Friday, January 21, 2011

Got $500? You Can Buy a Hacked U.S. Military Website

Robert McMillan writes on ComputerWorld:

If you're a criminal looking for full control of the Web used by the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), you can get it for just under US$500.


At least that's what one hacker is offering in underground forums. Security vendor Imperva found the black market sales pitch Thursday and posted details of the incident on Friday.


The hacker says he has control over a number of websites, including other military sites, government sites, and those belonging to universities, said Noa Bar-Yosef, Imperva senior security strategist. Prices range from $33 to $499, depending on how important or widely used the website is. "You can actually buy the capability of being the administrator of the website," she said.


The hacker is also selling databases of personal information he's stolen from the websites for $20 per thousand records, she said. That data could be used by spammers, or by fraudsters to break into online accounts.


More here.

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