Anonymous launches WikiLeaks inspired HackerLeaks site

By Jeff Hughes Published June 30, 2011

A new website launched by a sub-group of Anonymous aims to provide hackers with a central way to publicize the documents they steal. The HackerLeaks website is modeled on WikiLeaks and says it will provide a secure and anonymous way for sensitive information to receive “the maximum exposure possible in order to achieve the most profound political impact”.

The site launched June 25 and was created by a group spawned in 1985 called the People’s Liberation Front (PLF). This hacktivist group is known for attacking the government websites of countries like Tunisia, Iran, Egypt, and Bahrain alongside AnonOps. Commander X, a founding member of PLF and part of the reason HBGary was hacked, has said that the group is like a scalpel for Anonymous—fast and precise.

Recommended Videos

Now these elite hackers are hoping that HackerLeaks, along with another .tk site they launched geared towards insider whistleblowers called LocalLeaks, will encourage scoops on par with WikiLeaks. The elusive Commander X told Forbes’ Andy Greenberg that though hackers use sittes like Pastebin to publish information, Anonymous and the PLF are in a better position to expose the sensitive data because of their media connections.

Commander X, who currently acts as the editor in chief for both sites, says, “We just wanted to make our own offering, compete in the disclosure marketplace and maybe fill a unique role if we can.”

HackerLeaks’ first anonymous submission was a list of Orlando officials’ personal details on Tuesday. The list included income, home values and other data. Hackers have been hitting Orlando-based targets this week because Orlando non-profit workers were arrested for handing out food to the homeless. The data was taken to show that the the people enforcing the law against the poor were obnoxiously rich.

We’ll have to wait and see whether hackers decide this to be a useful service. “You download it, we’ll disclose it for you,” the site’s homepage reads.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.