TMZ reporting that Michelle Obama's personal financial information has been hacked!

[mfcorey1]

Last edited Wed Mar 13, 2013, 02:33 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.tmz.com/
UPDATE: Story is no longer available on TMZ.






http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/michelle-obama-hacked-first-lady-doxxing_n_2859700.html


First Lady Michelle Obama is reportedly being counted among the victims in a string of recent high-profile personal security breaches.

On Monday, TMZ first reported that upwards of 12 celebrities and political figures -- like Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Ashton Kutcher and Paris Hilton -- had been hacked. Financial and personal information, including social security numbers, bank accounts, mortgage information and credit card details, were "doxxed" (posted online) to the website Exposed.su by a group of Russian hackers.

Michelle Obama was thrown into the hacking mix on Tuesday, when TMZ revealed the website had published her credit report. Along with this credit report was her social security number, phone number and credit card information. A message on the website reads, "Blame your husband, we still love you, Michelle."

Gawker reported that the hackers also posted the First Lady's Banana Republic and Gap credit card information. (While FLOTUS' bills seem to be in order, Jay-Z allegedly owes $227,115 on his American Express Card.)

[Buzz Clik]

1. Aren't these hackers cute? And we tell them they are heroes.

[graham4anything]

15. +1 Yup. Why have any order at all. A cup of anarchy and chaos all around.

the funny thing is, those that like these type of hackers, want zero looking into them.

Which makes no sense as all people are all people.

[graham4anything]

2. all hackers and leakers should serve time in jail. No tolerance.

Last edited Tue Mar 12, 2013, 02:58 PM - Edit history (1)

edited to say "time in jail"
other was too harsh

[randome]

3. Um, no.

[graham4anything]

4. So you thought Karl Rove and Scooter Libby shouldn't have been tried for Plame leak?

oh, yeah, that one don't count, right?

100% should be jailed forever.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

11. I agree with randome.

Some times the leakers of info do the right thing; especially when they show the evils of what is done in our name or anybody's name.

Now going after the FLOTUS is clearly not one of those instances and should be investigated.

[graham4anything]

19. How does one teach a child good or bad with no guidelines?

Unless there is an election, these people did not get elected to cause anarchy.
In fact these people didn't do anything but cause trouble.

And what if it is everyone personal info?

How does one differentiate?

There are privacy laws.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

52. What would happen to a Woodward or bernstein today or their source Deepthroat?

The USA can go after everybody, aka Bradly Manning, and make extreme examples of them while spying on the general public through the NSA. Neither is right, but sometimes what is prohibited must be balanced by the fact that not everything government does is just, wise or legal.

Going after the FLOTUS is wrong, but is it the same as exposing government cover ups?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

56. I'm not sure that I understand what direction you are going in.

One can teach their children to be good and follow guidelines of a moral and civil society, but a society must also ask that its representatives (see politicians) are good and follow guidelines as well.

Shouldn't the morals of childhood be not just for childhood's sake but a platform for civil society as a whole?


We don't have that in the world of grown ups right now. We have politicians who have lied us into war, tortured, killed and profited from it (see Haliburton, Kellog Brown and Root and Blackwater). We have a program where drones are killing the alleged guilty (in a civil society we're supposed to assume innocence until guilt is proven) and innocent alike.

And who knows what else has been held back from us with regard to not only two fucked up wars, wars to come, the economy, the banks, NSA spying on Americans, murder, torture and number of collateral damage: good people trying to teach their children to be good while a Hellfire missile blows them into bits?

And what if it is everyone personal info? How does one differentiate? There are privacy laws.

There certainly is a difference between exposing the FLOTUS, who some clearly love, and exposing when our politicians or military lie to us (see Pat Tillman). I would actually wish for an army of Bradly Mannings to expose every bad action of this country (USA) if that would exorcise the demons of secrecy, arrogance, pride and malice.

A good parent, a wise parent would teach their children the difference between social guidelines (the structure of a civil society), political dogma (the unbending rule of loyalists, authoritarians and intellectually indolent) and justice (the true definition of society where all are equal and none are either inferior or superior); in the hope that they would grow to be more than an automaton.

