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Uncategorized Sunday, October 23rd 2011 at 11:00 am

Anonymous Takes Down Massive Child Pornography Server, Leaks Usernames

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In a move that we can all get behind, hacker group Anonymous has announced that they have taken down a huge cache of child pornography and released 1,589 usernames of the website’s patrons. The action came as part of Operation Darknet, which targets illicit websites that are part of an unindexed and therefore unsearchable corner of the Internet.

The server in question is owned by Freedom Hosting, and apparently services over 40 child pornography websites. The largest of these, disturbingly called Lolita City, was said to contain over 100gb of child pornography.

Interestingly, the Anonymous hack is extremely well documented. In two separate Pastebin posts, the hackers involved provide a timeline of events, as well as some of the methodologies they used in tracking and taking down the servers.

According to their timeline, the hackers first became aware of Lolita City while leading a related campaign against a portion of the Hidden Wiki which included links to child pornography. While working to suppress the Hidden Wiki for linking to child pornography, the group turned their attentions to the websites linked on the Wiki. Through their investigations, they discovered that many of the sites shared a similar “fingerprint” in that they were supported and hosted by a company called Freedom Hosting.

The group then issued an ultimatum to Freedom Hosting to remove the content, or be shut down through their attacks. Freedom Hosting refused, and has since been the target of the hacker’s ire.

While attacks by the hacker group have often been divisive, going after the supporters of child pornography is something that is hard to criticize. In fact, this might be the best application of the groups’ talents; an intersection of Internet knowledge and the ability to carry out electronic attacks. Of course, preventing child pornography from being moved around the Internet doesn’t stop the predators that created the materials. Hopefully, law enforcement will take up the information gleaned by the group and start making some arrests.

(via Security News Daily, Examiner)

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  • Anonymous

    People forget that Anonymous also harasses people for no reason, and once hacked MySpace and other legitimate sites.

  • Ayatollah Bear

    Good stuff. This, we can all get behind.

  • Anonymous

    Well done!

  • Wefwef

    No we don’t.

  • Anonymous

    You guys didn’t attack and scare people off of YouTube as well?

  • Ardiva

    Excellent! Well done, Anonymous, WELL DONE !!

  • Dpsorensen7

    This is awesome. Shut this filth down.

  • Rusino

    Even a broken clock is right twice a day!

    This time Anonymous did GOOD.

  • Nick Landis

    Standing Ovation…

  • http://twitter.com/CalFireNews Cal Fire News

    Anonymous Rocks

  • http://twitter.com/MargaretSchaut MargaretSchaut

    This is the kind of public service all hackers need to be looking for. There are lots of others too, and I have high hopes these people will be diligently looking for them.

  • http://robgokee.com Rob Gokee

    Bravo, anonymous. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    Yeah, it’s pretty easy to not get behind these guys since what they’re doing is illegal and they’re harassed thousands of innocent people before.

    In fact, what these guys have done is detrimental to any kind of moral cause since now all these servers can relocate and hide again. Good job, fuckups. At least you got in the news, which is all you really wanted. In addition, the user list they posted is nothing but masturbation material for themselves. It’s completely useless information that serves no purpose and accomplishes nothing.

  • Guest

    I think he meant that no, people don’t forget the less-altruistic actions Anon has taken.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1232257795 David O’Connor

    That’s the problem with vigilante law, you hang the guilty as well as the innocent. Otherwise, this time, kudos.
    I hope you use the same amount of vigor and investigate what YOU think may be wrong but but isn’t and crucify before the victim(s) get a chance to testify.

  • Love Dude89

    We did, nobody has ever gone to youtube since.

  • missusvi

    People don’t forget… just for once, we appreciate their tenacity.

  • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

    lol… ***If anything the Legion of Anon is a human rights organization***

    People “forget” don’t understand Anon is a force of legion.
    understand that…..then you know “”harasses people for no reason”" is very very very unlikely….

    Slander …VERSUS….. Peados now publicly doxed….

    Sorry……. won’t work……can’t work…… Anon WiN this round ….

  • joe

    shut it all down—
    i know i would not want to have web service with a company that support this crap—
    if you are in business–you are responible for your product..

    be aware of your business and you do not have to worry about pushing poison…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    Sorry to be a damper, but this seems like just more harassment by anonymous.  Why leak usernames when you can actually work with police to take actual actions?  How many anon hacks have been done with them claiming, “this is just to show them to tighten their security!” Similarly, simply scaring pedos off a website, and documenting how they did it, will simply cause those pedos to built a tighter site next time (sorry if this was done and I’m just not seeing it).

    Granted, anons still doing more to actively combat child porn than I am….but they’re still doing it in a childish fashion, with no thought for the consequences of their actions.
     

