Web Security

Effects

            Other than cases mentioned above, some better or experienced hackers, were able to hack into servers and changed the contents of important websites.  The consequences may be more than just monetary losses, as can be seen in the following:

1)      Central Intelligence Agency Homepage (01/11/96)- Its title changed to “Central Stupidity Agency, with numerous defamatory remarks against the agency and its chief.  One of the icons on the main page were changed to “Nude Girls”.

2)      Indonesian Government Website (hacked 3 times within a year)- Its slogan changed to “The Cruel, Violent and Corrupted”, plus plenty of anti-government messages placed on the pages.

3)      AirTran Website (30/9/97)- The entire web content was altered to draw attention to ValuJet’s (its previous name) crash of 1996, which killed 110 people on board.  Picture of aircraft was added with flames and its slogan changed to “Fly us because crashing is fun!”, “For an untimely death, dial 1-800-AIRTRAN”.

4)      International Church of Christ Homepage (18/01/98)- The entire page was smeared with symbol of Satan, and threatening words thrown in.

            These can be alarming as important sites with vital information, or even vital links get hacked into.  What if the hacker managed to hack right into the trigger button of Pentagon’s nuclear weapons?  The lost of reputation or goodwill may be extensive too since these sites have extremely high traffic.