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Anti-Sec spoof threatens s'kiddie mayhem

Interweb will be punked rather than pwned

Pranksters have latched onto Anti-Sec's quixotic crusade against full disclosure of security vulnerabilities by impersonating the group in a threat to unleash an OpenSSH exploit.

The impersonators threatened to release details of an unpatched vulnerability in OpenSSH, followed by worm code hours later. A post on a full disclosure mailing list expressed the supposed hope that the code would allow s'kiddies to attack systems and make security defenders look like chumps.

Indeed the security world at large would quake at (fake) Anti-Sec's power, the pranksters boasted in the style of a comic strip supervillian.

Soon, the very foundations of Information Technology and Information Security will be unearthed as millions upon million of systems running ANY version of OpenSSH are compromised by wave after wave of script-kiddie and malicious hacker.

Anti-Sec’s manifesto calls for "eliminating the security industry in its present form". The group previously said it was against sites that publish full disclosure material on security vulnerabilities.

Responding to questions from El Reg, the impersonators first claimed their latest actions might appear to go directly against aims stated only last week. Minutes later they admitted the whole exercise was a hoax.

Lulz it was a pretty good joke eh? Anti-Sec is awesome because we can make jokes under its name. whoever Anti-Sec is are awesome.

Whether Anti-Sec reciprocates these feelings remains unknown but we'd suggest the odds are against it. The prank illustrates the potential pitfalls of an anonymous internet campaign on the web. ®

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