How do you change the perception?

[selil]

BILL,

I know I don't know much about this Cyber Warfare stuff. I really wish I had a little more knowledge about computer mediated conflict. I guess what you're saying is that we're about three years away from terrorist entities having the capability to take down the Internet. So what would an attack like that look like? Is it simple violence of oppression or something like that the reason for taking out the Internet? I've heard that there might be some literature out there by Eberschloe, Vernton, Lewis, and others discussing possible "Cyber Pearl Harbor" scenarios. It would be great if we had some military capability like the Air Force or civilian capability to fight cyber terrorism like the NSA. Wouldn't it be great if the Department of Homeland Security promoted something like an emergency support functions for cyber events?

BILL, you know that if the eastern seaboard central switching office for almost all Verizon in New Yorks primary region was destroyed in something like 9/11 the entire Internet might collapse. In fact it might take months to get that facility back up and running. I wonder how long it would take to get the stock exchange back up and running through a primary data hub that had been blown up almost completely?

I wonder what a cyber attack would look like. Maybe if there were millions of bots out there capable of attacking simultaneously it might look like a storm. And when they fired up on December 29th I wonder what the entire effect might be? Gee what if a foreign government like China hacked the pentagon daily and ran all of their communications through Israel, Taiwan, Thailand, and other pseudo friendly nations?

If we only could find experts that had touched hundreds of thousands of sites on the Internet or been involved in building large chunks of the Internet. Maybe we could have a reasonable discussion about risk and less hair on fire fear that something might NOT happen. Don't you think prognastications of specific time frames are going to be difficult to back up when they've been occuring since 1968? Did you know that there is a low speed wireless network capable of handling massive amounts of data and is highly redundant and nobody even realizes it exists. It is the ham radio packet radio network. If a bunch of guys with soldering irons and tin hats built something like that I wonder what the telephone companies and military have built?

Bill, do tell us more.

[BILL]

I share your sentiments but not your Optimism.

BILL,

I know I don't know much about this Cyber Warfare stuff. I really wish I had a little more knowledge about computer mediated conflict. I guess what you're saying is that we're about three years away from terrorist entities having the capability to take down the Internet. So what would an attack like that look like?

"Server NOT found"
"Service timed Out"
For weeks or months?


Is it simple violence of oppression or something like that the reason for taking out the Internet? I've heard that there might be some literature out there by Eberschloe, Vernton, Lewis, and others discussing possible "Cyber Pearl Harbor" scenarios.

Please share?

It would be great if we had some military capability like the Air Force or civilian capability to fight cyber terrorism like the NSA. Wouldn't it be great if the Department of Homeland Security promoted something like an emergency support functions for cyber events?

My fear is this could be a replay of NYC 911 where the Emergency support functions are in the center of the attack/building. The question becomes how you stop the flood from the bot net? A small hint?

BILL, you know that if the eastern seaboard central switching office for almost all Verizon in New Yorks primary region was destroyed in something like 9/11 the entire Internet might collapse. In fact it might take months to get that facility back up and running. I wonder how long it would take to get the stock exchange back up and running through a primary data hub that had been blown up almost completely?

I understand if its blown up, its all backed up and just has to be reloaded to a Internet connection, but what if the Internet connection is out, the data remains 'backed up'?

I wonder what a cyber attack would look like. Maybe if there were millions of bots out there capable of attacking simultaneously it might look like a storm. And when they fired up on December 29th I wonder what the entire effect might be? Gee what if a foreign government like China hacked the pentagon daily and ran all of their communications through Israel, Taiwan, Thailand, and other pseudo friendly nations?

I understand how to deal with that particular situation, but what do you do if there is no connection. If you are able to counter attack with your own bots on some connections, on their nodes, it just subtracts connections and further pushes towards a total collapse, When restarted will the attack restart?
And the attack can come from anywhere in the world from unprotected, non-updated computers.

If we only could find experts that had touched hundreds of thousands of sites on the Internet or been involved in building large chunks of the Internet. Maybe we could have a reasonable discussion about risk and less hair on fire fear that something might NOT happen.

I'm not an expert, and know the Army built large chunks of it, it seemed worth mentioning in this age of asymmetrical warfare.


Don't you think prognastications of specific time frames are going to be difficult to back up when they've been occuring since 1968?

I based the time frame on how long it would take me to do it.
Given the funding.

Did you know that there is a low speed wireless network capable of handling massive amounts of data and is highly redundant and nobody even realizes it exists.

No I did not know that. A second Internet, not dependent on the first Internet, and without attack vectors from the first Internet?

It is the ham radio packet radio network. If a bunch of guys with soldering irons and tin hats built something like that I wonder what the telephone companies and military have built?

They are part of and tied into and rely on the Internet. The only defense I see or will talk about publicly is an independent "Intra net" a second Internet.

Thanks for the reply, excellent points.
Bill



Bill, do tell us more.

[BILL]

36 downloads, trainees?

