Almost 1,000 Danish websites defaced as Anti-cartoon protests move online

[mandy]

Almost 1,000 Danish websites have been defaced by Islamic hackers protesting about controversial cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

The attacks typically replace home pages with pro-Islam messages and condemn the publication of the images.

Hack attack monitoring group Zone-H said the defacements were done both by hacker groups and individuals.

More than 900 Danish websites have suffered defacement during the wave of attacks, said Mr Preatoni. He added that a further 1600 Western sites have also been attacked and defaced as part of the same protest.

full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4692518.stm

[stardust]

Goes to show you how extremely vulnerable the world is to terrorism and complete destruction, be it via cyberspace or physical space.  Whether you're just shortly inconvenienced or completely taken down, it's just about the same thing.

Very scary world we live in right now.

[bargainbloodhound]

Whether you're just shortly inconvenienced or completely taken down, it's just about the same thing.

I would much rather have one of these protesters deface the home page of one of my sites (5 years ago I did have the home page of one of my sites defaced by some Kashmir independence protesters) than I would have a "regular" hacker gain access to my server because the protest-type hacker is far less destructive than a hacker who hacks for financial gain.

A defaced home page can be fixed in a few minutes, but it can take months to cleanup your system and secure it if someone has gained root access and is using your server as part of a botnet...and at least with a defaced home page you know your system has been compromised--with a regular hacker it could take you days/weeks to realize that your server is "owned".  The financial impact caused by a defaced home page is also far less than that caused by a regular hacker.

BTW- the pro-Kashmir hackers were actually very thoughtful.    They just renamed the site's original home page and added their own index.html page so nothing was actually destroyed.

[jezebel]

I long for the days when hackers were pimply faced geeks trying to make a name for themselves by tagging a site.  The Russian/Eastern European/Chinese organized crime hacking cartels that do most of the hacking today are very scary.

[stardust]

The more the world depends on the internet, the more destructive the hacking will be.  It's just too easy to bring everybody down, obviously.  What's safe, anymore?

[misteroriginal]

Thought you guys would like to see what all the fuss is about in the Moslem world these days:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Drawings

[mandy]

I merged the "anti-cartoon protest" and "controversial cartoon" topics to piss off misteroriginal 

[misteroriginal]

I'm pissed off 'cuz I did a search for "moslem" and you spelled it "muslim."

I want to talk about self-censorship. The cartoon ordeal began with the idea that everone is afraid of the terrorists, so the Danes, living in a "free" society, do not exercise their own freedoms.

I say freedom of speech was bought with blood, and we need to excersize it even if it means we risk our own lives. The more people speak their minds, the more targets there are for the Islamic terrorists. Everybody becomes safer.

The neighborhood crime watch defeats the criminals.

[MEnTALgoddess]

I want to talk about self-censorship. The cartoon ordeal began with the idea that everone is afraid of the NEOCONS, so the AMERICANS, living in a "free" society, do not exercise their own freedoms.

I say freedom of speech was bought with blood, and we need to excersize it even if it means we risk our own lives. The more people speak their minds, the more targets there are for the NEOCON CRIMINALS. Everybody becomes safer.

The neighborhood crime watch defeats the criminals.

Self censorship and fear of speaking out have become the norm in this country during the past 4 1/2  years.  The government has used "mental terrorism" to permeate the American public with a sense of fear in order to get its self serving agenda passed.  People sit by silently as their leaders chip away the basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, given by the Constitution.