

MI6 defaces Al Qaeda website with Cupcake-making recipes - teyc
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/security/mi6-hackers-hit-terrorist-website-with-cupcakes-20110603-1fk8l.html

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pjscott
Voltaire wrote, "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh
Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."

It looks like MI6 have the same idea, to make Al Qaeda look like a bunch of
chumps in public. This is some quality propaganda, precisely because of how
silly it is.

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mdda
While it's entertaining to think of wannabe terrorists reading materials about
cupcakes, surely this is a missed opportunity?

Wouldn't it have made sense to plant almost-correct recipes for bomb making,
back-doored advice on computer security, and lukewarm calls to Jihad?

(Maybe this has happened elsewhere - and this is just MI-6 thumbing their
noses at the website owners)

~~~
JoeP
The problem I suspect, with only slightly altered bomb recipes, is that you
leave room for experimentation. A potential terrorist could try and work out
how to correctly concoct a bomb after your supplied recipe has failed, he
might even succeed.

Also, explosives by their very nature are unstable and providing a recipe
slightly wrong could lead to premature explosion: 'Great!' you might think
'One less terrorist!' but terrorists don't often operate in seclusion, they
operate in residential areas (look at the London 7/7 bombers, for instance).
Meaning innocent people could be injured by their bomb making.

The deliberately bad computer security advice would seem a better idea, like
'Download the official Al Qaeda security suite! That only COINCIDENTALLY sends
all your personal information and location to the security services!'.

~~~
gaius
It was reported on the news that the 7/7 bombers rejected the use of GPG or
similar as being too imperialist, so they made up their own crypto software
called Mujaheddin Secrets. Only it wasn't as cryptic as they thought!

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paganel
Remember kids, when the civilians hack other people's webservers it's "cyber-
terrorism", when is the Government the one that does it, it's "cyber-warfare".

~~~
ender7
Similarly, when I kill my neighbor I'm a "murderer", but when I kill my
country's neighbors I'm a "soldier". Such distinctions are important.

I would be careful trying to equate hacking into Sony with hacking into Al-
Qaeda.

~~~
furyg3
If you or your country did not follow established protocol and international
law for killing your country's neighbors, you are both a "soldier" _and_ a
"murderer".

Likewise, if MI6 defaces an online magazine without following established
protocol as well as international law, they are engaging in "cyber-terrorism"
in addition to "cyber-warfare".

Such distinctions are important. :)

~~~
Apocryphon
Perhaps there will be a Geneva Convention for cyberwarfare in the future.
Though perhaps a different city for the international protocols to be signed
in is in order.

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blendergasket
This seems to me like spook marketing. They wanted to get in on a little of
the lulz action and dislodge it from its antiestablishment roots.

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MichaelApproved
They shouldn't have sent people to Ellen DeGeneres, who is just a civilian.
Someone might decide to direct their retaliation towards her.

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intended
Is it just me or does this read like a spoof?

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fleitz
If it's a PDF there would be much more insidious things to do like embed an a
tracking pixel. This really doesn't sound like spooks.

I wonder if they inserted any CPA offers into the cupcakes article. This whole
lone wolf thing sounds like the perfect demographic for some online dating
offers.

~~~
phpnode
you can't embed external resources (e.g. tracking pixels) in PDFs, adobe
stopped that a few years ago.

~~~
JoachimSchipper
You'd be surprised at how many totally outdated pirated virus-ridden WinXP (or
worse) installs are still around in developing countries. Sure, you'd only
catch _stupid_ wannabe terrorists, but I suspect that's a rather large
fraction.

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JulianMorrison
Should have used this [http://elainerecipes.blogspot.com/2008/07/bombe-
surprise.htm...](http://elainerecipes.blogspot.com/2008/07/bombe-
surprise.html)

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teyc
Its a nice way of messing around with people's minds. Makes AQ sound like
amateurs... kind of like Sony. (couldn't resist)

