Web Security News

Iranian hackers hijack University of Oregon network

Friday, June 26, 2009

Hackers sympathetic to Iran's ruling regime hijacked the University of Oregon website on Wednesday to redirect visitors to a site that said the regime "never cheated" in the disputed June 12 election.

The Associated Press reported that visitors to the university's web system during a 90-minute window Wednesday were taken to an 89-word pro-Iranian message that warned President Obama to stay out of Iranian affairs.

The hackers used the university's network to send the message to AP and others. The message addressed the president as "Hey Stupid Fly Catcher Obama!"

Diane Saunders, spokeswoman for the university, told AP that the hackers were able to gain control of the site through third-party software that had not been updated. Saunders said the computers of visitors to the site were not compromised.

Rob Housman, executive director of the Cyber Secure Institute, a research and advocacy firm, said the hack highlighted how the United States is engaged in a "low-level conflict" across cyberspace.

Housman said it reveals the extent to which U.S. network security is inadequate.

"[C]onsider the damage possible if the attackers weren't less sophisticated Iranian protestors but the Chinese military's cyber-special-forces or the legions of Russian cyber-irregulars," he said. ADNFCR-1765-ID-19238397-ADNFCR

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