Cyprus IndyMedia disabled by right-wing cracker/hacker attack

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Sunday July 03, 2005 02:39 by cyprus indymedia

Two of our three language- branches were attacked by a right-wing organisation and have been disabled since Thursday, Apr. 28th, 2005. Fortunately, the Turkish language branch was not affected and is publishing without any problem

The attack appeared to be a simple defacement of our index pages, replacing the front page of our Hellenic language and English language so that the visitor would only see the image above, the attackers' signature. But the intrusion into our system has left it disabled.
We're working with techie colleagues and allies within the wider indymedia family to fix the problem.
Magnitude of the attack.
Several indymedia sites around the world were hit around the same time, not only Cyprus IndyMedia. The attackers focused on a particular Open Publishing system developed by and for IndyMedia, named dadaIMC.
Politics
The source of this particular attack has been traced to an assemblage of right wing organizations, more specifically to person who is affiliated with those organizations, which have attacked indymedia facilities in the past.
One of them is :
http://www.protestwarrior.com/
Another one, an almost defunct website which serves occasionally as a front, still proudly displays the announcement of a previous attack on IndyMedia: http://www.rightwingextremist.net/main/
The suspect
The suspect is known to us, including name, address, appearance, information on family members, and physical location from where the attack took place. The facility that was used for launching this cracker/hacker attack is a Community College in Plano, Texas, USA. The administrators of the internet services at the College have been notified and are looking into the matter - so far, it looks as if they are concerned about this event, because besides politics, it is a criminal act of serious legal consequence.
The debate
This attack against IndyMedia opened up again the endless debate as to whether it was correct or ethical that our defenders traced and discovered the intruder, and as to whether it is desirable or politically justifiable to request the FBI's help to prosecute the crime and protect us from future attacks.
Ultimately, of course, regardess of what the outcome of the debates will be, either law enforcement will do their job to protect our right to freedom of expression, as it is their highest and primary duty to uphold the US Constitution, or our own forces will deliver some form of Peoples' Justice by any means necessary. Those within and outside IndyMedia debating the issues, may not be aware of the depth of this reality, but whether they come up with an answer or not might become irrelevant: self defense is a part of nature.
We would prefer that those who are currently working within the system of law enforcement deal with it. Otherwise, this opens up the path (and the necessity of ) a Citizens' Arrest, and the question of what kind of Court will hear this case, whether one in Texas or one in the underground.
Petros Evdokas
volunteer, Cyprus IndyMedia