[Agschmid]

42. I'd prefer not to be hacked.

I think there should be more general transparency... but the point that when it's a hack in "your favor" is a good hack, but a hack not in "your favor" is bad hack is a valid point for how we do things around here sometimes.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

53. General transparency doesn't exist, and in fact the more the USA

likes to cover its ass the less 'We the People' are allowed to know. That's very dangerous in a democracy.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. is that what they fucking said?

jesus h christ...

[Earth_First]

12. I think your authoritarian viewpoints need to be smacked down by a host of this forum...

Far too long your own brand of Libertarian crackpot theories have been allowed to fester here at DU.

It's long time someone showed you the door.

[Earth_First]

13. I'll alert the response for you... n/t

[graham4anything]

14. So you wanted the leakers of Valerie Plame to get away?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. yes, because that is EXACTLY what the poster said

where the hell do you get this shit?

sP

[JHB]

18. No, but why do you want life in prison for Daniel Ellsberg?

How about the people in the run-up to the Iraq invasion who tried to leak how much the Bushies were undercutting the manpower that the military's figures said it would need for such an operation? They weren't able to stop it, but they tried as best they could short of martyring themselves (or simply getting smeared).

Do you want those people in jail for life?

The nature of the leak matters.

[graham4anything]

21. I don't live in the 1960s anymore. I grew up. I am not a fan of John Dean nor Ellsberg.

But they have made a cottage industry promoting themselves, haven't they?
They keep getting another 15 minutes of fame.

I would rather enjoy Andy Warhol himself.

Don't like Bush? Don't elect Jeb.

[JHB]

24. You're sidestepping: what about evey other whistleblower?

[graham4anything]

26. Do you back everyone telling everyone their SSN? I doubt you do. Neither do I.

This has nothing to do with whistleblowers, and anyhow, there are proper channels.

2 wrongs do NOT make one right. Simple thing one learns in the second grade.

This is private info of private people even if they have a public life.

So if it is okay to release their info(why I don't know), then let's all release all our info.

Why are people who want just the big people to have their info released, the very ones who hate cameras in the streets?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

29. once again...the poster fucking NEVER SAID THAT

for fuck's sake... can't you argue a point without making shit up???

sP

[graham4anything]

36. I never said the poster did. But how does it different from the Valerie Plame leak?

a leak/hack is a leak/hack

It reminds me of the gun issue, when the NRA brings up some minutia soundbyte about the tech points.

I have no computer knowledge.
To me, a leak/hack is a leak/hack, and I don't know minutia.

So how does it differ from Valerie Plame's leak that almost killed her and Joe Wilson?

and asking a question is NOT accusing anyone. It is asking a question.

i don't believe in anarchy.
How many millions/billions of taxpayer money will investigations into this waste?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. your words ...

"Do you back everyone telling everyone their SSN? "

you can't argue a point without making shit up and being so hyperbolic as to be asinine. it is your SOP...

sP

[graham4anything]

43. that is a QUESTION. one that easily is answered yes or no, then one debates the 2nd point

Sometimes people rush to judgement without thinking of all grey areas in something.

Which is why, like librarians say, there are NO stupid questions.


In the heat of passion, one can forget easily, what happened to Valerie Plame

Because of Ollie North and Iran/Contra and technicalities, no one will ever be prosecuted.
Many in the country consider him a hero. Many in the country consider him not a hero at all.

Where does one draw the line?

Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson was an important issue to me.
(Doesn't mean it isn't to anyone else, just that to me (IMHO) one is the same as the other.

So all/nothing, two sides of the street.

I myself would side on the Plame/Wilson side. and not tolerate it happening to anyone for any reason.

And you do know what eventually will happen, taking these things to the extreme, there will be no public internet as we know it today, without common sense right/wrong.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

45. Why don't you get it over with and give us the whole routine? Bring up Nader, Clinton a priest a

rabbi and whatever other shit that is irrelevant to the topic.

[graham4anything]

46. I guess what is really wanted is no dissent and just ayuh! yup! +1, etc.

silly me.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

47. I'd just settle for coherence at this point. And yes, your posts can be very silly. Mine can be

as well but usually my intent is to get people to laugh with me.......

