Wikileaks Attack: Not the First by th3j35t3r

When WikiLeaks released another collection of secret U.S. government documents this weekend the site came under attack from a hacker styled th3j35t3r (the jester). In announcing the hit, th3j35t3r tweeted "TANGO DOWN – for attempting to endander the lives of our troops, 'other assets' & foreign relations". A now-deleted tweet clarified that the WikiLeaks hit was a simple denial of service attack. F-Secure's Chief Research Officer, Mikko Hypponen, had this to say about the attack.‎

"It was a weird case," said Hypponen. "Everybody assumed it was some large-scale Distributed Denial of Service attack, but the guy himself says it's not. It's a protocol-based attack from a single source." Hypponen explained that WikiLeaks recovered by changing its hosting providers. At the time of the attack they were hosted in France. Now they're using two different servers hosted by Amazon's cloud, one of which is physically in the United States.

Asked if this type of attack could take down any arbitrary site Hypponen said "We just don't know. The guy isn't giving any details. But over the past months he has been quite successful taking down pro-Jihad forums and such. When he claimed responsibility for WikiLeaks I believed him right away. He had both the knowhow and the motive."

According to Hypponen, th3j35t3r characterizes himself as ex-military and likes to use military terms. His e-mail address is a Russian Hotmail account, but anybody could register for such an account. Hyponnen noted that it might be harder to get details about a Russian account

If you believe that WikiLeaks should be designated as a terrorist organization you may consider th3j35t3r's actions patriotic, even heroic. But if his attack techniques become widely known any web site could conceivably be a target.

About Our Expert

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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