Politico: Sarah Palin-friendly websites attacked (Updated)

New attacks come just one day after SarahPac site was hit
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Just one day after Palin’s own site was briefly taken down by hackers, Conservatives4Palin and Tammy Bruce's site have been similarly attacked, Politico's Andy Barr is reporting:

“Conservatives4Palin.com has come under cyberattack yesterday and today,” said Conservatives4Palin’s Tim Lindell.

Visitors to the site on Thursday afternoon saw the page turn all-white with a brief line of text: “This site is currently off air for essential maintenance.”

Additionally, the site of conservative radio host Tammy Bruce — herself a firm Palin supporter — went down Thursday. Bruce wrote on Twitter that her staff believed the site, which came back online later, was “under attack.”

Neither the two Palin-friendly sites nor Palin’s team would speculate on whether the incidents were connected.

"At this point I cannot determine who is responsible for the attack, whether this is a coordinated attack against Palin bloggers or if it just happens to be a coincidence," said a source affiliated with Conservatives4Palin.

C4P was in the process of migrating to a larger capacity server when the attack came. The website had just changed blogging platforms several days earlier.

Update: Good news! C4P should be back up in just a matter of minutes.

- JP

Sarah Palin Cyber-Attacked by Wikileaks Supporters in 'Operation Payback'

SarahPAC.com, the Palins' personal credit cards targeted
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Jake Tapper at Political Punch reports that Gov. Palin told ABC News in an email today her political action committee's website and personal credit card information were cyber-attacked by Wikileaks supporters:

Hackers in London apparently affiliated with “Operation Payback” – a group of supporters of Julian Assange and Wikileaks – have tried to shut down SarahPac and have disrupted Sarah and Todd Palin’s personal credit card accounts.

“No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange's antics,” Palin emailed. “This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.”

Palin has criticized Wikileaks founder Assange, writing on Facebook that his “past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders?...Assange is not a 'journalist' any more than the 'editor' of al-Qaeda's new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist.’ He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands."

Activist Gregg Housh told the New York Times "that 1,500 people were on online forums and chatrooms including Anonops.net, mounting mass and repeated 'denial of service' attacks on sites that have moved against Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks in recent days."

A cached page from Anonops.net shows Palin's site as a suggested target.

A SarahPAC.com technical aide said that “on our server log this morning it showed the attacks coming from a browser identified as wikileaks.org. It has since spread to others entitled ‘anonymous.’”

Added SarahPAC aide Rebecca Mansour, “the governor voiced her opinion knowing full well that she was speaking out against a shady disreputable organization with no regard for laws or human life. This is how they operate. The world should not be intimidated by them.”

Mansour pointed out the hypocrisy of Wikileaks supporters who claim to be “in favor of free speech yet they attack Sarah Palin for exercising her free speech.” She added that SarahPAC.com was not harmed because Gov. Palin’s staff was able to move quickly to protect the site.

Sean-Paul Carroll, a threat researcher at PandaLabs, the malware detection division of Panda Security, confirmed that the SarahPAC website was down for about six minutes.

- JP

Day By Day (December 7, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.



Support Pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Sarah Palin questions Obama Admin's competence over Wikileaks 'fiasco'

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On Facebook, Gov. Palin poses some questions for the Obama white House about the latest Wikileaks document drop:

Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco

We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications of leaked classified U.S. documents through the shady organization called Wikileaks raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco.

First and foremost, what steps were taken to stop Wikileaks director Julian Assange from distributing this highly sensitive classified material especially after he had already published material not once but twice in the previous months? Assange is not a “journalist,” any more than the “editor” of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a “journalist.” He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?

What if any diplomatic pressure was brought to bear on NATO, EU, and other allies to disrupt Wikileaks’ technical infrastructure? Did we use all the cyber tools at our disposal to permanently dismantle Wikileaks? Were individuals working for Wikileaks on these document leaks investigated? Shouldn’t they at least have had their financial assets frozen just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organizations?

Most importantly, serious questions must also be asked of the U.S. intelligence system. How was it possible that a 22-year-old Private First Class could get unrestricted access to so much highly sensitive information? And how was it possible that he could copy and distribute these files without anyone noticing that security was compromised?

The White House has now issued orders to federal departments and agencies asking them to take immediate steps to ensure that no more leaks like this happen again. It’s of course important that we do all we can to prevent similar massive document leaks in the future. But why did the White House not publish these orders after the first leak back in July? What explains this strange lack of urgency on their part?

We are at war. American soldiers are in Afghanistan fighting to protect our freedoms. They are serious about keeping America safe. It would be great if they could count on their government being equally serious about that vital task.

- Sarah Palin

- JP

Gov. Palin: Wikileaks is 'aiding/abetting the enemy'

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Sarah Palin condemned Wikileaks on Twitter Friday morning for 'aiding/abetting the enemy':

Wikileaks staff-whomever's calling the shots there is unconscionably aiding/abetting the enemy;don't contribute to this. Speak out. Do right

Wikileaks: w/freedom comes responsibility.Free press protection gives no license to aid enemy;consider our own troops sacrificing for you...

The individual tweets are here and here.

- JP