Anonymous Hacking Group Changing Pro-WikiLeaks Campaign

/anonymous-says-ddos-attacks-symbolic-action.htm">Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), which allows users to voluntarily attach their machines to a botnet in order to bombard a chosen site with traffic and shut it down. The botnet then launches DDoS attacks by flooding a site with more traffic than it can handle.

Meanwhile, a recent technological development enables users to launch DDoS attacks via their mobile devices, such as an iPad or an iPhone, according to Panda Security. Users only have to visit a Web page that converts the browser into a pocket LOIC, which subsequently delivers DDoS packets from the device.

However, lately, the group has said that it is looking to go even more low-tech, according to the BBC, with more grassroots -- and possibly legal -- efforts to forward information in support of WikiLeaks.

Anonymous member Phill Midwinter told BBC News, "We don't want to annoy or make life difficult for internet users."

Subsequently, the new campaign, so-called Operation Paperstorm, galvanized volunteers to print pro-Wikileaks posters and post them all over towns and cities. The effort was one of about 10 initiatives that enabled Anonymous to raise awareness about WikiLeaks and U.S. Army intelligence specialist Bradley Manning, accused of leaking the documents, Midwinter said.

"They're examples of how we can use crowd-sourcing to get our message across, without doing anything illegal," he said.

But while some members are taking the campaign down a notch, others are focusing on increasingly high-tech attacks, using open-source methods to incrementally improve LOIC software. Thus far, several programmers have posted improved versions of LOIC on Geeknet's Sourceforge.net website, which ultimately could lead to a more sophisticated tool.

Next: Report Reveals LOIC Traceable

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