LulzSec 'Leader' Turns on Fellow Hacktivists: Feds - Yahoo! News

Just like in a hacker movie, one of the world famous hackers is working with the feds to capture other hackers (crackers) .

Six members of the suspected computer hacking groups affiliated with Anonymous were charged -- including the suspected ring leader, who directed the entire operation from a Manhattan apartment complex -- after it was revealed one of the group's most high profile members has been working with federal authorities for months.

Hector Monsegur, a 28-year-old American believed to use the name "Sabu" on the internet, was arrested by federal agents last year and has been cooperating with law enforcement ever since, officials said. He pleaded guilty last August, a plea unsealed in federal court in Lower Manhattan today.

At least at least four of the five other members of the group were arrested recently based on information provided by Monsegur -- one in Chicago and three overseas, officials said. Each were charged with conspiracy and at least two will appear in federal court in Lower Manhattan later today.

Federal officials said they expect the arrests to seriously damage LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, which is also an offset of the hacking group Anonymous.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that the six people charged are allegedly among the most sophisticated hackers in the world. The FBI said motives for attacks varied -- for example an attack on credit card companies was based on the refusal by the firms to process contributions to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, and another attack was simply a way of mocking internet security. The investigation began with a tip last June, officials said.

The group and Anonymous have taken credit for carrying out a number of high-profile hacking actions against companies and institutions including the CIA's website, Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency, Japan's Sony Corp and Mexican government websites.

Last month, Anonymous published a recording of a confidential call between FBI agents and London detectives in which the law-enforcement agents discuss action they are taking against hacking.

READ: Anonymous Listens in on FBI-Scotland Yard Hacking Call

Anonymous also claimed to be behind the electronic theft of thousands of internal documents from the private intelligence analysis firm Stratfor. In charging documents released today, federal officials said that the charged co-conspirators had stolen credit card information from Stratfor employees and clients and made some $700,000 in unauthorized charges.

Earlier this week, a Twitter account connected to Sabu continued to rant against federal agents, supposedly while he was working with them.

"The federal government is run by a bunch of f*****g cowards. Don't give in to these people. Fight back. Stay strong," a tweet from Monday reads.

While Anonymous and LulzSec by nature have no official hierarchy, the user known as Sabu was one of the most vocal and prominent members in online communities. Fox News first reported Monsegur's alleged involvement with the today's arrests.

ABC News' Jason Ryan, Mark Crudele and Lee Ferran contributed to this report.

How to Upload Large Files in PHP (in 4 steps only)

I know this info is like a core-knowledge of PHP programming, but just want to share it with my dear visitors. (Thanks to Sitepoint).

Uploading a file from a web form in PHP is easy. The online manual provides a Handling File Uploads section, and there are several articles on sitepoint.com, including How To Handle File Uploads With PHP by Kevin Yank.

One of the most popular uses is image uploads. Your users can submit photographs from a form without resorting to FTP or other convoluted methods. HTML5 and Flash also permit drag and drop, so the operation is likely to become easier as browsers evolve.

This is where the problems can begin. Camera manufacturers continually brag that they have a larger set of megapixels than their competitors. It’s all rubbish, of course — unless you’re a professional photographer or need to print extremely large images, anything over 4MP is fairly pointless and lens quality is much more important. However, even low-end compacts have 12MP and mobile phones have more than 5MP. The result is that a typical snapshot can easily be 6MB in size.

By default, PHP permits a maximum file upload of 2MB. You can ask users to resize their images before uploading but let’s face it: they won’t. Fortunately, we can increase the limit when necessary.

Two PHP configuration options control the maximum upload size: upload_max_filesize and post_max_size. Both can be set to, say, “10M” for 10 megabyte file sizes.

However, you also need to consider the time it takes to complete an upload. PHP scripts normally time-out after 30 seconds, but a 10MB file would take at least 3 minutes to upload on a healthy broadband connection (remember that upload speeds are typically five times slower than download speeds). In addition, manipulating or saving an uploaded image may also cause script time-outs. We therefore need to set PHP’s max_input_time and max_execution_time to something like 300 (5 minutes specified in seconds).

Megaupload Becomes Another Victim Of Anti Piracy Scheme!!!

Megaupload goes down the drain as well.....

Create Your Own AutoShutDown For Windows

Ever wondered how to auto shut down your PC after long hours of downloads or whatever task that takes a long time to finish (so you can go sleep peacefully without thinking about shutting down the PC manually)???

Well, here's how... 

1) Right click on Desktop, Create New Shortcut.

2) Right click on that new shortcut, and click on Properties.

