Hackers Work Overtime & Deface 143 Websites

Hackers' activities resulted in excessive damage as they defaced more than 143 Websites hosted in India during October 2007 compared to 60 sites that were compromised in September 2007.

CERT-In (Computer Emergency Response Team of India), which maintains a close watch on all incidents of Website hack to determine the domains being targeted and the number of flaws being exploited, found that in October 2007, 90 sites of the .com domain had been compromised and modified while 26 sites of the .in domain and 11 of the .org domain were defaced.

Further, hacking incidents in October 2007 related to phishing in 61% of the cases, illegal scanning in 27% of the cases, and worm/virus in 8% of the cases. A comparison with September 2007 showed a decline in phishing incidents while incidents of scanning had escalated, CERT said. The Times of India reported this on November 16, 2007.

Just as the West suffers from too many phishing incidences, in the same way, India also has been victim to massive phishing activities. In 2006, such incidents in India were 180% more than in 2005 and this high tendency has continued in 2007. Experts observe that even though India recorded the maximum number of defacements in August that occurred around the time of the nation's Independence Day, the months of February and March 2007 saw the highest defacement cases at 858 and 738 respectively.

The act of defacing a Website involves compromising a web server to make changes in the content of the site hosted there or to construct a new one. Often the hacker leaves a message on one of the web pages posting his pseudonym.

Most Websites defaced belong to the .com domain as these often have low degree of security and a number of sites hosted on a single web server. The reasons of poor site security and failure of administrators technically allow unhindered hacking.

Hacker groups in India who carry out most defacement activities have been identified as CyberLord, Lord, Devil-X, Yusufislam, Crackers Child, and Ardeshackerlar.

Prevention from hack requires awareness, immediate reporting of incidents, and the enforcement of stringent laws.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 11/28/2007