In a moment where I cannot help but to laugh the beleaguered president of Syria had his staffers email hacked according to an article that was posted on the Israeli news site Haaretz. The hacktivist collective Anonymous is receiving credit for this breach. [Mail 1, Mail 2 (.pdf)]
Finally, a hack I can get behind.
From Haaretz:
The attack took place overnight Sunday and the target was the mail server of the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs. Some 78 inboxes of Assad’s aides and advisers were hacked and the password that some used was “12345”. Among those whose email was exposed were the Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Fadlallah Azzam and Assad’s media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban.
What do you want to bet that somewhere in Damascus there is an IT support worker lying in the street with his brains getting a tan after this one? Heaven forbid a body like the Syrian government take responsibility for their own actions so, enter the poor IT worker.
As Assad goes about merrily butchering his own citizens I cannot be surprised that his staffers were dumb enough to have such terrible passwords. With Assad’s staffers email hacked I can only hope that some gems will be found.
To add insult to injury his media advisor had emailed talking points for the interview with Barbara Walters. Example,
Jaafari also recommended that Assad say: “Syria doesn’t have a policy to torture people, unlike the USA, where there are courses and schools that specialize in teaching policemen and officers how to torture.”She advised using Abu Ghraib in Iraq or execution via electric chair as more examples.
Assad instead skipped right past torture to outright carnage.
A closing thought,
Assad’s TV interview with Walters was memorable for his repeated denials that Syrian citizens were being killed. “We don’t kill our people … no government in the world kills its people, unless it’s led by a crazy person,” Assad told Walters.
A crazy person you say? Do tell.
Source: Article Link
(Image used under CC from Publimetrocol)