Anonymous

The hacker group Anonymous, which is less a coherent group of people working together toward a common cause than a random medley of hackers out to prank and disrupt the online world, has been busy these days. Multiple hacks on Bay Area Rapid Transit websites in response to BART's shutdown of the railway's underground cellular system have captured the attention of activists and technophiles alike.

For years, few people knew about HBGary Inc., a Sacramento tech firm working on the esoteric frontiers of cybersecurity.

Then a bizarre episode turned the 30-employee firm into a combination global laughingstock and villain.

The ephemeral, anarchic group known as Anonymous is credited with shutting down trains and publishing the personal information of transit police in San Francisco this week. And yet its decentralized nature means there’s little agreement about the organization’s methods.

An attack on Bay Area Rapid Transit websites by the hacker collective Anonymous this week drew international attention for political reasons. But these intrusions are catching the interest of IT pros for professional reasons, since the weaknesses in BART's IT security are by no means unique to the transit authority.

AntiSec is targeting defense contractors again. Continuing their beef with law enforcement, and organizations that offer them support, they have targeted Richard Garcia, the Senior Vice President of Vanguard Defense Industries (VDI). AntiSec plans to release nearly 4,713 emails and thousands of documents taken during the breach.

Hackers launched another online attack Wednesday against a California transit agency that found itself in the middle of a debate about free speech after it turned off cellphone service in its stations last week to thwart a potential protest.

This time, hackers gained access to the website of the union that represents Bay Area Rapid Transit police and posted personal information on more than 100 officers.

ENEMY OF THE HACKTIVISTS, Aaron Barr has raised his head again with his views on the Anonymous collective.

Barr, who worked at HBGary Federal was shamed earlier this year after he flapped his gums about how he had infiltrated Anonymous and how he was about to bring the organisation down. Since that happened, or more precisely since Anonymous found out about this and embarrassed Barr out of his job, he's been pretty quiet.

A few dozen protesters turned out on Monday for a San Francisco rally organized by the hacker group Anonymous to protest alleged police brutality and what they called anti-free speech tactics by authorities.

Bay Area Rapid Transit, the commuter train service in the San Francisco area, shut down cell phone networks in some stations on Thursday to stop a demonstration over the fatal shooting of a man by police last month.

The online band of merry hackers known as Anonymous has decided to join in the spirit of rioting youth on UK street by bringing its own form of non-violent protest to Britsh web properties.

In a missive aimed at "Citizens of Great Britain" (actually we're subjects, guys) the outfit catalogues the crimes of the criminal classes that rule our roost and have begun putting together a list of potential targets, ranging from Barclays Bank through Vodafone, arms dealer Lockheed Martin to the likes of MPs Nadine Dorries and Louise Mensch.

The hacker-activist group Anonymous threatened cyber attacks against the Fullerton Police Department and the Bay Area Rapid Transit system after controversial police confrontations.

The threat to hack the Fullerton police website was in response to the death of homeless man Kelly Thomas during a confrontation with officers. The city deployed its information technology staff to secure computers and electronic communications and monitor the systems for any intrusions.