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Hackers Attack Nobel Peace Prize Website

Telenor the Norwegian telecoms operator reported on October 26, 2010 that cyber attackers based in Taiwan had hacked into the website for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thus, when people visited www.nobelpeaceprize.org they potentially pulled down a computer Trojan onto their systems. This Trojan, which's hard to detect, lets hackers gain access and control over the infected PCs.

Said detection executive Einar Oftedal at Oslo (Norway)-located Norman ASA, attackers compromised the Nobel Peace Prize's official website namely nobelpeaceprize.org. More specifically, they hacked into the website and injected an inline string into it which carried an Iframe that connected with a remote malevolent server. Armed with a multi-exploit element, this Iframe generated attack codes for Firefox, particularly an active attack code for Firefox 3.6.11. The Register published this in news on October 26, 2010.

Reportedly, representatives of Mozilla substantiated that there was "critical vulnerability" inside the open-source Firefox Web-browser versions 3.6 and 3.5.

Stated Frank Stien of Telenor who looks after computer security, it wasn't possible to say who the hacker was and what were his motivations. AFP published this in news on October 26, 2010. Stien further stated that the ultimate Internet Protocol address the hacker used was at Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University; however, it was possible that the attack emanated from somewhere else since hackers generally worked with multiple PCs for keeping their traces hidden.

In the meantime, according to the security researchers, the current incidence is the first one lately where attackers have abused a security flaw within Firefox that isn't patched. They perpetrate the majority of 0-day attacks on Microsoft programs, Adobe Flash Player or Reader, and somewhat on Oracle's Java.

As per the Nobel Institute situated at Oslo, it was aware of the hack, however, stated that the website had been restored for usual functioning. States Sigrid Langebrekke of the Institute, the site is now safe to visit as the trouble has been sorted out. AFP published this on October 26, 2010. Meanwhile, to safeguard themselves, Web-surfers can wholly disable JavaScript alternatively load the NoScript extension, which lets them regulate sites that can be allowed for using JavaScript.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

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