How Anonymous Shut Down Sites

By RIVA RICHMOND
NYT

So how did Anonymous stage its protests against sites it deemed were working against WikiLeaks?

The tool of choice has been a simple open-source software program colorfully named Low Orbit Ion Cannon, or L.O.I.C., that requires no technical or hacker skills to use. All a would-be laser wielder would need do is download the tool, which they can operate manually or connect to “Hivemind,” a control system that make their computers part of a “voluntary botnet” that Anonymous commands.

It’s an interesting vocabulary choice. Most botnets are operated by organized-crime groups who use viruses to install malicious software and then link their involuntary conscripts – in some cases, millions of them – into networks used for everything from spamming to DDoS attacks. Anonymous promised that L.O.I.C. is not a virus and that the chances of getting caught or arrested for using it are “next to zero.”

Some, including Malcolm Gladwell, have noted how little personal risk has been involved in digital activism. But in this case, it may not be without danger. Unless L.O.I.C. users employ additional tools to make themselves anonymous, their I.P. addresses — the numerical strings that identify their computers — are visible, meaning these users can be tracked, according to Dutch university researchers. “The current attack technique can therefore be compared to overwhelming someone with letters, but putting your address at the back of the envelope,” they said. (Indeed, two Dutch teens have been arrested.)

(More here.)