Patterico's Pontifications

7/17/2012

“We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency” by Parmy Olson

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:33 am



Last night I finished reading “We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency.” It’s a compelling read and I recommend it. You can buy it here.

There is a relationship between the SWATtings that happened to me, Aaron Walker, Erick Erickson, and Mike Stack, and the story of the activity of Anonymous and LulzSec. But, to my knowledge, the connection is very tenuous, and it would likely be quite misleading to overstate it.

I still remember, vividly, typing this March 6, 2012 blog entry announcing the arrests of top LulzSec members. I actually composed most of the post on my iPhone as I was sitting in a line of cars waiting to enter the memorial service for Andrew Breitbart. After I had parked my car and walked into the service, a friend of Andrew’s told me he had just heard about the arrests, and congratulated me — as if LulzSec had had anything to do with my SWATting. I guess I don’t know for sure if it did or not, but I am fairly certain it didn’t.

Still, the LulzSec members were the HBGary hackers, and the story of the HBGary hacking is fairly intimately involved with Brett Kimberlin and Neal Rauhauser. The story is complicated, but after it was revealed through the HBGary hacking that Aaron Barr & Co. had proposed an unethical course of action that involved personal research about Brad Friedman and Brett Kimberlin, Friedman rushed to throw himself on the cross. Meanwhile, Brad and Brett studiously pretended that they were not practitioners of the very same stalking and thuggery tactics that they pretended to decry. Since that time, Stacy McCain has connected more dots between Neal Rauhauser and the HBGary saga. Then came the Rauhauser/Gaped Crusader connections and the antipathy they “both” showed towards Barr –as well as Liberty Chick, myself, and others whom Rauhauser and Kimberlin tried to smear as associates of Barr’s.

Parmy Olson’s book is critical background for all of that and more. You will learn how Anonymous came to battle Scientology; how “Anonymous” was seen by the media as a self-contained entity coming off the 4chan image board; and how LulzSec’s hackers Sabu, Kayla, and Topiary splintered from Anonymous and drove some of the most spectacular hacks to date.

It’s a gripping read from start to finish, and an important read given the importance of hacktivism to the world we live in.

Here is Olson on the Daily Show:

15 Responses to ““We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency” by Parmy Olson”

  1. Good stuff, I’m telling you. It flies by.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  2. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll add this to my must read list for my Kindle fire.

    Dustyn H (e17fcc)

  3. Good timing, I was looking for something to add to my Kindle for an upcoming cruise in two weeks. Done.

    jem (0f6e3f)

  4. This book is a riveting read. I highly recommend it!

    Liberty Chick (b021c6)

  5. I wonder if it ever strikes Anony folks that BK Not only has attempted to use them as his own personal springboard (see that dreadful music video as one example) but that he (and team bk) shares some features of Scientology reactive damage “control”.

    Sarahw (b0e533)

  6. Let’s see, Anonymous vs Scientology. Hummm, I just don’t have a dog in that fight.

    ropelight (ab1ebe)

  7. Yep, ropelight, it’s a pity they both can’t lose.

    Rob Crawford (04f50f)

  8. If we buy this through the link in the post, do you get anything, or is that only for the link on the right, where it says:

    Purchases made through this search function benefit this site, at no extra cost to you.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  9. Scientology would not be all that bad but for the fact that they embrace their rogues. The same is true of anonymous. The same is true of the left.

    Chants (387480)

  10. Chants wrote, Scientology would not be all that bad but for the fact that they embrace their rogues.

    Permit me to doubt.

    ropelight (ab1ebe)

  11. Sammy,

    I made sure the link in the post works too.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  12. Speaking of weird computer stuff, did anyone else get an email today dated 12/31/1969? It went straight to trash. Doesn’t seem to have a subject or anything. So I’m running the virus blocker!

    Patricia (e1d89d)

  13. Neal R. turns up all over the place when reading about Anonymous. aintrocketsurgery has an IRC log which seems to suggest anons think NR is CI for the feds.

    BTW th3j35t3r.wordpress.com has tons of info on LuzSec as well as some schadentastic doxing.

    Observer (594c14)

  14. jonhacc@yahoo.com is an awesome hackert helped me hack my ex boyfriends facebook and email.found out he was cheating.quickly dumped his ass.no wi am free he was kind of cheap too and worked fast.hope he can help you too

    duni steler (98f2cc)


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