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REPLY TO THREAD
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Forget everything you know about revolutions.
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Original Message
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Forget everything you know about revolutions. It's all wrong. Fighting a conventional war in an industrialized nation is suicide. Evenif you could field a military force capable of defeating the governmentforces, the wreckage wouldn't be worth having. Think about mortar shellslanding in chemical plants. Massive toxic waste spills. Poisonous cloudsdrifting with the winds. Fighting a war in your own backyard is justplain stupid. Notice how the super-powers fight each other with proxywars in other countries. Sure it might be fun to form a militia and go play army with yourfriendsin Idaho. Got some full-auto assault rifles? Maybe even mortars, heavymachine guns and some anti-aircraft guns? Think they can take out an AC-130 lobbing artillery shells from 12 milesaway? A flight of A-10s spitting depleted uranium shells the size ofyourfist at a rate that makes the cannon sound like a redlined dirt bike? Ashooting war with a modern government is a shortcut to obliteration. Most coups are accomplished (or thwarted) by skillful manipulation ofinformation. There have been a number of countries where tyrants (andlegitimate leaders) have been overthrown by very small groups using masscommunications effectively. The typical method involves blocking all (or most) information sourcescontrolled by the government, and supplying an alternative that deliversyour message. Usually, you just announce the change in government, telleveryone they are safe and impose a curfew for a short time toconsolidateyour control. Announce that the country, the police and the military areunder your control, and keep repeating it. Saturate the airwaves withyourmessage, while preventing any contradictory messages from propagation. Virtually all broadcast media use the telephone network to delivercontentfrom their studios to their transmitters. Networks use satellites andpstn to distribute content to local stations, which then use pstn todeliver it to the transmitter site. Hijacking these phone connections accomplishes both goals, of denyingthe'official' media access, and putting your own message out. In cases where you can't hijack the transmitters, dropping the pstnwill be effective. Police and military also use pstn to connect dispatchcenters with transmitter towers. Recently, many have installed wireless(microwave) fallback systems. Physically shutting down the pstn just prior to your broadcasts may bevery effective. This is most easily accomplished by physical damage tothe telco facilities, but there are also non-physical technical means todo this on a broad scale. Spelling them out here would only result intheholes being closed, but if you have people with the skill set to dothis,it is preferable to physical means because you will have the advantageof utilizing these communications resources as your plan progresses. Leveraging the Internet Most of the FUD produced about insurgence and the internet is focused on"taking down" the internet. That's probably not the most effective useof technical assets. An insurgency would benefit more from utilizing thenet. One use is mass communications. Get your message out to the massesand recruit new members. Another use is for communications within your group. This is wherethingsget sticky. Most governments have the ability to monitor and intercepttheir citizen's internet traffic. The governments most deserving ofbeing overthrown are probably also the most effective at electronicsurveillance. The gov will also infiltrate your group, so forums aren't going tobe the best means of communicating strategies and tactics. Forums canbe useful for broad discussions, such as mission statements, goals andrecruiting. Be wary of traffic analysis and sniffing. TOR can be useful,particularly if your server is accessible only on TOR network. Encryption is your best friend, but can also be your worst enemy. Keepin mind that encryption only buys you time. A good, solid cipher willnot likely be read in real time by your opponent, but will eventuallybe cracked. The important factor here is that it not be cracked untilit's too late to be useful. A one time pad (OTP) is the best way to go. Generate random data andwrite it to 2, and only 2, DVDs. Physically transport the DVDs to eachcommunications endpoint. Never let them out of your direct control. Donot mail them. Do not send keys over ssh or ssl. Physically hand the DVDto your counterpart on the other end. Never re-use a portion of the key. Below is a good way to utilize your OTP: Generate a good OTP (K), come up with a suspicious alternate message(M), and knowing your secret text (P), you calculate (where "+" = mod26 addition): K' = M + K K'' = P + K C = K' + P Lock up K'' in a safety deposit box, and hide k' in some other offsite, secure location. Keep C around with big "beware of Crypto systems"signs. When the rubber hose is broken out, take at least 2 goodlickings,and then give up the key to the safety deposit box. They get K'',and calculate K'' + C = M thus giving them the bogus message, and protecting your real text. Operational Security The classic "cellular" configuration is the most secure againstinfiltration and compromise. A typical cell should have no more than5-10members. One leader, 2 members who each know how to contact one memberof an 'upstream' cell, and 2 members who each know how to contact onemember of a downstream cell. Nobody, including the leader, should knowhow to contact more than one person outside of their own cell. Never use your real name, and never use your organizational alias inany other context. Electronic communications between members should be kept to aminimum. When it is necessary, it should only be conducted via the OTPcipher. Preferably, these communications should consist of not much morethan arranging a physical meeting. Meet at a pre-arranged place, andthen go to another, un-announced place where surveillance is difficult,to discuss operational matters. Do not carry a phone. Even a phone which is switched off can betracked, and most can be used to eavesdrop on discussions even whenpowered down. Removing the battery is only marginally safer, becausetracking/listening gear can be built into the battery pack. If you findyourself stuck with a phone during a meeting, remove the battery andplace both the phone and battery in a metal box and remove it from theimmediate area of conversation. It never hurts to generate some bogus traffic. Gibberish, random data,innocuous stories etc., all serve to generate noise in which to betterhide your real communications. Steganography can be useful when combined with solid crypto. Encrypt andstego small messages into something like a full length movie avi, anddistribute it to many people via a torrent. Only your intended recipientwill have the key to decrypt the stegged message. Be sure to stego somepurely random noise into other movies, and torrent them as well. Hopefully you'll find this document useful as a starting point forfurther discussion and refinement. It's not meant to be definitive, andis surely not comprehensive. Feel free to copy, add, edit or change asyou see fit. Please do add more relative to your area(s) of expertise. -- [email protected]
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