[ISN] Hackers stop Guardian campaign

[InfoSec News]

Forwarded from: GertJan Hagenaars <isn at hagenaars.com>

Funny that.  Right on the heels of this article (on ISN) "Second
Sight", where someone from the Guardian argues that using a DDOS is a
good way of dealing with a "sick" server.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,,1331820,00.html

Shoe on other foot; foot in mouth.

Perfect.

Apparently, InfoSec News wrote:
% http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19252
% 
% By Nick Farrell
% 25 October 2004
% 
% US CRACKERS have managed to do what governments, business people, and
% individuals have tried for years - get a British newspaper to stop
% printing things that they don't like.
% 
% The Grauniad miffed voters in Ohio by suggesting which way they should
% use their power as a swing state to influence the course of the
% presidential election.
% 
% The newspaper's website said letter writers were free to support
% either the Republican incumbent, US President George W. Bush, or
% Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry. But it noted a Guardian poll
% showed overwhelming support for Kerry.
% 
% The Guardian had invited its readers to contact voters in Clark
% County, Ohio, a swing state, about the importance of the November 2
% election.
% 
% Within the first day, more than 3,000 readers logged on to the
% newspaper's Web site to obtain the name and address of an unaffiliated
% voter taken from electoral rolls.
% 
% By the time the news got over to the Americans, the campaign was
% interpreted as a bid by the evil left wing English press telling US
% people to vote for Kerry.
% 
% Not only did they get thousands of angry phlegms and snottograms from
% Americans who apparently read the august organ across the pond.
% 
% They also received the attentions of crackers who believed it was
% their patriotic duty to silence a free press, who they thought was
% talking ill of their candidate.
% 
% The site was hacked and shut down. However, with true British stiff
% upper lip and in the traditions of sticking to your point of view no
% matter what the cost, the Guardian has decided against ploughing ahead
% regardless.
% 
% The editors have decided that enough is enough and they are calling it
% quits. So just remember if a paper says something you don't like,
% don't bother with defamation courts. A simple denial of service attack
% is all that is required to stop a media campaign.
% 
% 
% 
% _________________________________________
% Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) Everything is Vulnerable - http://www.osvdb.org/

CHeers,
GertJan.

-- 
+++++++++++++ -------- +++++ --- ++ - +0+ + ++ +++ +++++ ++++++++ +++++++++++++
sed '/^[when][coders]/!d         G.J.W. Hagenaars -- gj at hagenaars dot com
    /^...[discover].$/d          Remembering Mike Carty 1968-1994
   /^..[real].[code]$/!d         UltrixIrixAIXHPUXSunOSLinuxBSD, nothing but nix
' /usr/dict/words                I'm Dutch, what's _your_ excuse?