Hackers' posts designed to cause epileptic fits

terminator69 Notable Member

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#1

Interesting article I just came across.

Computer attacks typically do not inflict physical pain on their victims.

But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's website with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.

The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.

The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that allowed them to quickly make numerous posts and overwhelm the site's support forums.

Within the hackers' posts were small flashing pictures and links - masquerading as helpful - to pages that exploded with kaleidoscopic images pulsating with different colors.

"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation, which is based in Landover, Maryland.

He said legitimate users are no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it is now moderated around the clock. He said the FBI is investigating the breach.

Security experts said the attack highlights the dangers of websites giving visitors great freedom to post content to different parts of the site.

In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Senator Barack Obama's website to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's official campaign site.

The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site did not appear to care about profit. The harmful pages did not appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance.

"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline - they don't realize how cruel it is," said Paul Ferguson, a security researcher at antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. "It was an opportunity waiting to happen for some mean-spirited kid."

In a similar attack this year, a piece of malicious code was released that disabled software that reads text aloud from a computer screen for blind and visually impaired people. That attack appeared to have been designed to cripple the computers of people using illegal copies of the software, researchers said.
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/security...-epileptic-fits/2008/05/08/1210131136956.html

terminator69, May 9, 2008 IP

wisdomtool Moderator Staff

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#2

I seen it, I find it very cruel, I mean these are poor sick people, why do such things to them .
Hackers should be attacking terrorists sites etc and not harm the sites of an innocent organization.

wisdomtool, May 9, 2008 IP

daniegb123 Banned

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#3

wisdomtool said: ↑

I seen it, I find it very cruel, I mean these are poor sick people, why do such things to them .
Hackers should be attacking terrorists sites etc and not harm the sites of an innocent organization.
Click to expand...

But if only they did that, there would be no fear of having protection for sites, everything would just be fine and dandy. The reality however is that the web or for that matter the world is not like that, people chose to go down that path for whatever reason and no doubt people in the future will still.

daniegb123, May 9, 2008 IP

wisdomtool Moderator Staff

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#4

These are the black hats hackers I guess.

daniegb123 said: ↑

But if only they did that, there would be no fear of having protection for sites, everything would just be fine and dandy. The reality however is that the web or for that matter the world is not like that, people chose to go down that path for whatever reason and no doubt people in the future will still.
Click to expand...

wisdomtool, May 9, 2008 IP

RichardPG Active Member

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#5

Probably a stupid kid acting alone (I'd hope so at least)

Vandalising websites is a pretty anti-social thing to do anyway. This is just an extension of that.

RichardPG, May 9, 2008 IP

jkrish41 Banned

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#6

I saw this before, it is like super terrible

jkrish41, May 9, 2008 IP

Titan King Guest

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#7

It's just plain sick and sad.

Titan King, May 11, 2008 IP

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Hackers' posts designed to cause epileptic fits

terminator69 Notable Member

wisdomtool Moderator Staff

daniegb123 Banned

wisdomtool Moderator Staff

RichardPG Active Member

jkrish41 Banned

Titan King Guest

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