A global network accused of Internet attacks against perceived WikiLeaks opponents has a link to B.C.
One of the eight Internet Protocol (IP) addresses -- the unique identifiers assigned to computers -- hosting a website used to dispense instructions on how to electronically attack perceived opponents has been traced back to Frantech Solutions, based in Greater Victoria, according to five pages of an FBI affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun website ( thesmokinggun.com).
Following WikiLeaks' highly publicized release of diplomatic cables in late November, U.S. companies including PayPal, Visa and Master-Card decided to suspend the whistle-blowing website's accounts, citing the continuing investigation against the organization.
In response, groups of WikiLeaks avengers -- collectively working under the name "Anonymous" -- organized Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against the companies.
DDoS attacks typically involve overwhelming a company's server with external requests, thereby rendering it unable to respond to legitimate requests.
The attackers, who described themselves as "average Internet citizens," organized and recruited via several Twitter accounts -- such as @operation_ anon, @anon_operation and @ op_payback -- until several of those accounts were suspended as well.
Participants recruited on Twitter were directed to a server at irc. anonops.net,hosted by the eight IP addresses, then instructed to download software designed as a network stress-testing application to take part in the DDoS attacks.
According to the affidavit, members from the RCMP and Saanich police department spoke with Frantech Solutions representative Francisco Dias, who confirmed the company ran a virtual server assigned the IP address in question, but said the server itself was housed at Hurricane Electric in Fremont, Calif.
At around the same time, a separate investigation by Germany's Federal Criminal Police (BKA) found that other commands to launch denial-of-service attacks on PayPal had come from an IP address assigned to a Texas-based company that hosts servers.
The FBI raided the Texas firm on Dec. 16, according to The Smoking Gun, which uses Freedom of Information requests to obtain material from government and law-enforcement sources.
During the Texas server-farm raid, FBI agents reportedly copied two hard drives, but "court records do not detail what was found on those drives, nor whether the information led to a suspect or, perhaps, a continuing electronic trail," according to The Smoking Gun.
The FBI probes are continuing, and are being coordinated from field offices in California.
