Gaming Sites Under Seizure By False FBI Seal

Hackers have invented a new methodology to corrupt websites. They are employing a fake FBI seizure. According to Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman, late last week, attackers hacked a bunch of websites and then manipulated its content under a U.S. 'Federal Bureau of Investigation' seal along with an 'anti-piracy warning' stating that the law enforcement agency seized the site.

Paul Bresson said that these sites, under the hackers' control were mostly gaming sites. However, he refrained from naming these sites and couldn't say what caused these attacks. He said he was unsure if it had a financial motive.

In some cases, the attackers trying to make believe that the FBI now possessed the websites changed the 'domain name registration' information. Although these attacks were not common, the FBI is worried that its name could be misused any time, says Bresson.

The 'Internet Crime Complaint Center', a joint collaboration of the FBI and the 'National White Collar Crime Center' published a scantily worded advisory on the attacks.

The advisory said the 'Internet Crime Complaint Center' (IC3) had received news about the attacks feigned under the name of 'Federal Bureau of Investigation' (FBI) aiming certain websites. It said the attack involved defacement of the websites using the FBI seal and 'anti-piracy' warning claiming the seizure of the site by the FBI. There were some instances where the hackers also captured the registrant information and modified it to appear as if the site was registered to the FBI.

The gaming sites are the primary targets, but this attack may spread to other websites as well. It is indeed not an FBI action, but anyone misusing the FBI seal, name, or initials without permission will be put under prosecution by federal law.

FBI lately ordered closure of a website and posted a message saying that the website marketed unauthorized copies of an online computer game circulated by the Austin office of 'NCSoft Corp'. The posting carried the FBI seal. The site called L2Extreme.com faced a yearlong criminal investigation. L2Extreme.com distributed illegal copies of "LineageII" that resulted in several FBI raids in the cities from California to Virginia.

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» SPAMfighter News - 12/13/2006