Hacker Trainers name "Kasper"
They are using Rats now, RATs are remote administration programs that have been embedded into an unsuspecting victim's computer. This is the most dangerous of all hacking tools as it allows complete and total control of the infected computer.
And "MultiDropper-NF"

We are pursuing.
From Arabic forum.

B

We tried to report additional Intel on this to the CIA, AND THEIR FORM still isn't working.
We typed in email name and text and copied URLs. all was rejected, note it says in red the Message field won't be cleared, it was.




.

[BILL]

Islamic Forum devoted to hacking:

Partial contents: ( links removed )

# Section applications programmes encrypted encryption special versions special
# مــــنــــتـــدى اخــــتــــراق الايــــمـــيـــل Forum penetrate email
#

* قـسـم خــــاص لأســئــلـــة الأعــضـــاء واسـتـفـسـاراـتـهـم حـــول الاخـــتـــراق A special section of questions and requests for information about members penetration

# مــــنــــتــــدى اخــــتـــراق الاجـــهـــزة Forum penetrating devices
#

* قـسـم خــــاص لأســئــلـــة الأعــضـــاء واسـتـفـسـاراـتـهـم حـــول الاخـــتـــراق A special section of questions and requests for information about members penetration
* الـبـرامـج الـــمــشـــفــرة والــحـــصـــريــة Encrypted programmes and exclusive

# مــــنـــتــــدى اخـــتـــراق الــمـــواقع والـــمــنـــتـــديـــات Forum penetrate sites and forums
#

* قـسـم خــــاص لأســئــلـــة الأعــضـــاء واسـتـفـسـاراـتـهـم حـــول الاخـــتـــراق A special section of questions and requests for information about members penetration
* ::Local Root Exploit :: :: Local Root Exploit::

# قــســـم أخـــتــــراق شــبــكـــات الــويــرلــــس & LAN Section penetrate networks Aloyrls & LAN
# مــنـــتــدى انـــــجــــازات الـــهـــكر Forum achievements Alhecr
#

* قسم أدوات و اندكسات الاختراق Tools section and penetration Andquisat
* مكتبة الثغرات Library gaps

# مـــنــــتـــــدى اخـــــتــــراق الـــــجــــوال Forum mobile penetration
# مـــنـــتـــدى اخــــتــــراق الـــمحـــادثـــة Forum penetrate conversation
# منتدى تعليم الهكر Education Forum Alhecr
# قسم الدورات الاحترافية Section professional courses
# قسم تعليم الاختراق بالفيديو Education Section breakthrough video
# قسم E-book Section E-book
#

* قسم الطلبات Section applications

# مـــنــــتـــــدى الـــــفـــايــــروســــات Forum VIRUSES


The West has an advantage, in technological abilities, an attempt to close this gap, with forums like this.

Bill



From hacked site:


.

[Aurelian]

I want to dip my toe into this pool in a very limited way. I am a Navy Reserve CPO and have some interest in this field. My take is that perception management is but one part of an overall strategy to bring down the West. They use a distributed open source warefare model that the West will find very difficult to emulate. We seem to be at a point where we cannot go beyond looking to a central authority (Government Agencies like EPA, the Supreme Court, Operations that require deniability, etc) to adjudicate problems, authorize "hunting liscenses" and so forth. This will necissarily make any attempt to create a flexible, dynamic IW effort lugubrious and prone to, at best, defensive measures.

IW including cyber warfare will exist in an area the US has been reluctant to involve itsel in such as plausible deniability, independent and interdependent teams with alot of independence and seizing control through bots of many platforms. This is a threat we currently face and will face more in the future (see Russian Business Network).

I do not think we can manage perception but can manage the strength of the message getting out about what the jihadis really are about, their threat to us and how they manage our perceptions of them. If you take my first statement about open source warfare and apply it to perception management to me combined civilian network and DOD efforts may work. Using the German General Staff concept of "Marching Orders" that of giving general goals to be met and leaving the meeting of them to the teams. However, if we do not get beyond the central authority model I don't think we will have much success. I think the USAF new IW command will fizzle and fizzle badly because of this problem.

I welcome your comments and the opportunity to at least get my muddled thoughts on this subject in some kind of order.

[BILL]

Excellent analysis:

Yes as I understand it, it requires an order/ok from Bush to take down a server, and that kind of offensive is forming, ON THEIR SIDE, I could be wrong, and hope I am.

There doesn't seem to be any rules for engagement for Gov, MIL, NAV, etc.?

The civilian sector lacks organization, direction and instruction..
AND FUNDING, This effort currently runs us about $12,000 out of pocket, all work is pro-bono.

While it is not my intention to tell anybody how to do this, we wanted to show what the civilians have done and are doing.

A Russian hacking team just announced placing keyloggers on some terrorist PC's. And exposed the Porno visits of the Jaddiees.

Civilians provide deniability but run the risk of prosecution without a letter of Marq, all our limits are governed by, directed by CI paradigm, nothing illegal, of course we have the potential of developing those capabilities, but the risk of prosecution constrains us.

