Copyright defenders use illegal DDoS attacks against file sharing websites

ungovernable · 21 september 2010

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-out ... es-100905/

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In recent years, technical anti-piracy enforcement has taken a less aggressive approach to that previously demonstrated by the infamous MediaDefender. But now, according to a company being hired to protect Bollywood blockbusters, if BitTorrent sites don’t cooperate by taking down torrents when asked, they will have denial of service attacks launched against them and material taken down by force.

While anti-piracy actions had grown steadily more aggressive, it still came as a bit of a surprise when it was revealed in 2008 that a DoS-style attack had been launched against Revision3′s BitTorrent tracker.

Founded by Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson of Digg fame along with David Prager of TechTV, Revision3 serves up around 6 million downloads per month. However, their whole operation was turned upside down two years ago when the now-defunct MediaDefender abused Revision3′s tracker for their own ends and when denied access “threw an epic tantrum” which took down the whole site.

Since the demise of MediaDefender, anti-piracy companies certainly haven’t gone away and some have still resorted to DoS-style attacks. Trident Media Guard, the French anti-piracy outfit selected by the music and movie industry to track down French pirates under the new ‘Hadopi’ law, was recently spotted trying to pointlessly smother a user sharing via BitTorrent.

Most groups working in this field keep their techniques private but as we shall see, that’s not true for all of them. According to an India-based company working on behalf of Bollywood studios, there are a number of techniques they can use to deal with movie piracy, from the gentle to the particularly aggressive.

According to Girish Kumar, managing director of AiPlex Software – a company recently hired to combat piracy on the movie My Name is Khan (which trended at #1 on KickAssTorrents earlier this year) – they begin with a simple notice and takedown.

“When we detect a website offering a link or a download, we contact the server hosts and intimate them about the illegal activity. They issue a notice to the site owner,” Kumar explains. “If the site owner does not comply, the site is either suspended or dismissed,” he adds optimistically.

When a copy of the movie Peepli Live appeared on the private Desi tracker ICTorrent on August 13th 2010, AiPlex promptly ordered it to take down the torrent.

Although it’s reported that the site complied, TorrentFreak checked and the file is still there along with several others added in the past few weeks.

“The problem is with torrent sites, which usually do not oblige,” acknowledges Kumar. But AiPlex, which charges between $4,290 and $8,580 to ‘protect’ movies for a four-week period, have other tricks up their sleeve.

“In such cases, we flood the website with requests, which results in database error, causing denial of service as each server has a fixed bandwidth capacity,” Kumar reveals. And it doesn’t stop there.

“At times, we have to go an extra mile and attack the site and destroy the data to stop the movie from circulating further,” he adds.

Given the nature of these pretty outlandish admissions, TorrentFreak contacted AiPlex (who confusingly list ‘Bram Cohen’ as a type of torrent client on their site) for comment but at time of publication we had received no response. We also contacted the administrators at ICTorrent but they were equally silent.

Although it’s long been suspected that ‘dirty tricks’ have been employed by anti-piracy groups in the past, it is very unusual for a company to openly admit using these type of techniques against torrent sites. Should AiPlex offer us a statement, we will update this post accordingly.

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http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-bos ... im-100912/

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Anti-Piracy Boss Denies DoS Attacks, Torrent Site Refutes Claim

Anti-piracy outfit AiPlex Software made the news last week when its boss was quoted in the press admitting that his company launched DoS attacks against uncooperative torrent sites. Although the reports and quotes were quite specific, the company is now trying to distance itself from the claims. However, correspondence obtained by TorrentFreak shows another side to these unorthodox Bollywood anti-piracy enforcers.

“When we detect a website offering a link or a download, we contact the server hosts and intimate them about the illegal activity. They issue a notice to the site owner,” said AiPlex Software’s Girish Kumar a couple of weeks ago. “If the site owner does not comply, the site is either suspended or dismissed.

