so....is hacking 'in' at the moment?

[ccarter84]

Richard Hayes Phillips - Had site attacked & taken down by Hackers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x135451

Bev Harris - Hacked?
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/11/1706648.php

Jeff Fisher at some point thought he might have been hacked.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=65488&mesg_id=65488

Mitofsky's server 'went down' for an hour+ on election night....

Anyone have more recent examples? or experiences they can reference?

[New Earth]

1. Randi Rhodes board hacked too?

sure looks like it was.

[Philostopher]

2. I don't have a link ...

but a couple of weeks ago, late on Saturday night, the Democracy For America site also was taken over -- the DFA URL brought up a Paintshop Pro image of a swastika with somebody's e-mail address for several hours. A few of us here e-mailed DFA's webmaster and she got right on it -- I don't know when it went down, somebody pointed it out around midnight, and by two-thirty it was supposedly back online.

[tk2kewl]

3. you think we would get caught if we hacked the electoral college vote?

:shrug:

[jhgatiss]

4. No kidding!

Why didn't WE have hackers on this on November 2nd???? :)

[ccarter84]

5. I woulda liked to...but was busy trusting the democratic process

dang

[jhgatiss]

6. Next time you might want to...

spend your time renting Hackers or something! ;)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. We didn't?

Hmmm...coulda fooled me. Ours were just a better class. More technical.

Remember the problems with the site? The forum wackiness? Word is that it was a DOS attack, due to massive requests for images on the site.

[tk2kewl]

16. test

[farmbo]

8. "HACK THIS...A**HOLES!!!

The NY Times is running the Triad story tomorrow!

[Patsy Stone]

9. Has it ever really gone 'out'?

It's a timeless classic; like the Little Black Dress. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. You mean one of them black, stretchy things...

That start out the size of a cocktail napkin?

I used to have a girlfriend in Pittsburgh that wore one. Nothing underneath. Healthy girl too. Funny thing is that when she wore it, a lot of guys came down with neck fractures.

I never could figure that out.

[Patsy Stone]

15. LOL -- Heatlhy... n/t

[ccarter84]

13. ok, i'll second that if my girlfriend doesn't mind

[skids]

11. I'm not naming names...

But in some cases, and I won't say which ones, it is people using software they don't understand, goofing up, and being paranoid when they do not understand why things aren't working anymore. Not that I blame them. In some other cases, it is people being attacked by the most trivial and basic of methods (DoS), making lots of adjustments to deal with the attack, and in the process damaging their own system.
In still other cases, I don't know.

But in general, I would encourage folks to start taking security of their computer seriously. This is a problem that extends way beyond us, rather a nationwide pandemic, but it especially applies to you if you intend on doing activism that may be controversial, you should be thinking about the safety of your computer, and for that matter, yourself.

1) Use a more obscure, less common, web browser except when you run into a site where it doesn't work.

2) Use a text-only email agent that doesn't automatically display graphics.

3) If you don't need anything that cannot be accomplished with an old, outdated windows box, downgrade to 98SE or 95B. You are less likely to fall prey to the "hack of the week" that way.

4) If you dare, and have someone willing to hold your hand, ditch Windows entirely. A friend or relative that uses Linux can probably set you up with a system that does the basics and help you learn the ropes enough to get email, web, and word proccessing working. Which is all most people use.

5) Make backups. Regularly.

6) If you are going to have a new webpage hosted, choose a provider that uses SSH protocol and administer it only over SSH.

7) Replace your home wireless network with a hardwired network. Or if you know someone who's a pro, get them to lock your wireless network down with encryption.

8) Even if you have only one PC, install a router/firewall between it and your cable modem.

[ccarter84]

14. All good tips

I'm working on the backups this week, good ol cd-rw's

[jhgatiss]

12. I've always thought hacking was in!

I've always been disturbed by the little bits and pieces around the edges that havent been explained (the exit poll server crashing, the screen captures of Ohio on election night that had odd numbers, the comment by Judy Woodruff on election night about New Mexico's numbers "jumping"). Combine that with these more "fringe" allegations by Madsen, Curtis, and Fisher and you see where things POTENTIALLY could have happened. Then the exit poll discrepency just fuels the suspicion. I am now uneasy about the latest remarks by Cobb yesterday as to the "fix" being in on the recount as well. Its very disconcerting.

I think voter suppression also played a role in the Bush victory for sure. Although we have had some red herrings along the way, Dixiecrats and Cuyahoga numbers most notably, I think we're focusing in more on what happened. There were also undoubtedly some mistakes that happened more out of negligence than malicious intent. There were also some that could have been both, like higher loss of ballots in Montgomery county or the so-called "caterpillar" ballot in Cuyahoga county. However, I think these were smaller movers in the hundreds of votes. Voter suppression is unquantifiable, so that leaves hacking, especially in the tabulators, as the key question to address.

[Kota]

17. I think Deans site had swaztika placed over it.?