Iranian Hackers Compromised Oregon University Web System

According to some authentic sources, unrest in Iran seemed to be the main factor of Internet attack on the website system of Oregon University on June 24, 2009 that redirected its traffic to a site containing a political message about the Iranian elections.

People, who tried to access the University's web system, were redirected to another site containing 89 words long pro-Iranian message that appreciated the recent elections and warned the US President 'Barack Obama' not to interfere in Iran's affairs. The website said - elections were held in free and fair environment.

The message also says that the US President should focus on his country's economic condition rather than making comment on the Iranian elections.

Diane Saunders, Spokeswoman for the University's Web System, said that hackers broke in the system by exploiting vulnerability in the third party application that had not been fixed, as reported by Redorbit on June 25, 2009.

Although there are possibilities of involvement of young and IT literate Iranian people supporting 'green revolution' campaigns of Mir Hossein Mousavi against the results of recently concluded elections, supporters of Ahmadinejad might have engaged hackers.

However, Oregon University claimed that they waged attacks with an intention of bringing the US to its knees. It didn't think the most skilled and brightest hackers in Iran were favoring Ahmadinejad.

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos, said that it was like graffiti on the subway, as reported by Redorbit on June 25, 2009.

Cluley further added that improperly protected websites were like the blank subway walls on which hackers could post their political messages.

A large number of people in Iran believe that the recently held elections were fixed, leading to huge uproar and rebellion across the country. The outrage prompted people to call on their supporters to attack the government sites so that the traffic inflow on server rose higher than they could sustain.

Moreover, hackers might be using specially designed software to find out vulnerable servers to exploit them easily for carrying out malice activities.

On the other side, Oregon University has been investigating the case to find out the origin of the attack but that will be a hard nut to crack for the authorities as attackers use effective covers to guard their attacks.

Related article: Iranian Hackers Deface Baidu.com

» SPAMfighter News - 7/10/2009