AiPlex, a company working for Bollywood studios and charging between $4,290 and $8,580 to protect a movie, go further than your average anti-piracy outfit when people don’t co-operate with them.

“The problem is with torrent sites, which usually do not oblige,” said Kumar. “In such cases, we flood the website with requests, which results in database error, causing denial of service as each server has a fixed bandwidth capacity. At times, we have to go an extra mile and attack the site and destroy the data to stop the movie from circulating further.”

Understandably there’s a bit of a ‘wow factor’ associated with these claims, not least that carrying out DoS attacks against sites is a criminal offense in many countries around the world, even if you do happen to be working for the all-powerful movie industry.

Although TorrentFreak contacted AiPlex for a comment but never received a reply, others have had more luck. Last week AiPlex contacted the BitSnoop torrent site with a copyright takedown demand for a movie they are protecting on behalf of a studio. In their correspondence, BitSnoop took the opportunity to ask AiPlex about their unorthodox approach to dealing with uncooperative torrent sites. Surprisingly Managing Director Girish Kumar denied the claims.

“Our claim with the Editor [of the publication originally publishing his comments, article still online, unedited] was pointblank that we go an extra mile in identifying the IP addresses & other contact info of such illegal sites & pass such information to the production houses to pursue with the cyber crime police,” he told BitSnoop.

“Further if the govt. provides a permission to cyber police to attack such sites, Aiplex can help the cyber police in providing the technical inputs. That said, one of the common method one can bring down the site is DDOS attack is what was explained. This does not mean that we are doing such illegal activates while we are sending the copyright notices to Infringed sites.”

So given this statement it was quite interesting to speak with the admins at ICTorrent, a private Desi tracker mentioned specifically as an AiPlex target in the original article.

“This company has contacted us 100s of times in the past; None of their emails had a PROPER Copyright Infringement Notice,” TorrentFreak was told. Indeed, we saw copies of several emails where AiPlex demanded proactive action from ICTorrent to remove movie torrents that weren’t even on the site yet.

But scrappy takedown notices aside, what happened when ICTorrent failed to comply with AiPlex’s demands? Did they DoS the site or not?

“Yes, they have done it many times and failed,” an admin explained while showing us an email from AiPlex which stated simply: ict attack on. enjoy

“We have been dealing with this shit since Dec/2009 from them. We usually get attacked Thursday night till Sunday as this is our primetime to release PDVDs. They DDoS attacked us by sending 1 million requests from 10 to 100 IPs, we had to block all IPs. Our servers are installed with all modules so they will block automatically.”

“I have also made a call to the company and had talked to them to stop DDOS attacks,” an admin told us.

TorrentFreak was also shown a particularly surprising email exchange where a member of AiPlex’s staff asked for a copy of a movie due to him being “a die hard fan” of a particular Bollywood actor. ICTorrent refused the request and told him to download it from the site instead.

Another email clearly suggested that money could be made by both parties if an agreement was reached and ICTorrent was “helpful” with takedowns.

ICTorrent also showed TorrentFreak other documents which showed which movie company AiPlex were acting on behalf of, but asked us not to publish them. Yet.

Reading between the lines it seems that ICTorrent want to give AiPlex another opportunity to stop their DoS attacks.

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http://torrentfreak.com/4chan-ddos-take ... es-100918/

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4chan DDoS Takes Down MPAA and Anti-Piracy Websites
Written by enigmax on September 18, 2010

Following a call to arms yesterday, the masses inhabiting the anonymous 4chan boards have carried out a huge assault on a pair of anti-piracy enemies. The website of Aiplex Software, the anti-piracy outfit which has been DDoSing torrent sites recently, is currently down having been DDoS’d. They are joined in the Internet wasteland by the MPAA’s website, also currently under huge and sustained attack.

Don’t mess with the Internet they say. Well, actually stronger terms than that are often used, but the end result is the same. When people get organized on the Internet, very strange and powerful things can happen and in few places can this be more true than on the 4chan message boards.

