Foxconn is attacked by hackers

DENSELY POPULATED Chinese manufacturing outfit Foxconn apparently has been attacked by hackers, just for the lulz.

A group called Swaggsecurity is taking credit for the attack and released a statement of its intentions as well as its spoils to the Pirate Bay. It said that while others might protest against working conditions at the firm, it was just attacking it out of fun.

"So Foxconn thinks they got 'em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don't know what swagger is. They say you got your employees all worked up, committing suicide 'n stuff. They say you hire chinese workers 'cause you think the taiwanese are elite. We got somethin' served up good...real good. Your not gonna' know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna' crumble, and you deserve it," it says in the lead to the Pirate Bay download that explains its intentions.

"Although we are considerably disappointed of the conditions of Foxconn, we are not hacking a corporation for such a reason and although we are slightly interested in the existence of an Iphone 5, we are not hacking for this reason. We hack for the cyberspace who share a few common viewpoints and philosophies. We enjoy exposing governments and corporations, but the more prominent reason, is the hilarity that ensues when compromising and destroying an infrastructure. How unethical right?"

The group says that to it, and others, the destruction of an organisation's infrastructure is a good thing, because it brings about change.

Swaggsecurity is reminiscient of Lulzsec and the Lulzboat, and uses a similar character in its Twitter profile picture. In its statement it tries to distance itself from 'hacktivism', meaning that like Lulzsec, it is all about mischief and a particular kind of merrymaking.

"This is Swagg Security, we aim to to reshape your perspectives, our perspectives, by the inducing of entertainment," it added.

"A unique approach to spreading a unique philosophy which brings the sought after tranquility. In a way we are "hacktivist", but in our own views we are Greyhats. We believe there is no reality in hacktivism, even with good intentions."

As for Foxconn, hacking into it was not much of a challenge by the hackers' account. Swaggsecurity said that it got in easily but was held back by funding problems. Because of that it has passed on the information gathered to other individuals.

"Of course with funding ourselves we did have our limitations. But with several hacking techniques employed, and a couple of days in time, we were able to dump most of everything of significance," it said.

"We now appropriately give consent to other individuals reading this release, to scavenge through the leaks acquiring usernames and passwords; while attempting to find if they use the passwords anywhere else. Remember damage is bliss."

We asked Foxconn to comment, and it told us, "Foxconn does not comment on matters of internal network security."

We also asked the firm to comment on reports about protests in the US about working conditions in Chinese factories, but we are still waiting for a reply to that inquiry.

While we wait two groups, Change.org and Sumofus.org are getting ready to deliver petitions to Apple stores that make it quite clear what the public thinks. Combined they have about 250,000 signatures, they claim.

"I use an iPhone myself. I love it, but I don't love having to support sweatshops, and neither do millions of other Apple consumers," said Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, executive director of Sumofus in January when it started its campaign.

"The hip, educated market that Apple aspires to corner is largely composed of responsible consumers who don't want to be complicit in sweatshop labor. Apple's attention to detail is famous, and the only way they could fail to be aware of dozens of worker deaths, of child labor, of exposure to neurotoxins is through willful ignorance."

The groups will deliver the petitions to Apple stores around the world. µ