The U.S. Department of Justice still has egg on its face after hacktivist group Anonymous launched ‘Operation Last Resort’ commandeering Federal websites, threatening to release government information, and demanding legal reform.
Late evening Friday, January 25, U.S. Sentencing Commission website was hacked and government files distributed by Anonymous in what the group calls “Operation Last Resort” in response to the recent, tragic suicide of hacktivist Aaron Swartz.
The feds wrestled all weekend with Anonymous to try and regain control of the website. Anonymous had the last laugh Sunday afternoon as they whimsically transformed the .gov site into an interactive video game of “Asteroids.”
Friday: ussc.gov launch of Operation Last Resort
Anonymous first hacked ussc.gov Friday afternoon, but only momentarily with control going back to the feds. Later that night, Anonymous fully commandeered the website and made demands in a massive show of force. The group stated it had infiltrated multiple federal websites over a period of time, and dropped enough technical details to make it clear that its tracks were covered and that it still had access to .gov websites:
Through this websites and various others that will remain unnamed, we have been conducting our own infiltration. We did not restrict ourselves like the FBI to one high-profile compromise. We are far more ambitious, and far more capable. Over the last two weeks we have wound down this operation, removed all traces of leakware from the compromised systems, and taken down the injection apparatus used to detect and exploit vulnerable machines.
Anonymous placed links to encrypted files mirrored on multiple websites on the ussc.gov page. Anonymous Tweeted that the group left a backdoor and made it editable in a way that encourages other hackers to come and shell the server.