Sometimes things need sorting out, and what better way than getting hundreds of thousands of anonymous users of this notorious message board to work together to achieve it. If they’re not trying to bring down Scientology, they’re teaching foul-mouthed pre-teen girls a lesson or using their combined forces to destroy the lives of stupid bankers who think it’s ‘funny’ to throw cats in the trash.

Yesterday two new targets hit the radars of ‘Anonymous’, the faceless and powerful hordes who carry out 4chan attacks. The beauty is that anyone can join in the action, 4chan ‘membership’ is not even required. People wishing to participate can simply load up their Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) and enter the IP address they want to attack. The resulting assaults are massively distributed making defending against them almost impossible.

Yesterday’s target one was everyone’s favorite Indian anti-piracy company, AiPlex Software. A completely unknown entity until a couple of weeks ago when they stupidly admitted to DDoSing uncooperative torrent sites (then unsuccessfully trying to backtrack), it seems their rise to fame came at a price.

Following claims that AiPlex had DDoS’d The Pirate Bay, a few hours ago their website was taken down and remains that way at the time of writing. Along with the downtime came this message (pic):

How fast you are in such a short time! Aiplex, the bastard hired gun that DDoS’d TPB (The Pirate Bay), is already down! Rejoice, /b/rothers, even if it was at the hands of a single anon that it was done, even if ahead of schedule. now we have our lasers primed, but what do we target now?

We target the bastard group that has thus far led this charge against our websites, like The Pirate Bay. We target MPAA.ORG! The IP is designated at “216.20.162.10″, and our firing time remains THE SAME. All details are just as before, but we have reaimed our crosshairs on this much larger target. We have the manpower, we have the botnets, it’s time we do to them what they keep doing to us.

REPEAT: AIPLEX IS ALREADY DOWN THANKS TO A SINGLE ANON. WE ARE MIGRATING TARGETS.

While it’s claimed that AiPlex was taken down by a single attacker, the ongoing assault on the MPAA.org website is definitely a group effort. The site was attacked on schedule (9pm eastern time yesterday) and taken down in minutes. It remains down at the time of writing.

Update: After 18 hours the MPAA moved its site to a new IP-address, which means it’s up again. More news coming up tomorrow.

Update: Is the RIAA next?

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http://torrentfreak.com/4chan-to-ddos-r ... re-100919/

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4chan to DDoS RIAA Next – Is This the Protest of the Future?
Written by enigmax on September 19, 2010

Over the last 36 hours or so, the ‘Anonymous’ masses and many unaffiliated sympathizers joined forces to attack the MPAA’s website. Continuing with ‘Operation Payback’, today an attack will be launched on the RIAA. The ultimate in decentralized protests will go ahead and there’s not a lawyer or police force in the world who can do anything about it. Is this the protest of the future?

Yesterday was a rare day when it comes to news connected to The Pirate Bay. Worn out and disillusioned by almost relentless news coverage of anti-piracy actions against the world’s most famous torrent site, Pirate Bay fans worldwide had a news story to celebrate – and not only celebrate but become a part of too, and get a little bit of payback in the process.

Led by the users of the 4chan message boards, a coordinated and massive DDoS attack Friday and Saturday took down the websites of both the MPAA and the anti-BitTorrent AiPlex Software.

As word spread of the attacks, sympathizers who had never even been on 4chan joined the attacks, simply by loading up their Low Orbit Ion Cannons (LOIC) and following some very simple instructions.

According to a flyer being distributed around the net, ‘Operation Payback‘ will now spread to another popular hate figure’s website. At 3pm Eastern today a new DDoS attack will be launched against the RIAA, but they won’t be the only targets. New information suggests that at the same time an attack will also be launched against the UK’s BPI.

