|
|
||||||||||||
|
[z1] [z2] [z3] [z4] [z5] [z6] [z7] [z8] [z9] | ||||||||||||||||
CyberArmy is a group of netizens who believe in a self-regulated Internet, which is free from external control. We believe in providing tools to assist others who believe in a free Internet - we support Open Source. We campaign against those who abuse the free nature of the Internet. We believe that spammers, child pornographers, Internet scammers, and malicious hackers are enemies of the Internet. We believe that the Internet can be self-regulated, and that we, as equipped and knowledgable netizens, can control and suppress abusers of the Internet, by consolidating together as a united CyberArmy.
CyberArmy is the largest and most effective Internet Freedom organization in the Cyber World. It organises people with devastating efficiency. Any threat to the freedom of the Cyber World is met with our irresistable force. Every month, we recruit more people than the previous month. These people are easily integrated and expertly trained into the CyberArmy, where their skills and ability are focussed by a clear command structure to the best effect. The World knows who we are - as we protect, build, and control the Internet.
Welcome to the CyberArmy. We are a group of netizens with a common interest in Information Security. Some are here with the intent to learn how to penetrate it, others aim to find ways to protect it - we do not discriminate, since we would have no means to determine the real intent of an individual in advance of their actions, in any event. We are 'hackers' - white, grey, and/or black-hat; we focus on information security systems, their defenses, and their vulnerabilities.
We take the Dojo Approach to Information Security training. This approach is founded upon the awareness that people rarely enter a school of the martial arts, with the specific intent to learn cultural philosophy. When people enroll in such a school, it is typically out of a desire to kick some ass. Whether in self-defense, to prove a point, or just to be cruel - people, as a rule, do not join for the philosophical enlightenment. It is not until they have practiced the disciplines long enough to grow confident, that it begins to dawn upon them, not only that they have become capable of fighting effectively, but also that they have learned that it is not necessary, it is not productive, and it is (usually) easily avoidable. So too with a school of 'hacking' - with time and study, most would-be 'hackers' rapidly discover that it is not necessary or productive, and results are far more readily achieved, by honestly re-examining what exactly one wanted, in the first place. Most of the time (as a 'n00b'), if you think that 'hacking' will achieve the desired results, you have lost track of what it is, exactly, that you really wanted.
In the awareness that 'hacking' is a typically anarchistic activity, we have some fundamental beliefs. Among those beliefs, is that rules tend to supplant good judgement - so we do not rely heavily upon rules, but rather, judgment, to rule our community. We believe in some fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of expression, and the right to privacy. We understand that to use these rights in violation of the rights of others - or even to the detriment of others - carries with it the risk of consequences. The possession of rights implies the responsibility to apply good judgment to the exertion of those rights, and it is when people fail to do so, that rules begin to be introduced, to erode those rights, and to replace the vacuum left in place of good judgment. Once rules become what dictates behavior, people tend to cease to apply judgement, and begin to allow the rules to dictate their ethics. That something is not against the rules, does not make it acceptable; rules are to be drawn from judgement and ethics - not to determine them. That one possesses a right, does not imply that one should exert that right indiscriminately, disregarding the consequences to themselves and to others. While we oppose efforts to erode rights, with rules and law, we recognize the need to treat those rights as sacred, not only in defending them, but also in exerting them.
We oppose efforts to restrict creative expression and information. We do not believe in the concept of 'intellectual property'; we believe that "information wants to be free". We believe that copyrights and patents have become oppressive legal devices, which serve to stem the flow of creative thought and ideas, and discourage the development of new ideas. When one can patent the idea of using a laser pointer to entertain a cat, or patent the wheel, the patent office has ceased to be a useful mechanism for protecting the economic value of ideas. When the ingenious creation of a young mind who was frustrated with the inavailability of Unix-like operating systems, can be threatened by a dying monopolistic corporate entity with an ancient copyright, the copyright system is no longer serving the purpose of enabling the development of new ideas. When record companies and movie makers find themselves suing young children for their use of creative works, we are one step away from paying annual license fees on the information that we store in our brains. There has got to be a better business model.
The Internet was formed without government help, and has survived quite well without governmental interference. The CyberArmy believes that we don't need hundreds of Internet censorship, control, and administration laws. Do you know that in many countries (USA included), your long distance telephone calls, and email are filtered through government computer labs (the 'Echelon' organization in the US, Canada, Australia, NZ, and UK), which checks your communication for 'subversive' content? And not just governments. Big business is constantly trying to throw its weight around on the net - bullying small companies on domain name issues, the Music and Motion Picture industries. Recently, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has tried to ban Linux software which plays DVD movies. They don't have much legal or moral authority to ban a piece of software, but unless we band together to fight, we are forced to concede, or face costly litigation, as individuals.