If al Qaeda can manage perception, I think USA is also capable of same.
They have managed to convince the Ummah that all the insurgent DEAD, is GOOD....Martyrs. Dying = winning. ???

The value of OSINT may not be fully appreciated.


Our OSINT picked up the "Arabic Hacker" Trainer.
Some civilian sectors are well versed in OSINT, Competitive Intelligence rely on it.

Off the top of my head, some of the fundamental methods we use, in general.


Basic: Up todate bio info , facts, etc, culled from OSINT and filed.

Analyzing if Target is in deception mode.

These usually will become apparent as a linear, in depth paradigm is developed, and as the incident/action/writing deviates from the paradigm. Lies will appear as a spike on the paradigm model, the question becomes 'is it a paradigm shift' or 'deception'. the test is the future, the News/blogs/forums.Did it happen like the target says or not, paradigm shift indicator if it checks out, or possible deception if its false. The value is you know something different is going on, and can analyze it.

Of course we deal with public reports related to the target.

One can track 'talk' vs 'actions', And develop a pattern. Major changes in the pattern can point to paradigm shifts which can be useful in forecasting.

One can track what they say they are going to do vs what happens ( check the news a month later see if it happened; or the appropriate time frame ). Looking for patterns which can reveal deception, or if 'it ' continues a shift indicator.

Collecting Geographic Intel ( everything about a Geographic area/state/town ) also can reveal links/connections.


Eventually you have a Paradigm for the target, a history, understanding, knowledge of target and idiosyncrasies.

With our paradigm we start to measure action, statements, reports against the paradigm.

We call this Paradigm Intelligence. A long form of inductive reasoning, confirmed by repetition.
Then we we check items against the Paradigm mostly deductive reasoning/logic.

Ontological problem with ' Paradigm Intel ' is its seminal fault "Just because you can forecast actions doesn't mean you understand whats going on." ( Example: Ptolemy and his theory of the planets, Earth-centered Ptolemaic system, LOOPING Planets. He could forecast position of the planets, but his understanding of the system was very wrong.)

While you forecast with Paradigm Intel, one can have multiple hypothesis of the cause of the "action at a distance",

Utilizing this method it is possible to get a look inside a closed cell.( This link will give you some background and context, On that page click on the "Internet Anthropologist Link, we were able to peak into the USA and Taliban closed cells/Paradigm, both attempting to deceive the other ).

Paradigm Intel is good a developing alternate hypothesis, and testing them.
A useful tool in the arena of forecasting asymmetrical threats in war.

CONTEXT and Cultural familiarity: Can be definitive also.
Patki news services tend to down play number of Taliban or al Qaeda killed and over state the number of Patki troops dead. Often they will state total number deaths, with no break down between insurgent and government troops. And the tend to use the word "dead " rather than "killed". As one denotes facts, dead, while the other denotes actions, killed.Patki news semantics are very exacting and aim for neutrality as they consider all killed on both sides as Pakistanis first and government or insurgents second.
There is a taste of killing your enemy without offending their/our culture.
If the KIA are related to as "Killed" This can be a message the ummah hear that others may miss.
The use of the term "Killed" instead of "dead" is meant to be offensive to the ones killled in this instance.
Coupling OSINT with sub-rosa investigations and social engineering also give an options for checking details.


We set up a baby feed for the "cyber troops", everything they need, and fully customizable, by user on anything. The feeds are supplied by 1,000 spider bots per Trooper, using as many or few as they need, that search the Internet 24/7 and feed it to the troop, so they have a real time ( Internet ) knowledge ( News, blogs,forums,groups,docs,excel, all translated ) of their arena.

Knowledge in depth, historical and current.

And sets up a frame work for a 'social change engine' and propaganda ops.

A Question we had to address was how to run propaganda with out interfering with any 'OFFICIAL' Ops.
We found a solution on a Pakti forum:
Our efforts have been guided by Pakti Intelligence manual .
"Psychological warfare is an art adopted to defeat the enemy's will to fight. It predominantly aims to win the battle before it starts. It is aimed at convincing the enemy that:-
( Our operations have been designed around these three concepts )
a. Your equipment and war assets are obsolete. ck5 shoulder fired rocket, martyr maker
b. You are being commanded by inefficient commanders. new leader of al Qaeda.
c. Your basic human rights are being suppressed." suicide bombers dance, for al Qaeda

One person on a forum can affect morale of the Jahiddi community. We have.

This is "our" version of a "Info War" cyber Troop,
And we have been running this for around a Year,

Our concept includes other "cyber troops" that are not 'Info war' oriented but performing other duties.

Its one concept of a Cyber Warrior..

Bill & Gerald

[Ken White]

If you'd keep your posts a little shorter and concentrate on one topic at a time while not using the various styles and sizes of type, you might encourage more responses. Your posts are sort of hard to follow due to length, mixed subject matter and erratic type fonts.

Take care,
Ken

[Aurelian]

Thanks for the reply Bill. One correction I would like to make is that the General Staff concept is Saddle Orders not Marching Orders. No coffee no wakee.