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pornographer hacks Al Qaeda

alledanalledan Member Posts: 19,541
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
Pornographer says he hacked al Qaeda
'I wanted to do something ... I know the Internet'
August 8, 2002 Posted: 10:52 PM EDT (0252 GMT)



John Messner put the Web skills he learned in the adult entertainment business to work against an alleged al Qaeda Web site.

From Mike Boettcher
CNN

OCEAN CITY, Maryland (CNN) -- A self-proclaimed Web warrior says he enlisted in the United States' war on terror by mounting an incursion into an Internet site said to be run by al Qaeda.

From his beachfront home, Jon Messner uses his keyboard as a weapon against the enemy's site -- first reported by CNN four months ago -- that posts statements from high-ranking al Qaeda members.

When Al Neda site visitors, whom he says he believes are al Qaeda members, discovered the covert operation, they cried "Infidel!"

Messner 's real job? He runs an Internet porn site.
"I created the amateur housewife-next-door genre," he explained. "I bought a digital camera and convinced my wife to get naked for the Internet."

He decided to turn his expertise against al Qaeda. The organization is led by terrorist Osama bin Laden, thought to be the instigator of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"I wanted to do something and I thought, 'What do I know? I know the Internet,'" Messner said. "I made it my business at that time to do anything and everything I could to disrupt the communications of the terrorists on the Internet."

Messner, using the aggressive tactics he's employed to run his adult site, said he "hijacked" Al Neda for five days and recorded a "virtual who's-who of every hostile message board and site on the Internet."

Traffic to the site increased under his control, most of it coming from Saudi Arabia, he said. The majority of the September 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

Messner said he contacted the FBI and told them he was secretly monitoring Internet activity on an al Qaeda site -- offering an opportunity he believes the FBI neglected to capitalize on.

"We could have put whatever we wanted on their Web site and they would think it was coming from one of their own, not from their enemy," he said.


Like many cracked sites, the new Web page mocks its former owners.
Although an FBI agent did visit him, Messner said, his Web site takeover had been discovered.

"Suddenly a message was posted," Messner said. "It said, 'The infidels have taken over the site. They are tracking you. The man doing this is an infidel, a pornographer.'"

The adversaries retaliated with digital attempts to crash his Web-based business, he said. But Messner didn't mind. September 11 changed him.

His Porsche and its "WIVES" vanity plates memorializing his success in adult entertainment are, he believes, a testament that he and his family are living the American dream. And, in his own way, Messner said, he is fighting an American war.

Comments

  • homer4homer4 Member Posts: 128 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It figures...mot clean enough for Government use.

    "...Abby someone""Abby who"..."Abby Normal"
  • GreenLanternGreenLantern Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That gives me a perfect idea!

    "What's that hon? The new video camera in the bedroom? Oh that! That's just for us to be patriotic and do our part to help the war on terrorism!"
  • NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sounds OK to me!!

    Rugster
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Even pornography has some uses, it seems.
  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    These guys are also known to disguise their own sites as such. I forget what the technology is called, but text is imbedded within photo images on a web site. The normal web surfer only sees the pic, but others who have the specific coding can view the imbedded text. The idea is that their operatives are then able to log on a site from anywhere in the world and receive communications covertly.

    Supposedly the bad guys are using these particular kinds of sites in order to mask sudden flurries of hits from points scattered around the world. After all, it's not uncommon for people to spread the word through message boards or e-mails about some newly discovered posting on a skin site. It's also a multi-lingual subject matter and not unusual for hits on these sites to originate from anywhere in the world.

    Most people don't realize it, but some of sites you go to use this same imbedded text technology. It's used by sneaky webmasters to pull you onto their site. By including multiple key words on a page they're increasing the chances of you finding their site when you enter any of these words in a search engine.

    The bad guys probably think it's ironic that they're masking their jihad directives by capitalizing on our infidel qualities. Don't tell them it's easily compromised.
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