British police arrested two teenagers after hackers targeted Scotland Yard's anti-terror hotline and posted a conversation between officials on the internet. A group calling themselves Team Poison claimed to have carried out the cyber-attack in response to the detention of allegedly innocent people on terrorism charges and the recent ruling to deport a number of terror suspects to the US.
The group, which claims to have carried out similar assaults on other organisations including NATO, launched a two day "phone bombing" exercise against the anti-terror hotline, jamming the network and preventing callers from getting through.
It is understood Team Poison used readily available software to bombard the phone line, but routed the activity through a computer server based in Malaysia in order to hide their tracks. The hackers claimed to have exploited a "weakness" in the Scotland Yard's phone system to eavesdrop and record a conversation between officials discussing the incident. These recordings of were later posted on internet.
| He said, "We done it due to the recent events where the counter terrorist command and the UK court system have allowed the extradition of Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdel Bary (sic) and a few others -- we also done it to due the new "snooping" laws where the GCHQ can 'spy' on anyone and everyone |
The caller, claiming to be Robert West, told the official, "I got some terrorism for you here .... our philosophy is pretty simple, it's knowledge is power."
Worse for the security services is the question of how hackers managed to record a conversation between two officials within Scotland Yard discussing the incident.
One operative is heard saying that the anti-terror hotline had been inundated with hundreds of calls from the hackers. In a recording posted on the internet he is heard to say, "We have been subjected to a barrage of calls from a group called Team Poison. We have had about 700 calls over the last couple of nights. One of the conversations I had last night was leaked on YouTube. Everyone else calling was effectively shut out and could not through at all."
One member of Team Poison said, "It was very easy, they were using an old phone system which was vulnerable to a private phreaking method that we discovered.
"The guys at the Counter Terrorist Command are clowns, whilst listening in on them, all they do is socialise and joke around with other employees. But to be honest, they are the real terrorists, imprisoning innocent people without evidence and invading countries for their own benefit."
The alleged hacker claimed the attack was in response to Britain's treatment of terror suspects.
He said, "We done it due to the recent events where the counter terrorist command and the UK court system have allowed the extradition of Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdel Bary (sic) and a few others -- we also done it to due the new "snooping" laws where the GCHQ can 'spy' on anyone and everyone.
"Our members come from all over the world, we have no religion, no race, we are not affiliated with any other groups, we believe in equality for all & we're anarchists."