FBI, cops arrest suspected Filipino terror hackers

[samsungster]

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MANILA, Philippines—A group of suspected Filipino hackers allegedly financed by a Saudi-based terrorist cell was arrested by agents of the Philippine National Police and the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) disclosed on Thursday.
The Filipino and American operatives working jointly arrested on Wednesday night four suspects and confiscated computers and telecommunication equipment believed being used by the suspects in their hacking activities, CIDG director Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. said.
The group was allegedly behind attacks on the US telecommunication firm AT&T that resulted in $2 million in losses to the company in 2009.
In a statement, the CIDG said the group also had links to the Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Roundup
Armed with several search warrants, members of the CIDG’s Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division (ATCCD) and FBI agents struck at several target areas in Metro Manila to get at the suspects.
ATCCD chief Senior Supt. Gilbert Sosa identified the suspects as Macnell Gracilla, 31, a native of Carmen Rosales, Pangasinan and resident of Unit 5, Montiville Place, Greenville Subdivision, Sauyo, Quezon City; Francisco Manalac, 25, and his live-in partner Regina Balura, 21, both of 89 Sampaguita Extension, East Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City; and Paul Michael Kwan, 29, of 21 Hebrew St., West Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City.
Sosa added that Kwan had been previously arrested in 2007 by Philippine authorities following an international crackdown launched by the FBI against “suspected terrorist cells involved in financing terrorist activities.” It was not clear from the CIDG statement why he was released.
He said the FBI had been investigating the “incessant hacking” of telecommunication companies in the US and in the country since 1999 and had uncovered a paper trail consisting of various bank transactions linking the local hackers to the Saudi-based cell, whose activities include financing terrorists.
Sosa said that in 2007, FBI operatives arrested Pakistani JI member Muhammad Zamir in Italy.
Zamir’s group, which was later tagged by the FBI as the financial source of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, in November 2008, was also the same group that financed Kwan’s group of hackers in Manila, he said.
Sosa said Kwan and the other hackers in Manila were being used by Zamir’s group to hack into the trunk-line (PBX) of different telecommunication companies, including AT&T.
“Revenues derived from the hacking activities of the Filipino-based hackers were diverted to the account of the terrorists, who paid the Filipino hackers on a commission basis via local banks,” he said.
After Zamir’s arrest in 2007, a Saudi national took the helm of the operation of the group, which also maintained its link with the group of Filipino hackers based in Manila, the CIDG said.
Paging Congress
In March, FBI authorities requested the CIDG-ATCCD for assistance after they found that the group of Filipino hackers was the same one that had been targeting AT&T.
Pagdilao said the arrests of Filipino hackers tied to a group involved in financing terrorist activities should serve as a wake-up call to legislators to hasten the passage of the Cyber Crime Prevention Bill now pending in Congress.
That bill, he said, would “address proactively the threat of cybercrime terrorists who have made the country their base of operations.”

http://technology.inquirer.net/6413/...error-hackers/

[JcBoY]

Excerpt from The Bangsamoro Blog:
FBI and RP POLICE ARREST TERRORIST-LINKED CHRISTIAN FILIPINO HACKERS « The Bangsa Moro blog

Combined US FBI and Philippine police agents arrested 4 people – all Christian Filipinos – with an alleged link to a supposedly terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah (J.I.) of Indonesia, for hacking the American telecommunication giant, AT&T.

As usual with this terror-related stories spun by the US, the four young Christian Filipino “hacker-terrorists” are involved in a sinister international web of terrorist organizations. The Filipino group is allegedly being financed by a “Saudi-based terrorist group and that these young computer wizards are being paid by alleged terrorist Muhammad Zamir.

Zamir is a Pakistani who is allegedly with the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Zamir was reportedly arrested in Italy in 2007 yet he was also said to be responsible for the funding of operations for the Mumbai bombing in 2008. And now, Nov. 2011, the American FBI and Filipino police arrested 4 Filipinos and accused them of being paid by Zamir, who was arrested by the FBI FOUR YEARS ago.

Really, Mr. Zamir must have a lot of money. Strange, though. He has been arrested in 2007 for financing terror operations yet his bank accounts had not been frozen such that he is still free to fund bombing operations from Mumbai to Manila?!

Doesn’t really makes sense. But at least, these are NOT, repeat, NOT Muslims or Moros. Ooops, what does that make of the PROFILING system of the CIA/FBI?

As was discussed in the Republican presidential debates on Nov. 23 and supported by all the presidential candidates except for Ron Paul, according to CIA profiling, terrorists are usually “young Muslims”.

Really, those who believe in the terror stories of the CIA and FBI and Philippine police / military could only be children or adults with childlike intelligence who are fascinated with James Bond-like stories.

[PR0CESS0R]

Dilikado pasudlon ni sila sa AT&T para dili na sila mang hack

[inxss4]

mao gyod.....maau kay nakit-an ni sila......

[waterboy0911]

actually naay mga freelancers nga mo hack ug VOIP worth US$300 per account.. usally kung kabalo lang gyd mag hack ma abtan na nimo ug 300 account in one attack.. mga cebuano ni hap.. hehehe

[J.Abz]

ok ra na uy.. at least makabaw ang mga kano nga ma exploitan ghapon diay ilang systems..

they think their networks cant be exploited because their in 1st world and we're still in 3rd world...

hehehe they better think twice again in underestimating 3rd world countries...

[salbahis]

there is no such thing as secured system.... the only time you can say secure if its turned off and unplugged...

[p26]

I agree w/ Salbahis. If their system is secured, it will only be secured for a short time. Hackers only need 'time' to break their system's wall. Best way to secure a system is to shut it down w/ no network & power cable attached.

[tophat]

try and try again until you succeed!

when finished, pass your paper...........

[æRLO]

Kaning modus sa Jemaah Islamiyah, dugay naman ni. kusog2x kaayo na ilang hacking activities sa SE Asia--aside from their bombings, extortion and other terror plots. Grabe sad, kaabot man ilang activities across Saudi Arabia. ga-lisud siguro ang mga terror cells didto.