Hackers hit Washington Post
Hacking seems to be getting a profession these days and that too an exciting and lucrative one !
Security experts have been warning all organizations that they are vulnerable to cyber-attack. These attacks are not only limited to small companies but also big companies like Sony, NASA etc.
Definition of hacking
According to Wikipedia Hacking may refer to:
- Computer hacking, including the following types of activity:
- Hacker (programmer subculture), activity within the computer programmer subculture
- Hacker (hobbyist), to heavily modify the software or hardware of one’s own computer system
- Hacker (computer security), to access computer networks, legally or otherwise
- Computer crime
Latest vicitm of hacking
The Washington Post Jobs site has been hacked ! Hackers accessed its employment Website and stole 1.27 million userIDs and e-mail addresses of its registered job-hunters.
According to the newspaper publisher’s July 6 report hackers hit the Washington Post’s job board twice, once on June 27 and again on June 28. They stole roughly 1.27 million user IDs and e-mail addresses. Fortunately passwords to the actual Jobs account and other personal information such as resumes and personal addresses were not compromised.
“We quickly identified the attack and took action to shut it down,” the Washington Post said.
Users may receive spam as a result of the breach and should avoid opening suspicious or unsolicited e-mails or responding to the messages, according to the Post. The problem is even more serious than that, according to Josh Shaul, CTO of Application Security.
This breach has affected the registered users big time. The people registered on the site are job-seekers who fall for spear phishing. “It’s impossible to resist looking into legit looking e-mails that come in offering you the opportunity to work,” said Shaul.
Washington Post has confirmed that additional security measures to prevent similar attacks have been implemented, and is “conducting a thorough audit of the security of the Jobs site.”
Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at Zscaler Labs, in an e-mail said “From the attacker’s perspective however, harvesting 1.27 million active email addresses constitutes a successful attack. When e-mail addresses can be sold in the underground market or used to send spam, there’s little doubt that the data breach will be leveraged for profit.”
Is hacker group Anonymous behind the attack?
This attack could be the work of Anonymous or any of the other members of the AntiSec campaign. Anonymous has been very active in recent weeks, breaking into the Arizona Police Department, among other targets.
AntiSec has typically targeted large governmental and media giants. But so far no one has admitted their role in this attack.
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