[randome]

48. But you have to admit...

...graham4anything usually gets the most responses in a thread!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

49. Because some of us are either gluttons for punishment or deeply admire performance art. Not

sure yet which is it.

[JHB]

33. Why are you arguing with that scarecrow in a field three hills over?

OP noted a report the MO's personal financial information has been hacked.

You then note that "all hackers and leakers should serve life in jail. No tolerance."

I don't see anyone in the thread defending the release of personal information, yet that's what you are denouncing others for. Are you just knocking over a strawman, or do you really not see the difference between this sort of attack and leaks that expose malfeasance by those in power?

[graham4anything]

38. the law is not flexible to be bent at will. Either something is or something isn't.

and justice is blind.

If one doesn't like a law, then work to overturn it through the proper channels
(in the USA, that is by election).

Trouble with these overseas leakers/hackers is they work under a separate set of laws/rules
depending on their country.

NO country is the US, but the US, and no other country has the exact same rules.

WHy allow someone overseas to in effect, blackmail?

So maybe life is too harsh a word.
But it's just a word.
Some would say these people should not get charged (and anyhow, how does one get someone overseas charged if the country they are in has different rules anyhow?)

I am against the Ollie N's being treated as hero.
For every Ellsberg that is brought up, an Ollie north got off.
Why do you think nothing could ever be done about Iran/Contra or any other thing?
Because people making heroes out of criminals, no matter if they think what the criminal did was good.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

41. you find the law inflexible?

then you've obviously never dealt with it. perhaps you WANT it to be inflexible. but the law is constantly open to interpretation.

sP

[graham4anything]

44. Once someone is let off on a technicality, then it is fair game to let anyone else off

so why didn't Fitz indict Rove?

and why was Iran/Contra, and Ollie able to hoodwink the ACLU into overturning his crimes on a technicality.
Didn't mean he did or didn't do it, but that stopped any/all prosecution in the future of any of that (let alone the later pardons).

Yet people then whine why isn't the family looked into?

Why? Because the ACLU let them all off, doing what the ACLU does, which 90% of the time is a good thing, and other 10% allows the 90% to get off.

At least, that is how I see things.
feel free to differ as always. but don't wonder why nothing is ever prosecuted.

Unless the "good lawyers" adopt the same setting up a technicality as the bad person on trial,
there is no way to convict, and worse than no prosecution is a not guilty one.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

50. even convicted people have flexible sentencing

not in all cases (and most mandatory sentencing is roundly despised) but in many. the law need not be rigid in all cases and i think gaining a conviction in a leak-type case as is being discussed should still have sentencing flexibility... not mandatory LIFE (or mandatory anything).

sP

[graham4anything]

54. I edited #4 to just say "time in jail". Yes, other was too quick to post, too harsh.

I edited to say "time in jail"
other was too harsh

Jail of any time is punishment.

[JHB]

55. Thank you for acknowlegeing you had gone over the top...

...but you're still arguing with a straw man with the "allow blackmail" part.

Let's also note that North didn't become a hero to some due to leaks, its because he wrapped himself in the flag and his uniform and basically told US senators that yes he did break the law but they could go fuck themselves -- and got away with it because the Reagan administration closed ranks, the Democratic leadership didn't want to get into things that would lead to the 2nd republican president in a row leaving office under scandal, because Reagan has lobbied the owners and top editors of the mainstream press heads to get them on board with his agenda (so serious digging by reporters got internal pushback), and finally because his partisan judges threw out Ollie's conviction.

[snooper2]

22. I had to hack into a router in the lab last week...

Good thing you're, wait, GREAT thing you're not in charge

[JHB]

25. Who's "allowing this"?

[graham4anything]

27. What is a router?

[snooper2]

28. It's one of the magical pieces of hardware that enables you to communicate with me

over the Intertubes

it was actually this model

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. pretty toys :-)

[graham4anything]

32. When I was in college, there were no computers

[snooper2]

34. the first digital computers were developed in the early 40's

You can't be that old

[graham4anything]

37. Let me rephrase...they were big contraptions and only one or two open only to majors of that

I used pen and paper

[MineralMan]

35. When I was in college, there was an IBM 1620.

I learned FORTRAN and wrote programs on punch cards, which got handed to a man in a white jacket, who ran those programs. Debugging was hell. The year was 1963. The college was Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The major was Electronics Engineering.