3) At the link box, type this %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 5400

4) Pay attention: The number 5400 refers to seconds before the shutdown. So please change it according to your needs.

5) Click apply and OK.

6) Double click on the shortcut and the shutdown.exe will be launched with the designated countdown.

Inside the Hive – FREE VideoHive File of the Month – November 09

Blogging about another blog... LoL... here it is... Video Hive's Free Files Blog... really cool stuff!!!

Inside the Hive is the community blog of VideoHive, an Envato marketplace. At VideoHive you can buy or sell royalty free stock footage, motion graphics and complete Adobe After Effects project files. Items are created and sold by a huge community of very talented authors from all over the world!

On the blog we discuss After Effects and production news, site news, announce competitions and lots more. The blog is organized by Topher Welsh, our official VideoHive blogger, but anyone can contribute a post – this is a community blog after all! Contributors get a “Contributed Blog Post” badge on their marketplace account and links back to their VideoHive profile. Find out more about contributing to this and other marketplace blogs in the wiki.

Task Manager Fix - Handy Tool

For those who have common problems on disabled task manager caused by malware... here's a simple solution baby... too simple by the way (why I didn't find it earlier???!!!

Task Manager Fix is a FREEWARE system utility to fix task manager disabled by spywares, trojans and displays error message : “Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator“, which blocks access to Windows Task Manager.

When you try to open Windows Task Manager, by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL the following error often appear:

“Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator“

INSTANT solution to common problem – “Task Manager Not Working”

This error message appears due to restriction placed in the Windows Registry. One can easily enable Task Manager by editing some registry settings. For a normal user editing registry is not easy and a bit risky.

Task Manager Fix is designed to enable disabled Task Manager. Download the FREE Task Manager Fix tool to quickly enable Task Manager. Handy windows system recovery tool to remove task manager restrictions and effective solution to the problem – “Task Manager not Working”.

Server monitor - Android Apps To Monitor Uptime Of Servers

For those who wants to monitor their servers or whatever you want to monitor via public IP, here is a good solution for you on your Android!!! And it also has a simple widget to make sure you won't miss another ping!!!

Provide a widget for monitoring of your servers with ability of manual refresh.
To check the accessibility of server, the application uses one of three protocols: HTTP, TCP or ECHO.

Allows you to use standard ping tools for check any hosts.

Allows receive a list of IP entries for selected host (nslookup like)

Also allows you to check the route to the selected host with help traceroute command. This operation requires the ROOT access and may be not accessible for some devices!

End Piracy, Not Liberty by Google

Seems like the American government wants to land a big hammer on the web.

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

Securing & Optimizing Linux: The Hacking Solution (v.3.0), Free Open Network Architecture eBook

Looking for free Linux Server Administration Books??? Here you go.


"Securing & Optimizing Linux: The Hacking Solution (v.3.0)"

A comprehensive collection of Linux security products and explanations in the most simple and structured manner on how to safely and easily configure and run many popular Linux-based applications and services.

This 800+ page eBook is intended for a technical audience and system administrators who manage Linux servers, but it also includes material for home users and others. It discusses how to install and setup a Linux server with all the necessary security and optimization for a high performance Linux specific machine. It can also be applied with some minor changes to other Linux variants without difficulty.

Offered Free by: Open Network Architecture

Other Resources from: Open Network Architecture

Error 0x80070522: A required privilege is not held by the client.

Just faced this problem in a client's Windows 7 PC. Found this wonderful solution on http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-security/error-0x80070522-a-required-privilege-is-not-held/78cc11ec-c543-418d-9183-131318e9db8a. (I am so tired of all the weird new implementations in Windows 7... T.T)

 

This issue might occur permissions are not set properly for the C Drive.

Make sure that you are logged in as Administrator.

To take ownership of C Drive, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the C Drive and then click Properties.

2. Click the Security tab.

3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.

4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group.

5. Click on Edit and then put a check mark against "Replace all existing inheritable permissions on all descendants with inheritable permissions from this object".

6. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:

This will replace explicitly defined permissions on all descendants of this object with inheritable permissions from C-Drive (C:).
Do you wish to continue?

7. Once the permissions are replaced, click on Ok.

8. Check if you are able to copy, paste or delete any documents now.

OR you can try the steps below

If the above steps fail then you may also want to disable UAC and check if that helps.

1. Click Start, type msconfig in the start search box, and then press Enter.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

2. Click the Tools tab.

3. Click Disable UAC and then click Launch.

4. A command window appears, and shortly thereafter, a notification bubble appears informing you that UAC is disabled.

5. Click Ok and restart your computer to apply the change.