TorrentFreak asked the RIAA whether they have taken precautions to deal with the attack, but the organization declined to comment on the issue.
Counter provided by the ‘attackers’

Protesting in large numbers against unpopular entities and activities is nothing new but has traditionally required participants to physically travel to various locations. In the Internet age, however, anyone can travel anywhere in the world to be ‘present’ at any location and make a nuisance of themselves with just the click of a mouse.

With some loose coordination through a community like 4chan, or indeed via like-minded individuals in any other Internet-based community, large amounts of attention can be brought to a cause. So can this type of action gain traction? Well, if nothing else, it certainly can’t be stopped, which raises some interesting points.

While the likes of the MPAA have done fairly well over the years in bringing sites down, the RIAA has chosen to target thousands of individuals with direct legal action instead. While they have largely stopped that now, a new wave of groups are now developing into an even bigger threat.

One of those groups has even enrolled support from a lawyer who has made a career out of stopping people’s right to protest. Trying to do that on the Internet should prove very interesting.

In the home of the RIAA, the United States Copyright Group (USCG) are targeting thousands of BitTorrent users, largely those who use The Pirate Bay, with extortion-like letters demanding many thousands of dollars to make potential lawsuits go away. As recently listed by Slyck.com, this practice is spreading at an alarming rate.

In the UK, home of the BPI who are also in line for attack today, lies a group who have easily done more damage to file-sharers (again, largely those from The Pirate Bay) than their music business counterparts. Just like USCG, lawyers ACS:Law have also sent out tens of thousands of letters demanding cash settlements.

But this is where it gets interesting.

Not only have the practices of ACS:Law warranted the company to be referred to law regulation authorities in the UK, but they have also been accused of harassment, so much so that a rival law firm have offered to represent letter recipients in a group action.

Fighting back, a couple of days ago ACS:Law published a piece on their website where lawyer Tim Lawson-Cruttenden supports the fight against file-sharers and “denounces” claims that the company harassed individuals it sent letters to. As it turns out, Lawson-Cruttenden is an interesting choice of supporter and a character who is reported to have “made a career” of opposing people’s right to protest.

“To his many enemies, Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden is the establishment solicitor who gags their protests,” began a piece in The Independent in 2007. “To his clients, he is legal barbed wire – an expert who can hold back a rabble.”

Apparently Lawson-Cruttenden’s firm has also helped arms manufacturers, GM crop pioneers and animal research establishments get rid of unwanted group attention. With swathes of injunctions obtained through the courts, he has successfully stifled protesters and backed them into a corner.

However, his impressive power has limitations – it’s only effective in the real-life, physical world. If, for example, the RIAA, MPAA or indeed ACS:Law had hired Lawson-Cruttenden to stop the 4chan protests against them, he would be completely and utterly impotent.

No lawyer, no injunction and no police force can stop these kind of attacks from happening and those carrying them out love the sense of power, the sense of payback they provide.

Little wonder that Panda Security have dubbed this weekend’s attacks as “the future of cyber protests“.

Update: RIAA.com went down 5 minutes before scheduled.

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punkmar77 · 21 september 2010

ungovernable · 21 september 2010

it's not a good idea to start DDoS wars with pirates, they're gonna fight back and they have more firepower than the attackers

vAsSiLy77 · 21 september 2010

i am not in love with the sense of power but i guess i have found a new hobby

SurgeryXdisaster · 21 september 2010

hahaha anonymous strikes again

nylonpirate · 22 oktober 2010

this "DDoS war" was begun by the "pirate community". Anti Piracy groups have had to put up with this "annoyance" for years its no wonder they have added it to there toolkit for dealing with torrent trackers. I say annoyance because to the properly ran network with help from there isp that is all a DDoS is. The kind of help a torrent tracker is unlikely to receive.

Anxiety69 · 22 oktober 2010

i like the message, 'let us download shit for free, or we'll fuck up your servers.' pretty cut and dry (and fair) to me

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