So much for that. I dropped out, joined the USAF, then came back as an English major. Life's funny.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

5. Some nerd is going to have piss running down his leg when the feds kick down his door.

I wonder how long until the same Internet revolutionaries turn him into a hero?

[geek tragedy]

6. Except he's probably in China or Russia.

Those countries very well may give him a medal, in secret of course.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

7. More than likely.

Apparently they also hacked FBI Director Mueller's financial data.

[LiberalFighter]

8. If there is only a link I don't read it.

[csziggy]

59. It only links to TMZ's front page, not the story

So it's not only an uninformative OP, it doesn't even lead to the source.

Here is the story:

U.S. probes hack of credit data on Mrs Obama, Beyonce, others
WASHINGTON | Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:15pm EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that U.S. authorities are investigating whether hackers unearthed and posted online financial information that belongs to first lady Michelle Obama and a variety of celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z.

"We should not be surprised that if we've got hackers that want to dig in and have a lot of resources, that they can access this information," Obama told ABC News. "Again, not sure how accurate but ... you've got websites out there that tell people's credit card info. That's how sophisticated they are."

The FBI and other U.S. agencies said they were investigating a website that posted financial and personal information about Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, other government figures and celebrities.

Some of the information was fraudulently obtained via a commonly used website for consumer credit reports, according to credit monitoring firm Equifax Inc, which said it was launching its own internal investigation.

It was unclear how much of the data, which first appeared on the website www.exposed.su on Monday, was accurate or who posted it.
More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-usa-cybersecurity-hacking-idUSBRE92B12520130313

[swayne]

9. I wouldn't want to be the person(s) who gets popped for this....

If the information on that site is true...and it seems like some of it might be....heads are gonna roll. Most of it can probably be gathered through public records.

This has been happening to regular folks for years. Let's see what happens when it happens to the rich and powerful. I would think that they wouldn't like it that much.

BTW, I went to the website and felt dirty as heck afterwards.

No, I'm not going to post the website here...sorry.

[gvstn]

10. Perhaps

This will give the powerful some incentive to hold the financial companies responsible for safeguarding the personal information that they insist is required to function? Social Security numbers are legally supposed to be between the SSA and the individual. They were never meant to be an identifying number for other financial purposes. The companies that profit from financial services should be responsible for creating and assigning a unique "financial identity number" and safeguarding it from thieves as part of the business contract.


The job of protecting information collected for credit purposes should be that of the credit/financial agencies not the U.S. government.

[Raine1967]

20. This is a big deal:

From the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2291892/Celebrities-hacked-Kim-Kardashian-Beyonc-13-celebrity-victims-hacker.html

The site, which bore an internet suffix originating in the Soviet Union, remained active on Tuesday and bears a quote from the TV show Dexter as the tagline: 'If you believe that God makes miracles, you have to wonder if Satan has a few up his sleeve.'

It appears as if the site is continuing to reveal the details of yet more famous people today. The names of Sarah Palin, Hulk Hogan and Arnold Schwarzenegger were added to the list on Tuesday.

It is also linked to a Twitter account @exposedsu which has text written in Russian in just two tweets posted since Monday.

A rough translation is: 'Hello world, we are exposed. Our goal is to show you all that this is only one of a few tricks up our sleeves.'

.su was a domain used by the Soviet Union for 14 months between 1990 and 1991. It is popular with cyber-criminals carrying out online attacks.

[HappyMe]

30. It was just reported on the noon news

that the hacking may be a hoax. They are looking for the company/people involved.

[randome]

39. Look for a headline story on Breitbart.com on this. Then you'll know it's a hoax.

Last edited Tue Mar 12, 2013, 02:00 PM - Edit history (1)

And put that hair out!!

[Pryderi]

58. Huffpo and Aljazeera are also reporting it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/michelle-obama-hacked-first-lady-doxxing_n_2859700.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/2013312221752189230.html

[RedstDem]

51. Damn I love that women!

I hope she's not broke, not going to look into any hacking crap, cause I'm in love, & wont change a thing!

[Pryderi]

57. HSBC and Banksters! Firing warning shots due to the recent hearings with Sen. Warren. nt