Sicko Hackers

This is just plain sick:

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But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images

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"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation.

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Story is here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/techno...,1449253.story

:mad:

It is another example of the recent trend to attack people by compromising "trusted" websites.

I think i read somewhere the story is a hoax but i could be wrong...

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The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.

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Maybe they were a little drunk and thought it would be funny to pull a prank on them. I'm not saying it's okay be any means, but I got a little chuckle out of it ;) (just being honest here)

I heard they inserted an audio file on the site too:

"Shakin' All Over"

D@m Bustards.

:)

This just in from Reverend Jeremiah Wright- The perpetrators were hired by the US government to increase the profits of the anti-seizure drug companies...

I'll take an aisle seat for chuckling, thanks...

Amusing in a sick twisted way, maybe they wil take the time and upgrade there site, and maybe implement better measures so that something like this does not happen again.. ;)

t34, your avatar.... i can't stop staring..... I...... arrrgghhhhh......

Not funny or amusing at all. It's one thing to poke fun at someone for whatever reason...it's completely another thing to maliciously (they knew what they were doing) attempt to cause harm (induce seizures) in someone. Unacceptable and shameful.

O

I would like to meet one of the members of Anonymous. I would like to make them swallow some teeth. I don't think it's right to attack an organization like that. I don't think anyone should get laughs out of it. Those that do find it humorous obviously don't have friends or family members that suffer from epilepsy. The Epilepsy Foundation doesn't operate to collect a check. They don't try to moderate exchange of information. They only exist to try to help people deal with what can be a very debilitating disease. When I read the article, I think my blood pressure went up to dangerous levels. These guys must be getting bored to wreak havok on a benevolent organization like the Epilepsy Foundation.

I've come back to this thread a few times and have concluded only one thing. I am going STRAIGHT to hell. No passing go, no $200.

The only thing I can say is: That's almost the funniest defacement I've ever see. Almost as funny as when Spec put little pink kitties all over the Malaysian Army's home page. (He had no idea it was a government site)

Hmmm,

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The only thing I can say is: That's almost the funniest defacement I've ever see.

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Strictly speaking it isn't a "defacement".......... if it were I would not have even bothered to comment.

The Epilepsy Foundation must rate somewhere near minus infinity in the ranking of "controversial" websites?

Yet it was compromised? Now, that could have been malware that took over your computer? as it happens it was a juvenile prank..... or so it seems?

My point is that sites that people have grown accustomed to trust are no longer safe? That, to me, is disturbing!

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Almost as funny as when Spec put little pink kitties all over the Malaysian Army's home page. (He had no idea it was a government site)

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Suspicions confirmed............... he didn't even check the quality of his work :lildevil:

I agree, it's shameless picking on people who have enough problems. I'm not sanctioning hacking other sites either, but this is despicable.

JPnyc

To get back to the reason for my post.............. this would be a "trusted site", and it was compromised...... if that had been with a bot or trojan????

That is what worries me. OK, you have "net nanny" or whatever looking after your kids, but what happens if they go to a "trusted site" that has such software injected?

I see this as a pretty major security issue; at least for home users?

:(

yes, but that same issue exists for every major site that gets compromised. As we all know, plenty of them have. I find this one especially despicable because of the nature of the site and the nature of the hack. They left little doubt as to what their intent was, and it was a despicable one.

JPnyc,

This is the problem as I see it: it is "major sites" getting compromised.... particularly charities, as they can hardly afford the IT security guys?

Joe Public "trusts" the major non-controversial sites?

It is a nasty accident looking for a spot marked "x"

:mad:

I agree with that aspect also, and this isn't the first such example. Even sites that can afford proper security have been compromised. Heck, the support forum for the browser I use was compromised last year or the year before and a number of users were infected. Fortunately, I don't visit it often.

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Not funny or amusing at all. It's one thing to poke fun at someone for whatever reason...it's completely another thing to maliciously (they knew what they were doing) attempt to cause harm (induce seizures) in someone. Unacceptable and shameful.

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so phuck Charlie Manson, I'll snatch him out of his truck, hit him with a brick and I'm dancing.

Yes, this is horrible...however...when one is a kid....and these hackers were most likely just that...that 5h1t'5 funny...

Hmmmm,

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that 5h1t'5 funny

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That seems to be a problem with some kids today: they just don't think of the consequences of their actions.

I get bored telling them not to try to circumvent their school's security content filter. If the school has anything like a half decent network administrator, they will get caught and kicked out :rolleyes:

In this case, they should have considered that a seizure can result in death, and that is no way a "reckless indifference" rap........... it's MAN2:eek:

Doesn't look too good on the old resume................... after Bubba has finished with you.:shocked:

That brings me back to what I consider to be the real issue (forget the childish prank) there must be hundreds of thousands of insecure sites like that? Supposing the injection was a rootkit loader rather than a few links?

The link to the story is broken. Did it turn out to be just a hoax and they dropped the story?

Edit: NvM googled

I don't think so, the Chicago Tribune is a respectable newspaper AFAIK?

http://news.wired.com/dynamic/storie...17&reload=true

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/29/h...support-forum/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24510864/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...ciTech_4079730

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Hacke...es-85063.shtml

http://www.examiner.com/a-1380093~Hackers__posts_on_epilepsy_forum_cause_migraines__seizures.html

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Almost as funny as when Spec put little pink kitties all over the Malaysian Army's home page.

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I've shifted focus from doing things like this to this.

I truly hoped that it would have caused zone-h to stop mirroring websites. I'd like nothing more than to see them stomped out for good.

http://www.zone-h.org/

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We are moving our servers, be patient for a few days...
Note:
Yesterday the domain zone-h.org was redirecting to an old defacement page that was still present on our maintainer server, and due to a buggy domain maintenance procedure it took one day to find out the way to have it pointing back to the right domain.
We are phisically moving our servers (by several thousands kilometers) toward their new home, please be patient, we'll soon be back.

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Let me tell you how this is going to play out. They're going to either leave it down (hopefully) for months at a time and it'll die out. Or they'll be back up quickly and I'll start my **** up with them agian... and running the site in general will become to much for them to handle.

Hey! that's some nice timber............. can I have the empty boxes when they have finished?

OK, fill me in, what is it between you and this "zone-h" mob? Last time I looked there I thought it was pretty pathetic............. like "I have defaced the South-East Dadeland Lizard and Terrapin Propagation Society"........... and?

To be honest with you, I thought it was "lame" to put it mildly.

Now, I could see some humour, and even use, if it is defacements of FED sites, because that is an area where taxpayer's money gets spent? Also stores, finance institutions an the like?

I must admit that I never really understood Zone-h :confused: