Anonymous

Arstechnica has gone through the trouble of testing Anonymous-OS - a live bootable Linux distribution which the “official” Anonymous group has denied having any affiliation with.

Anonymous hackers have released their own operating system they're calling "Anonymous-OS". According to The Hacker News, the distribution is based off Ubuntu 11.10 and includes some pre-installed applications including:

- ParolaPass Password Generator

- Anonymous HOIC

- Ddosim

- Pyloris

- Slowloris

- TorsHammer

The Vatican has confirmed that its website has suffered a second attack in a little under six days however declined to comment further on the event.

The Anonymous hacker collective claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, which cut off access to the Vatican website for several hours and also tampered with data on the Vatican Radio computer system.

Here's something for you to think about: Was the arrest last week of the five LulzSec members just part of an intermediate stop gap in the pursuit of a far more prominent fugitive, namely Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks? 

Following the revelation last week that LulzSec's so-called leader was in fact working for the FBI for a number of months to help turn in other top ranking members, Anonymous has since distanced itself from the disgraced former member, calling the FBI arrest “a favor” while promising to continue its campaign of hacking.

Tweeting via one of its official Twitter accounts, the group told its followers to “be evasive” while at the same time issuing a warning to all authorities that seek to apprehend them.

Back in December of last year when Anonymous hacked into security think tank Stratfor, one of its claims was the theft of 200GB worth of data, including e-mails and client credit information.

Now, the FBI saying that between December 6, 2011 in February 2012, “at least $700,000 worth of unauthorized charges were made to credit card accounts that were among those stolen during the hack”.

Symantec can confirm that the source code for 2006 versions of Norton Antivirus posted by Anonymous is authentic.

In turning one of its best-known hackers into an informant and breaking open the highest profile elements of the Anonymous movement, authorities have dealt a serious blow to a group they found a growing irritant.

But as the broader "Anonymous" label - complete with its iconic Guy Fawkes mask imagery - is used by ever more disparate causes worldwide, it may be all but impossible to shut it down for good.

Jeremy Hammond, one of the five hackers arrested two days ago in the crackdown on key members of LulzSec and Anonymous, is no stranger to the law and has been described by his mother as "genius with no brain".

Court documents released earlier this week show that the 27-year-old Chicago native was arrested several times over the past few years for hacking activities, protests, mob action and other charges. The picture that emerges of Hammond is of an individual committed to a variety of activist causes with little concern about their potential consequences.

At the large public housing project in New York City where he lived, outsiders knew him as a quiet family man. But federal prosecutors say Hector Xavier Monsegur was an internet saboteur known as Sabu.

During the Arab spring, prosecutors say he hacked into government websites in Tunisia, Yemen and Algeria. He helped coordinate attacks on credit card companies after they refused to accept donations to Wikileaks. Then, they said, he added another layer to the subterfuge by informing on his accomplices after he was caught by the FBI last spring.