Iranian hacktivists hand-crank DDoS attack

The controversial outcome of the Iranian elections has spawned a parallel conflict on the internet. The cyberconflict is more akin to hand-to-hand fighting than the more sophisticated botnet-powered assualts that have accompanied political conflicts involving Russia and its neighbours over recent months. Cyber attacks against …

[David Hicks]

That's why you run the PHP script

That doesn't rely on the browser. Of course the PHP interpreter could be buggy.

I'm also not sure that putting exploits on the Iranian government websites would be the best PR for the government, but then who knows whether that's a concern.

[Ian 11]

Hacking TV stations

If it really is possible to hack TV stations externally like many cyber-war fantacists suggest then now would probably be a good time to do so and broadcast the poor Iranian girl who got shot to the Iranian people.

That'll quickly show them what their government is like.

[Aaron 3]

Public relations?

I tend to think putting basiji snipers on rooftops to shoot kids down in the street means the Iranian government is not especially concerned about public relations at this time.

[ElReg!comments!Pierre]

Re:Public relations?

"I tend to think putting basiji snipers on rooftops to shoot kids down in the street means the Iranian government is not especially concerned about public relations at this time."

Why, Israel have been doing that a couple times per week for the past 20 years, and their PR strategy is still very efficient... maybe -just maybe- it depends on which images are shown?

[Bounty]

actually

"I tend to think putting basiji snipers on rooftops to shoot kids down in the street means the Iranian government is not especially concerned about public relations at this time."

I think they are exactly concerned with public relations. Shooting citizens, but not openly on TV means the news spreads by word of mouth. It will spread and it will bring fear. But you can't prosecute based on word of mouth, plus it has the element of exaggeration. The other countries are afraid to do anything, and soon the local Iranians will be to afraid to protest as well.

[Chris C]

re: That's why you run the PHP script

Wget is also useful for downloading web pages. I myself have used it to download pages which I suspected were redirecting users to malware sites, and for downloading pages at those suspected malware sites for confirmation. There was no way I was going to visit those pages with any browser, no matter how secure it may appear to be.