Global kOS explained

Global kOS
Abbreviation:gKos
Formation:1996
Dissolved:2000
Type:Hacking
Region Served:us
Website:http://gkos.org/

Global kOS ('kos' pronounced as chaos) were a grey hat (leaning black hat) computer hacker group active from 1996 through 2000, considered a highly influential group who were involved in multiple high-profile security breaches and defacements as well as a releasing notable network security and intrusion tools.[1] [2] Global kOS were involved with the media heavily and were interviewed and profiled by journalist Jon Newton in his blog titled "On The Road in Cyberspace" (OTRiCS[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]). The group were reported multiple times to the FBI by Carolyn Meinel who attempted to bring the group to justice while members of Global kOS openly mocked her.[8] [9] [10] The FBI had a San Antonio based informant within the group and individually raided several members after contact with the informant.[11]

Overview

Global kOS were a loose collective of members of other hacking groups active in 1996 who released network and security tools for Windows and Linux. The group did not release exploit code as other groups did, each member maintained their own webpage and often acted individually or with their original group. Global kOS continually reiterated that their goal was entirely about rampaging across the internet and creating as much chaos as they could by releasing automated denial of service tools. The group was humorous and irreverent in interviews and press releases, they and affiliates openly taunted webmasters through website defacements. The group's members hacked and defaced a large number of websites in the nightly hacking contests over IRC on EFNet.[1]

Releases

Up Yours!

Up Yours! the flagship release for Global kOS was an early point and click denial of service tool[20] which helped to spawn the term 'script kiddie'.[1] Up Yours! first appeared in 1996[12] and updated versions were released three times.[9] Up Yours! was the denial of service tool used in the well-documented Nizkor attack.[21] [22] It is believed[8] that the hacker 'johnny xchaotic' aka 'Angry Johnny'[1] [23] used Up Yours! to take down the websites of 40 politicians,[24] [25] [26] MTV, Rush Limbaugh, the Ku Klux Klan, and multiple others. The author claims he came up with the name Up Yours! because he wanted to hear Dan Rather say it on national television.[27]

In print: Book: Hack I.T.: security through penetration testing . 2004. 9780201719567. Klevinsky. T. J.. Laliberte. Scott. Gupta. Ajay. Addison-Wesley Professional ., Book: Investigating computer-related crime . 2000 . 9781420048872. Stephenson. Peter. Gilbert. Keith. CRC Press ., Book: Steal this computer book 3: what they won't tell you about the Internet . 2003 . 9781593270001. Wang. Wally. No Starch Press . and Book: Computer security handbook . 2002 . 9780471269755. Bosworth. Seymour. Kabay. M. E.. John Wiley & Sons .

Members

Membership between Global kOS and other hacking groups of the time is difficult to determine as most members were involved in multiple groups, crossover appears between Global kOS, Technophoria,[28] SiN and GlobalHell[29] (gH).

Affiliated members

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2000/06/web-hackers-200006?currentPage=all vanity fair
  2. http://insecure.org/stf/HackersEncyclope2.0.html Hacker's Encyclopedia
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/19971015025803/http://www.otrics.com/acid.html AcidAngel Interview
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/19970411050103/http://www.otrics.com/h5.html OTRiCS
  5. http://web.textfiles.com/hacking/globlkos.nfo gkos info
  6. http://www.p2pnet.net/people/ John Newton bio
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/19971015025734/http://www.otrics.com/hackr-b.html AcidAngel gets Jon busted
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/19971015025803/http://www.otrics.com/acid.html gKos interview
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/19971015025817/http://www.otrics.com/acid3.html more on AA
  10. Web site: Carolyn and the FBI . 2011-06-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111118053001/http://www.networksplus.net/kelly/gtmhh4.html . 2011-11-18 . dead .
  11. https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/global-kos-63883/#file-808509 Heavily redacted FOIA request
  12. https://books.google.com/books?id=YHfuGXTd45kC&dq=%22up+yours%22+email+bombing+software+acidangel&pg=PA57 investigating computer related crime
  13. http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/miscellany/up-yours-faq Up Yours! faq
  14. http://www.pestpatrol.com/zks/pestinfo/d/digital_destruction_suite_1_0.asp DDS
  15. http://freeibox.info/public_folder/view.php?file=SHARE/ezine/hax/haxo6.txt Hax0r br0s newsletter
  16. http://www.pestpatrol.com/zks/pestinfo/p/panther.asp panther
  17. http://ftp.novell.com/partners/tally/pru/TCAllPrd.txt files
  18. Web site: kos crack . 2011-06-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061127080816/http://www.spywaredb.com/remove-kos-cracking-package/ . 2006-11-27 . dead .
  19. Web site: battlepong . 2011-06-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100118002520/http://www.spywaredb.com/remove-battle-pong-pro-trojan/ . 2010-01-18 . dead .
  20. Web site: earliest reference to Up Yours! . 2011-06-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120325012034/http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/1996-09/msg00590.html . 2012-03-25 . dead .
  21. http://www.nizkor.org/encouragements/up-yours-01.html Automated hate
  22. http://www.nizkor.org/encouragements/up-yours.html Automated hate headers
  23. http://news.cnet.com/Unamailer-explains-bombings/2100-1017_3-258247.html Unimailer explains
  24. http://www.roadnews.com/html/Articles/historyofhacking.htm History of hacking
  25. http://news.cnet.com/The-Nets-most-wanted/2100-1023_3-221580.html The nets most wanted
  26. http://community.emailogy.com/scripts/wa-COMMUNITY.exe?A3=ind9612&L=LSTOWN-L&E=0&P=438630&B=--&T=text%2Fplain FBI response
  27. https://web.archive.org/web/19971015025824/http://www.otrics.com/acid4.html hacked emails sent to Jon
  28. Web site: gonullyourself . 2011-06-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120326002128/http://www.gonullyourself.org/ezines/crh/crh001a.txt . 2012-03-26 . dead .
  29. https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/03/35264 MostHateD to Plead Most Guilty
  30. Web site: Tutorial by Modify . 2011-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060711210405/http://www.biblioteca.co.cr/html/hackwb.shtml . 2006-07-11 . dead .
  31. http://www.antionline.com/archive/index.php/t-254923.html Antionline
  32. http://www.pctools.com/mrc/infections/id/Nuker.BitchSlap/ bitchslap

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