  • togo

    am i the only one that thinks they did this to clean their names? a lot of people says anonymous is a bunch of pedophiles

  • Pam Vinson

    Too many are commenting negatively about the “anonymous” web shutdown.  Sound the ALARM, fly theRED FLAGS-these are the men (and women) that were running these sites.

  • anon

    armchair critics too cowardly to handle the task at hand… don’t worry, kids, Anon will clean up your messes on the web for you and you can thank them later. of course, by thank I mean “nail them to a cross”. but after that, if some pedo runs off with your little baby, you’ll have nobody to blame but that halfwit in your mirror. 

  • Lorena_leemon

    So? This story isn’t about your story….

  • An0n

    So, your saying that if a lawn enforcement agency had taken down the sites instead(Which they couldn’t even find them) the pedos wouldn’t have then just moved to another host. What this has done is knock out one of a limited number of hosting services that’s willing to allow child porn its its servers. If you knock out all the servers they use, eventually, they either give up, or have to make their own servers, which is a very large investment, and will be easier for the law to catch up with. If you take out one arms dealers, people will buy their guns somewhere else, sure, but you should still do what you can to take out each dealer. We can;t completely beat them in this world, but we can make it harder for them to do vile and disgusting things. If you take out one drug lord, it hurts the entire drug market, if you take out one arms dealer, it reduces the flow of guns, if you shut down one child porno server, it limits access. Its a simple fact. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/amedeus8 Nick Gotshall

    Well it depends on which Anonymous a lot of people are talking about. Anonymous is a hacker group. Anonymous is also anybody who dresses up in a suit and Guy Fawkes’ mask and protests Scientology (which is where the hacker group sort of deviated from). Anonymous is also a general name for 4chan users (which is where the protest group sort of deviated from).

    At least some portion of /b/tards are definite pedophiles. But I haven’t seen any evidence that the hackers are.

  • http://www.facebook.com/amedeus8 Nick Gotshall

    Well. Not EVERYONE. I’d have to imagine that the pedophiles are probably pretty unhappy about the whole situation.

  • justice

    Give me the grid coordinates of the servers buildings, and I’ll see about putting a couple of cruise missiles through some rooftops.

  • Anonymous

    Cue Conservatives defending pedophiles in 3…2…1…

  • Anonymous

    BUT WHAT ABOUT FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

    Those poor pornographer’s who no longer can express themselves?  Just like those poor NAZI’s and Klansmen who like to “Seig Heil” and burn crosses?

    And what about those people who like use profanity in every sentence, in Denny’s Restaurant, even?  AND, ESPECIALLY, those people who protest at Wall Street and elsewhere, believing that “free speech” encompasses just about everything.  Like having a continuous “get out jail free card,” the protesters can block intersections and make a racket all night!

    I don’t know, But, I don’t trust anyone who tries to limit “free speech?”  LOL

    OK, I’ve made my silly point and my compliments to “anonymous.”

    Purveyor

  • Carbncopy

    the only thing lawmen get behind is their gun and hookers.

  • Andrew Teece

    Uncleduke: Mind Reader

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1350757252 David Kenny

    Kudos.

  • Annon

    The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    The only way you stop criminals is by getting them ARRESTED, not by breaking the law yourself and harassing them — which is what Anonymous specializes in, and should themselves be arrested.

    Knocking down one server isn’t going to do crap. You think servers are expensive nowadays? Hell, they’re not even REAL anymore. Freedom Hosting could spin up “servers” on EC2 completely relocating their infrastructure.

  • Fulcun_Intel

    im not a pedo, i work with fulcun online security and i can say that unfortunately they did not take down any servers at all, infact they have not touched any child porn site, hopefully someone will do the job right and take down all that disgusting filth

  • Juan Oosthuizen

    The sad part of your statement is that getting them arrested only give them a chance to get a good defence attorney  and these low pieces of sh!t will just get them off in any way necessary so what Anon are doing is for the best…shame them, expose them as the filth they are…many children’s lives are ruined by there cockroaches who abduct, rape and sometimes kill these little children for sick enjoyment…there is no excuse and no defence.

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    Shaming them and exposing them isn’t going to make them stop, especially since the user name list was just that — a user name list. Nobody’s identify was compromised. Knocking down their servers isn’t going to stop them, backups are seamless and servers are cheap. Getting them ARRESTED is how you stop them, not engaging in illegal activity yourself.

  • Not Discolosed

    Big up the Anonymous, I just sent that web hosting company a peice of my mind. Maybe if everyone else did as well they might get the message and have another look at their clients activities and their own filthy selves, I hope they get their karma dealt out in prison.

  • http://twitter.com/modchen dr. angelface

    you don’t have to be a pedo to remember all the (hilarious) non-moralfaggotry anon has pulled over the years.

  • http://twitter.com/modchen dr. angelface

    yeah, he kinda sounds like a fat, whiny old cunt. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RV6J27OOJCAVDFCKDJOKYFKNMA Noor al Haqiqa

    HAHAHAHA….. very good answer, smart ass.

