Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

[Schuyler]

Proxy IP addresses are being disseminated to Iranian protesters to keep them in touch with the outside world via twitter. Originally they were publicly broadcast, but the Govt. quickly started monitoring twitter so now they are sent privately to individuals who can spread the word in Iran.

No idea how anyone on here feels about any of this, but if you're interested in helping:

http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/1...s-for-windows/

be well

[Chris]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Proxy IP addresses are being disseminated to Iranian protesters to keep them in touch with the outside world via twitter. Originally they were publicly broadcast, but the Govt. quickly started monitoring twitter so now they are sent privately to individuals who can spread the word in Iran.

No idea how anyone on here feels about any of this, but if you're interested in helping:

http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/1...s-for-windows/

be well

Let's be careful on this thread and not drift into the realm of politics.

[Schuyler]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Let's be careful on this thread and not drift into the realm of politics.

Agreed, I don't think the thread even needs to grow. I don't care to offer any personal opinion either, just provide the link and people can do however they like.

[bjaming]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

couldn't they just use tor? :shrug:

[theprez98]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

couldn't they just use tor? :shrug:

Wouldn't they just block all Tor exit nodes?

[bjaming]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

yeah they could, they could also block 3128 for squid (didn't notice if the instructions included changing to port 80 or 443 so don't kill me)


edit-sorry meant 443

[xor]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Source CNN:

Briton’s software a surprise weapon
Posted: 01:33 PM ET

By Peter Wilkinson
CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) — A Web designer in London was amazed to discover that Iranian election protesters are attacking the Iranian president’s Web site using software he developed in his spare time, he told CNN Wednesday.

With anti-government activists in Iran sidestepping official attempts to silence them on the Internet by posting photos, videos or words on sites like Facebook and Twitter, others are hitting back by using a site that automatically refreshes a Web page every few seconds, potentially overloading the host server.

The page reboot software means that dissidents can attack sites with a barrage of hits — known as a denial of service attack — causing them to appear to users as “unobtainable.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Web sites was one of those displaying that message on Monday, according to Britain’s Channel 4 News, although on Tuesday it was loading correctly.

The freely available page refresh site was partly developed by Ryan Kelly for use with sports results sites and eBay. He said he was unaware it was being used by Iranian protesters until Tuesday.

xor

Nice; Hack The Planet!!!!

[xor]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

http://www.pagereboot.com/

http://www.channel4.com/news/article...t+wars/3215337

xor

[C-Rex]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

I'm interested in any thoughts on whether or not DDOS attacks against Iranian gov websites is a good idea?

For instance, this live blog at the huff post asks...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_215189.html
Also, for the computer security experts out there: reader Chas notes, "there seems to be a raging debate as to whether the DDOS attacks on government websites screws up bandwidth and make it harder for ordinary Iranians to connect there." Would love some informed opinions on this topic.

Thoughts?
I'm very inclined to just start doing this, heh. Exciting stuff coming out of Iran. Amazing raw video.

[g3k_]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

I'm interested in any thoughts on whether or not DDOS attacks against Iranian gov websites is a good idea?

For instance, this live blog at the huff post asks...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_215189.html
Also, for the computer security experts out there: reader Chas notes, "there seems to be a raging debate as to whether the DDOS attacks on government websites screws up bandwidth and make it harder for ordinary Iranians to connect there." Would love some informed opinions on this topic.

Thoughts?
I'm very inclined to just start doing this, heh. Exciting stuff coming out of Iran. Amazing raw video.

Just the bandwidth for the government webpages. Unless they had the services they use to block on the same network... Dunno how advanced Iran is...

Anonymous is jumping all over this: http://iran.whyweprotest.net I wonder if they are doing DDoS as well. /b/ is raging as usual, but its /b/.. they always rage.

tl;dr no, ddosing the govt websites should not affect bandwidth for other users as long as they don't have retarded network technicians.

[streaker69]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

IMO, attacking the government sites probably isn't a good idea. Since all they'd have to do would be to pull the plug completely on internet access, which chances are the government there has the ability to do. Then no information would get in or out except for the sparse few that have alternative connections.

[xor]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Just to be clear, my comment "Nice, Hack The Planet" was referring to the beauty of unintended consequences. Here we have a simple tool designed to get futbol scores and ebay stuff and it's turned into a DDOS weapon. It has got to be the definition of hacking.

xor

[xor]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Framing this in a security context.

If you were in charge of the Iranian government InfoSEC Office and a foreign government behind their embassy walls started broadcasting out free public Wi-Fi, or similar wireless technology to facilitate the unfettered flow of digital data what could or would you do to stop it?

xor

Or we could flip that around and ask if you were a foreign government with an embassy in say Iran and you wanted to help facilitate the unfettered flow of digital data out of the country what would you do as embassy Infosec staff? Sort of like Voice of America, only for data transfer.

[Thorn]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Framing this in a security context.

If you were in charge of the Iranian government InfoSEC Office and a foreign government behind their embassy walls started broadcasting out free public Wi-Fi, or similar wireless technology to facilitate the unfettered flow of digital data what could or would you do to stop it?

Put the onus on my subjects, er, citizens and suddenly make the use of WiFi devices illegal. Hey, if the government can revoke all press credentials overnight, then they can make WiFi device possession illegal.

Just like in WWII, possession of certain radio equipment was prima facia evidence of being possession of a radio receiver capable of receiving (or especially sending and receiving) certain frequencies known to be used by the opposition.

Or we could flip that around and ask if you were a foreign government with an embassy in say Iran and you wanted to help facilitate the unfettered flow of digital data out of the country what would you do as embassy Infosec staff? Sort of like Voice of America, only for data transfer.

Well, you could offer high powered cellular and WiFi connections (or even Bluetooth) that then link to satellite. Anything that will connect to phones/handheld devices and then out to a connection not under the control of the government. The biggest problem is that most services end up going into the local phone system somehow, which places the government in a position to cut it off. If you can make the international hop so that they can't touch it, then you could ensure that the man in the street could be heard. Two problems arise from that: First, bandwidth. How many connections can you handle? Second, the government is apt to see this as direct outside interference to an internal matter, no matter how many excuses are thrown out. No doubt, they would at least jam all frequencies in the area of the embassy, if they just didn't attack the embassy outright. Considering that in the past such actions contributed to putting the present governmental structure in place, this isn't something that they might avoid doing.

[b0n3z]

Re: Proxies for the Iranian Dissidents

Originally Posted by Streaker69
IMO, attacking the government sites probably isn't a good idea. Since all they'd have to do would be to pull the plug completely on internet access, which chances are the government there has the ability to do. Then no information would get in or out except for the sparse few that have alternative connections.

Having been in the middle east, it wouldn't surprise me to see people with their own personal connections running over their.

I saw satellite dishes all over the place in Iraq, so I wouldn't be surprised if Iran has/had the same set-up.