station owned by the Tribune Company, handed over log-in credentials and passwords for the network of his former employer to members of the hacker group a couple of years ago. The Tribune Company also owns the L.A. Times.

The Los Angeles Times site's defacement … Read more

When Matthew Keys allegedly handed over the passwords of his former employer to members of the hacker group Anonymous a couple of years ago, he probably didn't think it would lead to an indictment.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Keys was being indicted on three counts: conspiracy to transmit information to damage a protected computer, transmitting information to damage a protected computer, and attempted transmission of information to damage a protected computer.

Keys, 26, currently works as a deputy social media editor at Reuters but used to be a Web producer for the Tribune … Read more

In its latest salvo against the financial industry, Anonymous claims to have leaked sensitive information related to Bank of America executives and the company's alleged effort to "spy and collect information on private citizens."

Par:AnoIA, a group that identifies itself as the Anonymous Intelligence Agency, said in a press release (PDF) yesterday that it had released 14 gigabytes of data on hundreds of thousands of executives at companies around the world, including Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and TEKSystems, which the hackvisit collective claims was hired last year to spy on hackers and social activists.

The group says … Read more

This is not a whopper of a tale: Jeep is the second big brand this week -- after Burger King -- to have its Twitter account hijacked.

The American automaker's official Twitter account was the victim of a hacking attempt early Tuesday. Jeep's Twitter profile was updated with a description that said the Chrysler-owner brand was sold to Cadillac, a General Motors company, which is not true. The account was restored to its original state at around noon PT.

The temporary account holders also posted several disparaging updates saying the brand was sold to Cadillac because the CEO … Read more