  • David Goldbeck

    I agree with eevrything you say except the attack on lawyers. Law enforement does make mistakes and everyone is entitled to test the government. Lawyers only do what defendants would do if they knew what to do and say.

  • David Goldbeck

    Working ‘with’ the govt seems like something Anon should consider.

  • Talesin BatBat

    This and the support for Wikileaks.

  • elizab

    Dear Anonymous:  Fab job.  Please go after the animal cruelty dickheads next.  xoxo

  • elizab

    I let them know what pieces of shit they are.  

  • Joebow1991

    GOOOD they should be… and either way they can all go to hell five times over. THANK YOU ANONYMOUS

  • Rezaul622

    As a result of the brief porn viewing, Comcast offered all of its 80,000
    customers a $10 credit, regardless of whether they saw the porn.

  • Asd

    As long as Anonymous don’t take down 4chan, I approve nearly all of ther actions. 

  • Tonyisafatshit.

    You’re just mad that you are fat as fuck and Anonymous have done something to you or your family, which has coloured your view of them since.

    “hurr durr its bad they are fightin the ceepee cuz they r bad ppl”

    The people that are fighting the CP probably aren’t the same that harassed people, etc. 
    Anonymous isn’t just a group of 20 or so people, dumbass, it’s hundreds of people, so take your dumbass shit somewhere else.

    Additionally, I fail to see how knocking down servers that host CP is illegal?
    Now fuck off.

  • Anonymous

    They have done that before.
    Some sick fucks posted a video of them harming an animal inside a house.
    Anon took note of ALL parts of the video, even the walls of the house, the patterns on the walls etc, and searched through networking sites and found the people who did it, by matching the details of the house they saw in the video to the ones in the persons profile pictures. 
    They people who did it were dealt with by the law also.

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    @ Tonyisafatshit: Get a job, loser.

  • Anonamoose

    0/10 Anonymous did not deviate from Operation Chanology. Anonymous as a group hacked people and raided sites long before then.

  • http://www.facebook.com/amedeus8 Nick Gotshall

    Completely missing the point AND giving a rating as though I’m a troll because one small portion of what I said may be slightly wrong even though the overall point is sound and the allegedly wrong portion doesn’t affect that at all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PATPCY4KFK6IHCWZLB2DDCWXGA Jericho

    and a lot of abused kids who had no voice, cheered in glee and epic hapiness~!

  • Noneed124

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. There are so many variables into this situation, like the fact that a lot of the people on those sites could have been there once and left seconds later, realising what sort of site it is. Now their names have been released ( which breaches a few privacy laws BTW) and their lives will be ruined. People can’t throw the law out the window everytime a controversial topic is targeted by anon. What they do is illegal and they need to realise that they aren’t solving anything by breaking many laws in the process.

  • http://twitter.com/Sare3 Sare3

    I think that there will come a day when our vigilantes become our heroes. These hackers, and many like them are the balance of the system. We need them, in order to keep our institutions in check. Sure, they draw outside the lines…plenty. 

    But I’d rather have a world with them, than without them. 

  • anon

    If a lawn enforcement agency had taken down the sites instead, I would be thoroughly impressed that in addition to keeping people’s lawns spic-n-span, they had expanded their horizon to deal with something far more sinister.

  • SomeGuestGuyIGuess

    What type of education do hackers now en days have anyways to be able to pull off this stuff?

  • Lolk

    Fuck wikileaks. Not good at all. Fail.

  • Cem620

    I know alot of people like bashing lawyers, but you would not want a world w/o them. I graduated law school more than 40 years ago and when I practiced I was associated with political lawyers who only took cases they wanted to. Despite this, I think you must keep in mind that a lawyer only says what you (or they) would say if you were a lawyer.

  • asdfjkl

    That is not true. They did hack legitimate websites for a reason. They do not harass people for no reason. Get your facts straight.

  • Babderted

    Anoymous are about to get their just deserts and their names address and personal details are going public to including their own sexual preferrencs.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000154885738 Galoise Encore

    To this date have the FEDS even cared to go after Freedom?!? Answer: NOPE! heck they have the tools #opdarknet has & MORE! Yet they would rather come after u for some bs!

  • http://www.facebook.com/TheKraken93 Cody Daniels

    You people are stupid. These “Anon” guys replying to your posts are posers. They don’t ever admit to being a part of Anon. That would just be stupid. -.- it’d be awesome if people started getting smart about shit.

  • BReal

    Wikileaks is an awesome idea. No idea why the general population would be against it. Isn’t transparency a good thing in society?

  • BReal

    People forget that Anonymous is not a group, but a gathering of individuals. This was the right thing to do. I don’t care if it is illegal.

  • Anonymous :10231101

    good job fellow anon’s :)