So what about internet abusers? We don't believe in complete deregulation of the Internet - we would be hit with tons of spam email each day and no one with power to stop it. (One questions whether this is the case already, despite masses of encroaching legislation.) But do sick kiddie porn websites, spammers, and scammers justify governments regulating the Internet? That's the common theme to the arguments that they give - in order to stop the abusers, they require access to everyone's privacy (as if such an abuser would even be likely to comply). Governments monitor all email, just in case someone is using email to send kiddie porn. Really, what use have any governments been in stopping kiddie porn, or spam in your email box? They've been useless, and they use this lack of success to justify more and more intrusive tactics, which invade your personal privacy and deny you your civil rights - but do little to defeat the problems that they are ostensibly attacking, with these intrusions and violations. It is often amusing to see governments trying to track down a competent 'hacker'; they are so habitually unsuccessful that it is news, when they actually get someone. The Internet isn't a national thing that can be controlled by national governments.
We believe that Internet users can regulate these people ourselves - and we seek to take action to do so.
Cyberarmy was started by Overlord (who later changed his name to Pengo) as a free webpage hosted on xoom.com, in mid 1998! It was basically a page which had a pile of web tools on it which Overlord used every day (now portal.cyberarmy.site). No one else had that sort of page yet, and all of Overlord's friends on the Midnight BBS started using it quickly as their start page. In about a week until it was getting 1000 hits a day. What is strange is that it only took about 12 hours for xoom.com to delete the site. The site was then donated space by arctik.com and electronicarmy.com. The domain name 'cyberarmy.site' was registered about a month later (late 1998), and Overlord bought some hosting space at hosting2000.com. Overlord asked for permission from the visitors of the site, to put an ad banner at the top of the pages to pay for the hosting, and they thought it was cool. The discussion forums, Top50, and search engines were added. Hosting2000 was excellent, and even though the site was getting nearly 10,000 hits a day, they didn't kill the account.
In early / mid 1999, Overlord leased a RedHat Linux server, and co-located it at Digital Nation. In the picture is the rack of servers co-located there. CyberArmy is one of the RAQ servers. Free homepages were then added to the site, along with the 'Zebulun Challenge' (see below). The visitors to cyberarmy.site now all had different rankings according to skill (as determined by progression through the Zebulun game), and higher ranks got more administrative control over the site than lower ranks. In a sense, the site became self-regulating. CyberArmy also changed, in large measure, from being a 'hacker' related site to being much more of an internet support group.
As of mid 2000, and following articles on MSNBC, CNN, and ZDNet, CyberArmy was getting 100,000 hits per day just on the main pages. The site also hosted around 3,000 free homepages which generated about 20,000 hits a day. CyberArmy has been discussed on CNN and ZDNET news, and was the subject of a Quote of the Year on MSNBC (albeit horribly out of context... :-P). CyberArmy was listed in January 2001 as being around the 2600th most visited site on the Internet.
The new servers: In May of 2001 the cyberarmy website was relocated to a private LAN hosted on donated servers and dedicated 4 Mbps SDSL, where it was hosted for about 8 months, thanks to the kindnes and self-sacrificing generousity of then-Marshal Ion6x. When his resources were exhausted, the site was hosted for a time by MrYowler, and was then shut down for reworking, for several months. When it returned, newer and cooler than ever, it was hosted by Marchon, who continues to host the CyberArmy.net site, today. The CyberArmy administration now has direct physical control over the servers and the CyberArmy network. With the DIY (Do It Yourself) mentality we are building our own infrastructure based on open-source operating systems and software, free from corporate ties. Donations are always welcome to help continue the cause but CyberArmy hopes never to have to charge for it's basic services.
Click HERE to view statistics of the new machines
The CyberArmy is set up as a regular physical army, largely because that was the name that was registered for the site, and people wanted it structured in keeping with the name. At it's peak, the CyberArmy massed over 130,000 registered troops. If you want to make a difference for the web, you can join the CyberArmy.
