Hacker claims credit for Amazon.com ranking error
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A hacker with the handle Weev has claimed responsibility for de-ranking thousands of books on Amazon.com over the weekend, but the internet retailer yesterday denied the claims.
What was originally reported to be a system "glitch" caused more than 57,000 books, a large number of them in the genre of gay and lesbian literature and anthologies, to be dropped from the website's bestseller lists.
A spokeswoman for Amazon, Patty Smith, said that it was an "embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloguing error" that affected the rankings of 57,310 books, "in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine and Erotica."
Smith said the error affected not just sales rank but also removed the books from Amazon's main product search.
Mike Daisey, a former Amazon employee, reported on his blog that the error was caused by a programmer at Amazon.fr.
Weev, a hacker troll who has a knack for publicity - he was previously interviewed for a New York Times Magazine article that included his photograph - said on his LiveJournal blog that he disrupted the website using scripts and some developing-world labor to exploit Amazon's reputation system.
Another blogger said he attempted the hack described by Weev and reported that it didn't work.
Related News:
Cyber criminals exposed medical records - 3.8.2010
More than 18,000 patients, whose medical information is stored on the computer systems of five doctors in Torrance, California, were potential victims of identity theft in September when cyber criminals penetrated the doctors' networks, according to the Los Angeles Times.
McAfee advises companies to boost web security relating to source code - 3.4.2010
At the RSA Conference, currently taking place in San Francisco, McAfee released a report indicating that companies regularly use too few web security protocols when protecting intellectual property such as source code.
False social networking attacks provides teachable moment for web security - 2.25.2010
A unique tool developed to prevent the spread of malware from social networking websites has been recommended Processor.com, a web and network security news provider.
With global web security under siege, exports point to problems - 2.25.2010
In 2009, Garlik, a United Kingdom-based web security company, reported a 207 percent increase in malware use to overtake bank accounts. Recent events have also shown vulnerability in corporate, private and governmental web security systems.
Kaspersky reports malware growing more sophisticated - 2.24.2010
Kaspersky, a web security provider, reported Wednesday that while there is very little growth in the amount of malware currently roaming the web, it is becoming more advanced and much harder to detect.
|
