Journalists Scrutinize QAnon's Role in Capitol Hill Mob -- And Its Hosting Infrastructure

On Thursday Axios tried to assess QAnon's role in the mob that stormed America's Capitol building:
Adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, who imagine a vast deep-state cabal of pedophiles arrayed against Trump, have for years insisted that a moment of reckoning for their enemies is imminent. QAnon believers have largely accepted that Trump is waiting for the right time to bring a hammer down on his enemies (or already has, in secret). But time is running out. Because Congress was slated to officially certify Biden's victory on Jan. 6, the day became the focal point of a new conspiracy theory — that Trump would, on that date, reveal mountains of evidence of electoral fraud, somehow invalidate Biden's win, and secure a second term.

The catch: That evidence does not exist. Instead, Trump Wednesday addressed the followers who came to Washington by reeling off a familiar list of grievances... Determined to play their part in the foreordained events of Jan. 6, the mob descended on the Capitol... The bottom line: The pro-Trump internet willed into being a siege on the Capitol that successfully delayed the certification of Biden's victory.

But Tuesday, KrebsOnSecurity was already arguing that QAnon's infrastructure might have a legal vulnerability (according to this article shared by Slashdot reader aaltmann):
In October 2020, KrebsOnSecurity looked at how a web of sites connected to conspiracy theory movements QAnon and 8chan were being kept online by DDoS-Guard, a dodgy Russian firm that also hosts the official site for the terrorist group Hamas. New research shows DDoS-Guard relies on data centers provided by a U.S.-based publicly traded company, which experts say could be exposed to civil and criminal liabilities as a result of DDoS-Guard's business with Hamas...

A review of the several thousand websites hosted by DDoS-Guard is revelatory, as it includes a vast number of phishing sites and domains tied to cybercrime services or forums online. Replying to requests for comment from a CBSNews reporter following up on my Oct. 2020 story, DDoS-Guard issued a statement saying, "We observe network neutrality and are convinced that any activity not prohibited by law in our country has the right to exist." But experts say DDoS-Guard's business arrangement with a Denver-based publicly traded data center firm could create legal headaches for the latter thanks to the Russian company's support of Hamas... Hamas has long been named by the U.S. Treasury and State departments as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization. Under such a designation, any U.S. person or organization that provides money, goods or services to an SDGT entity could face civil and/or criminal prosecution and hefty fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million per violation.

Sean Buckley, a former Justice Department prosecutor with the law firm Kobre & Kim... said companies can incur fines and prosecution for violating SDGT sanctions even when they don't know that they are doing so.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.