Top25 cigar database hacked

[pro2625]

I hate freaking hackers...

[Asher]

Originally Posted by rsamos

Of course you can.

The guy's 31, and he still lives with his mom. He's whiter than the page I'm typing on and the only body weight he carries is from Twinkies and Dr Pepper (that his mom picks up for him).

Think of him when you remember that the best revenge is living well.

A lot of hacking now uses automated scripts to search for vulnerabilities. Vulnerable computers might be looted of valuable data (credit card numbers, etc.), or used to send spam email or host "phishing" sites, or to perpetrate denial-of-service attacks, etc. There's a lot of money at stake: phishing, spamming, pump & dump stock frauds, malware distribution, and extortion schemes, just to name a few. I'd wager that the typical malicious hacker is more likely to be involved in organized crime (the Russian mafia, for example) than to be some awkward loner in his mom's basement.

[rsamos]

Originally Posted by Asher

A lot of hacking now uses automated scripts to search for vulnerabilities. ... (truth *snipped* for brevity)

Actually, it's not a lot of hacking. It's the vast majority of it. I'd lay odds that > 98% of the "hackers" out there are just running software written by that guy eating twinkies in his mom's basement. (that guy, btw, still needs an a$$ whoopin)

But - yea. You're right. These days, it's unemployed KGB, Mafia, Terrorists, etc.

So what we have now is well armed script kiddies.

[BigVito]

depends on what info can be had through top25 was this just a punk attack or someone looking for certain info??

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Now playing: Megadeth - Wake Up Dead
via FoxyTunes

[BigVito]

Originally Posted by rsamos

Actually, it's not a lot of hacking. It's the vast majority of it. I'd lay odds that > 98% of the "hackers" out there are just running software written by that guy eating twinkies in his mom's basement. (that guy, btw, still needs an a$$ whoopin)

But - yea. You're right. These days, it's unemployed KGB, Mafia, Terrorists, etc.

So what we have now is well armed script kiddies.

rules me out

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Now playing: Megadeth - Wake Up Dead
via FoxyTunes

[outlawhendrix]

I really wish i could just have 30 seconds with whomever did this so i could urinate in the cooling fan on their computer tower. It's refreshing and solves one of the worlds many problems!

[glking]

I'm pretty sure Top25 wasn't intentionally targeted.
Some bot just found an IP that wasn't properly protected and launched an attack.

I read somewhere that a new computer with no protection will be attacked/infected within 5 minutes of being connected to the internet!

[macjoe53]

Any good case for using Macs. It's not impossible to hack them but it's definitely much harder.

[DonnieW]

Originally Posted by Mystophales

Hackers are simply a waste of space. What exactly do they do this crap for?...

It's primarily due to the hundreds of millions they scam every year. It's a business my friend, and there's lots of money in it.

[Asher]

Originally Posted by macjoe53

Any good case for using Macs. It's not impossible to hack them but it's definitely much harder.

This isn't a Mac vs. PC thing. I don't know the details of this incident, but when it comes to web servers being hacked or defaced, it's often a specific application that's to blame, not the OS.

I'm a fan of Macs (I'm typing this from a MacBook), but IMHO Macs really aren't competitive performance or cost-wise in the server market. Mac desktops seem to be more secure than Windows desktops, but there's nothing special about Macs that make them inherently more secure servers than other flavors of UNIX or Linux. (I don't know much about Microsoft's server OS variants, so I can't comment on them.)

[Totemic]

Originally Posted by Asher

...Mac desktops seem to be more secure than Windows desktops...

Err no.
OSX desktop, in their default configuration is less secure than Windows desktops in their default configuration.

What you can say is that OSX is generally less targetted than Windows.

There was a recent "hack a system" contest where contestants were given three laptops to target: OSX, Vista and Linux. Whoever can hack the machine in question gets to keep the laptop. OSX lasted about 30 mins (the attack vector was the Safari browser included with OSX).

Each day the rules were relaxed and it wasn't until second or third day when they allowed Flash plugins that Vista was compromised (the given vulnerablity was in Flash so technically the vulnerablity was in both Vista and Linux, just that the contestants targetted Vista first).

Apple's approach to OS security is very reminiscent of Microsoft's apporach circa 1999 and we all know how great that was...

[Asher]

Originally Posted by Totemic

Err no...

I was trying to avoid a Mac vs. PC debate, not start one.

[catfish]

I loved the database. I found it to be extremely helpful. I hope that they get the site back on it's feet soon.

[MarkinCA]

[SIZE=3]Suggestion: Top25 at some point in time now, may want to start searching their system for 'malicious coding' that the hacker may have placed. There's the possibility that a 'keystroke' program may have been installed for remoting at a later date by this same hacker (ie, user id's and passwords)...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

[zipa]

Originally Posted by MarkinCA

[SIZE=3]Suggestion: Top25 at some point in time now, may want to start searching their system for 'malicious coding' that the hacker may have placed. There's the possibility that a 'keystroke' program may have been installed for remoting at a later date by this same hacker (ie, user id's and passwords)...[/SIZE]

Since they are restoring it from a backup, that's a non-issue.