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Epilepsy Foundation site defaced - with flashing images!

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:03
by hamin_aus
I know this was wrong, but it was also ingenious.
I lol'd! I acknowledge that I am a bad person for this - but screw it - I'm not going to hell because I dont believe in it - but feel free to try and make me feel bad.
www.news.com.au wrote:Hackers hit Epilepsy Foundation, spark mass fits

COMPUTER hackers have been blasted for a sick attack on a self-help group that left many innocent victims in agony.

Hackers are not known for physical assaults.

But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's website with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.

The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.

The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that allowed them to quickly make numerous posts and overwhelm the site's support forums.

Within the hackers' posts were small flashing pictures and links - masquerading as helpful - to pages that exploded with kaleidoscopic images pulsating with different colors.

"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation, which is based in Landover, Maryland.

He said legitimate users are no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it is now moderated around the clock. He said the FBI is investigating the breach.

Security experts said the attack highlights the dangers of websites giving visitors great freedom to post content to different parts of the site.

In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Senator Barack Obama's website to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's official campaign site.

The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site did not appear to care about profit. The harmful pages did not appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance.

"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline - they don't realize how cruel it is," said Paul Ferguson, a security researcher at antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. "It was an opportunity waiting to happen for some mean-spirited kid."

In a similar attack this year, a piece of malicious code was released that disabled software that reads text aloud from a computer screen for blind and visually impaired people. That attack appeared to have been designed to cripple the computers of people using illegal copies of the software, researchers said.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:06
by I34z1k
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHH ROFL!

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:08
by Rayne
Lol.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:16
by Hex_Rated
Haha, oh shi... asdsda asdsjl sy8ic jkxc xzxyio xchk n xc yxyxc

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:25
by Tolklein
Average

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:44
by lancelot
What a bunch of idiots, it is as funny as craappping in your pants.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:47
by hamin_aus
lancelot wrote:What a bunch of idiots, it is as funny as craappping in your pants.
Crapping in your pants :?:

Thats hilarious :lol: :lol: :lol:

Pics or it didn't happen ;)

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:47
by Hman
:lol:

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:49
by maxxis
Thats just ****ed up

Now im stuck with a **** headache.

Assholes.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:56
by DAE_JA_VOO
I think it's disgusting :?

Posted: 12 May 2008, 14:58
by DJT
lol @ maxxis
lol @ lancelot
But a huge lol @ jamin.

I know it is wrong, but i had to have a little laugh (Not a big one), just a baby one :P

Posted: 12 May 2008, 15:13
by I34z1k
Ah, btw why I thought this is funny sorry, should've explained...

I went to a lan once, and this guy had a BRIGHT blue LED fan that was flickering really quickly and that reminded me of "seizure man" from Cyanide + happiness, and then this in turn reminded me of that stuff :P

It's a little wrong putting it on an epilepsie site though...

Posted: 12 May 2008, 15:46
by Hex_Rated
The funniest thing is the guys who did it are going to jail when they catch them. You could classify the attack as assault or intention to do bodily harm.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 16:11
by beerman
OK .. can we remove the flashing image from the post now that we've all had a laugh?

Posted: 12 May 2008, 16:13
by hamin_aus
Only if you acknowledge that what they did was funny

Posted: 12 May 2008, 16:31
by D3PART3D
Pathetic.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:00
by zerubabel
That's quite sick.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:03
by PHR33K
I hate to say it but I had to try very hard to not burst out into laughter as I read that, but it is sick.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:14
by Hex_Rated
Didn't Pokemon also give a whole lot of kids seizures? They could have used them as well.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:19
by beerman
jamin_za wrote:Only if you acknowledge that what they did was funny
I did say "now that we've ALL had a laugh ..." :wink:

I could not help myself. They're bad people, but I did have a laugh!

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:21
by i_r_baboon
Ah has anybody seen Maxxis's avvie?

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:28
by Hex_Rated
i_r_baboon wrote:Ah has anybody seen Maxxis's avvie?
Used to it... Haven't swatted the screen in about a year.

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:46
by Anthro
He means something else . .lol
i_r YGPM bro

Posted: 12 May 2008, 18:51
by i_r_baboon
Lmao nevermind I meant nothing lol... Anthro I sent reply

Posted: 12 May 2008, 19:07
by psYChowIt
now see that's why God made me a @$!$ programmer... So I can't do stuff like this! OMW funny!