Troopers must agree to complete all the missions - thousands of troopers all writing to congress, or all getting involved in a specific mission, is pretty powerful! If you enjoy being a Cyber trooper, you may also like to undertake missions to gain rank in the CyberArmy. Set before you are a series of Zebulun challenges. By defeating the Zebulun challenges, you increase your rank. Higher ranks have almost complete control over this website. The first few challenges can be beaten in a few minutes, higher levels can take months to defeat - but most of this website is hidden deep within the Zebulun levels. Higher levels also get more influence in the choosing and running of CyberArmy campaigns. So take the challenge now! Challenges take many forms, including: breaking javascript locks to the next level, talking a password for the next level out of a bot, beating the server in a game of blackjack. Each challenge is designed to test a different 'hacking' skill; emphasis is placed upon breadth of ability, over depth of individual strengths. Higher ranks can suggest missions which the CyberArmy should undertake that fit in with our statement of purpose. Then, the whole officer corps of the CyberArmy can vote on whether we do that mission or not. Higher ranks have more influence, and if the mission proposal is passes, all troopers have committed themselves to completing the mission.
CyberArmy is run by me, the Commander in Chief, Pengo. In the real world, Im a student and also run some university servers and do some coding, etc. For more info about me, read about my beliefs.
As of Mid 2000, I've stopped trying to run this whole site myself. It's way too large now. I've delegated a lot of power to CyberArmy Marshals:
This site has been updated and tweaked yet again, including but not limated to compliance checks and fixes for modern day browsers, resurection of the brigade, missions and voting systems.
This version of the site is now host and operated by:
Commander In Chief TerminalAccess
Location: Lincolnshire, UK
E-mail: admin[at]cyberarmy[dot]co[dot]uk
PGP Key: none
Area of work: redacted
General Information: redacted
Vice Commander In Chief Castadiel
Location: Northamptonshire
E-mail: castadiel[at]cyberarmy[dot]co[dot]uk
PGP Key: none
Area of work: redacted
General Information: redacted
Marshal anomaly
Location: Ohio, USA
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Marshal gothicfreak
Location: Everywhere, USA
E-Mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Marshal n3cro
Location: Oregon, USA
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Marshal 11thangel
Location: USA
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: Redacted
Area of his work: Perl coder, decent (bad) C coder, Math wizard, Unix pro, rarely checks his email.
Marshal A1B4
Location: unknown
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: Redacted
Area of his work: Commander of the Special Operations Division
General information: A really old visitor - since 1998, Perl coder and the inventor of the famous kernelbot (meet him on #cyberarmy).
Marshal chawmp
Location: unknown
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: Commander of Internal Command who makes sure that CyberArmy keeps working, provides member support and also works for CyberArmy improvement
General information: C and Perl programmer, hacked his way to General in October, 2000 and was awarded for Marshal after writing the brigade scripts. He has put more effort into the brigades etc. than can be imagined. He's really one of the biggest talents here.
Marshal defcon7
Location: Canada
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: Redacted
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: General assistance, and also works in CAPF in the Legal Solutions Team, and was C/O of the now-defunct ZJT group.
Marshal Kaladis
Location: Germany
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: Redacted
Area of his work: Commander of the Propaganda Command who cares about external communication, media and the like. He also does some organisation.
General information: Certified TCP/IP Administrator and Internet Security Specialist who improved this site a lot, especially with organisative work.
Marshal MrYowler
Location: USA
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: General stuff
General information: Friendly, articulate and knowledgeable member of the CyberArmy. He knows a lot about computer security, server administration, and networking, and owns one of the servers used by this site, and has 3 eyes.
Marshal TheGame
Location: unknown
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: Redacted
Area of his work: General scripting and coding
General information: Without TheGame, zebulun probably would still be being made. TheGame is a professional Perl coder / Unix administrator, and he has put more effort into zebulun (and zeb database structure) and the wwwboard scripts than can be imagined.
Marshal trapper
Location: unknown
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: Redacted
Area of his work: Commander of the Open Source Institute
General information: Works as mechanical engineer and is a very good Perl coder. He's the founder of the famous hacking, logical and programming challenge Arcanum.
Marshal wa1800z
Location: unknown
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: Redacted
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: general scripting and coding
General information: does quite a bit of misc perl coding, such as the news scripts, poll scripts, etc.
Marshal xenographic
Location: USA
E-mail: Redacted
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: General Assistance
General information: Knows much stuff about anything. Great Perl and C coder and also one of the oldest visitor here.
Marshal Yosh1
Location: Great Britain
E-mail: none
PGP Key: none
Personal homepage: none
Area of his work: Commander of the CAPF (CyberArmy Paedophilia Fighters)
General information: Has been very effective in dealing with child porn on the web...
Marshal ion6ix
Location: USA
E-mail: none
PGP Key: Redacted
Personal homepage: Redacted
Area of his work: Network administration / Security.
undefinedundefinedGeneral information: Former military communicatons specialist who now sleeps in the same room with the cyberarmy servers. Has first hand experience with the bomb.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maj. dnserror)
AzureTai 