
Operation Shock and Awe - DDoS operation set up for major bitcoin sites - Jach
http://pastebin.com/QAPxhEbP
======
ChrisNorstrom
Hold Up.... Quick question. How is the price of bitcoin suppose to fall to 1BC
= $30 when they're going to DDOS all the exchanges except for BitStamp?!
People can't sell their bitcoins and cause a devaluation if they aren't able
to login. A tiny percentage of bitcoiners actually have auto-bidding set up,
and if BitStamp is the only one up, won't it get flooded with traffic and
possibly go down too?

Anyway, assuming this is true....

I guess this will finally show how self regulation doesn't work when profit is
the motive. Then again, this leaking is proof that at least one individual is
attempting to self regulate.

This is the very thing that will scare people further away from Bitcoin.
Knowing it's this easily manipulatable. Knowing Reddit I'm pretty sure they'll
try to spread the news of this as far as the internet reaches. However most
bitcoin owners will never find out.

I guess in 24 hours we'll see if it works or not.

~~~
runarb
<https://www.bitstamp.net/> is down ( just getting a CloudFlare error ), so
looks like they can't rely on BitStamp for this operation at list.

~~~
codeulike
Bitstamp: "We are under attack. Will be back as soon as possible." 12:25 UTC
<https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/326295596963090432>

~~~
kalmi10
It seems someone doesn't want this operation to commence.

------
InclinedPlane
Sort of a side note: does anyone have any insight into law enforcement
activities related to DDoS / zombie networks? It seems like this problem has
been growing out of control and nobody in government cares even the slightest
bit about it. Yet if you download academic articles that are already
ostensibly in the public domain then you can easily raise the ire of the
criminal justice system at the federal level.

~~~
foob
_It seems like this problem has been growing out of control and nobody in
government cares even the slightest bit about it._

What are you basing this on? Take a look at this:
[http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-
internat...](http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-
international-law-enforcement-disrupt-international-organized-cyber-crime-
ring-related-to-butterfly-botnet)

I believe that the Microsoft DCU has also worked with the government on a
number of botnet investigations and takedowns. Rustock and Bamital come to
mind without googling it but I think there are more than several additional
ones.

------
JonnieCache
Obvious double(?) bluff: the kind of people who really do this stuff would
have access to better ascii art.

~~~
prg318
The art is mangled by pastebin; the raw version looks somewhat more legit:
<http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=QAPxhEbP>

~~~
sturmeh
Well now I'm scared! :P

------
Jach
As seen on Reddit:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1cu4ck/ridiculous_d...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1cu4ck/ridiculous_ddos_operation_set_up_for_monday/)

------
codeulike
This reads more like a thought experiment - to demonstrate what could be
possible - than a real thing or even a hoax. For example it mentions the
potential profit. I'd be more convinced if it were in 1337speak - the
punctuation is far too tidy.

~~~
codeulike
Wait, "Distributed F5"??

------
vbo
The authors could also be hoping the "leak" itself, without actually executing
the plan, causes panic sells by becoming a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.

Also, it seems last night's ddos on mtgox didn't impact the price that much,
at least not as much as previous attacks have, so I'm hoping the reduced
effectiveness of such actions combined with the market clueing up to the ruse
will help stabilise the bitcoin.

------
wuest
Saw this posted by Mikko earlier. It's an interesting ploy, and I'm interested
to see what comes of it. Specifically, I want to know whether the media, as it
were, is going to be willing to propagate this sort of story, even with the
plan being relatively well-known at this point.

Of course, this could be a long play. "Leak" this plan, build confidence that
the media isn't going to propagate false stories, and then when a similar plan
is effected, people are potentially more likely to take this manner of news
seriously.

------
sturmeh
Just so people know, there's no correlation between these documents being
drafted up and the aforementioned operations actually taking place.

It takes a coordinated effort and a mass of resources in order to successfully
pull this off (ignoring the fact that they leaked the document anyway).

It only takes 1 person with a creative mind and a bit of spare time to write
the document up and 'spread' it around, which in itself will cause some panic.

------
macspoofing
So is this a North Korean-style of preemptive attack, tell everyone when
you're going to attack and what you're going to do?

------
RustyRussell
If you had 250,000 BTC to sell, you'd buy some better artwork.

------
_jmar777
Sounds like someone really wants us to all sign up for BitStamp.

Completely unsubstantiated theory: someone figured out how to compromise
BitStamp user accounts, but not enough users yet...

~~~
sturmeh
More like they want you to sell your coins on Bitstamp. (You'll be prepared
for quick pickings! :P)

------
jbr1ght
Looks to me like someone is trying to make this look like a legit secret
bulletin to a hacker group, when actually it's an attempt to provide proof of
the bitcoin flaws.

------
sailfast
Normally if someone has 250,000 of anything it would not be to their advantage
to crash the market before a sell-off. If anything they should prop-up the
currency value with fake press releases as they sell in order to cash out high
and buy back in as low as possible, then write a story about the sell-off to
cause a panic.

That said, I suppose it's also possible that a group would want to destroy the
currency in its current form too, for giggles?

~~~
niggler
It's also possible they have such a low cost basis (remember that it wasn't
that long ago when BTC was less than 1 USD) that 30 represents s massive
profit

------
9mit3t2m9h9a
For the context:

[http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hackers-compromise-ap-
twitter...](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hackers-compromise-ap-twitter-
account)

Fake announcement from AP was pulled off only on Twitter (about explosions in
White House), short-term drop in stocks.

------
Nursie
Does this not just play into the conspiracy theories of the (already
conspiracy theory and delusions of grandeur prone) bitcoin community?

------
Mahn
Wishful thinking, there's no way the price goes back to $30 at the moment. Not
a chance. Maybe in the future, but not right now.

~~~
codeulike
It got down to about $50 last week (16/Apr, MtGox)

~~~
Mahn
Yeah, but that seems to be the maximum bottom of the pit at the moment.

------
Tichy
How would they buy on MtGox anonymously?

~~~
wmf
They wouldn't, but that's not a necessary part of the plan.

------
Prefinem
Seeing as he claims "1,000,000+ compromised machines", my guess is this is
just a spoof.

~~~
Cthulhu_
I don't actually think that's difficult, there's 'commercial' botnets for hire
for an X amount of time for this kind of coordinate attack.

------
loceng
This could be possible though, no?

