In a world that is becoming more focused on the internet, a great website presence, and hard hitting electronics, new websites come online nearly every second of hte day. In proportion to the number of sites which are increasing, the amount of cybercrime is increasing dramatically too… Thousands of people have been the victim of identity theft, email fraud, online scams, and many other types of cybercrime. One of the most common types of crime is the hacking of a website, and the number of websites hacked has risen in the last few years.
In fact, hijacking Adsense and other things has risen so sharply that experts say more than a million websites a month are being hacked in some cases. Not all of these sites are lacking in website security. In fact, some of them are in the business of website security, which makes it that much more unique for us to read about their site being breached.
In the first few months of 2011, already a large number of websites belonging to major companies have been hacked. They were sites that had some of the best security, and the most security hosting. Which just goes to prove that internet visibility isn’t always a good thing and website security has become increasingly more important to every website.
Here is a list of some of the major websites hacked so far in 2011:
* Qriocity and the PlayStation Network
Sony was forced to shut down the Qriocity and PlayStation Network unexpectedly, and days later Sony released a statement saying that an “external intrusion” was the cause of the sudden shut down. On April 26, Sony released an official statement saying that as many as 77 million Sony PlayStation Network and Qriocity users had been accessed by the intruders. These intruders had obtained the phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, passwords, and real names of these users, though Sony claimed that the credit card details of users had been encrypted and untouched.
* WordPress.com
WordPress is one of the largest online blog and website platforms, and on April 13th an announcement was made that 13 hackers had been able to break into Auttomatic, the servers that host all of the blogs running on the WordPress platform. There was no information released on the exact details of what details the hackers had made off with, but they could have potentially taken the passwords and source code for nearly 25 million blogs and websites hosted by WordPress.
* Epsilon
Epsilon is an email communications company that handles the communications for over 2,500 companies around the world. Epsilon was the victim of a serious data breach in March of this year, and no less than 26 major companies have confirmed that the lists of their customers’ emails had been taken. These companies included TiVo, Capitol One Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Walgreens, Citi, and Best Buy. While passwords and other sensitive data has been confirmed to be intact, these companies warned that the number of phishing and spam emails were going to increase thanks to this data breach.
* RSA
RSA is the company that makes SecurID authentication tokens, and they reported that their networks had been breached and that data had been stolen from them. Rumors have pointed towards Chinese hackers who had been incited by the Chinese government to make the attacks. While the outcome of the breach has been unclear, the insecurity caused for the 40 million users of SecurID and 250 million smartphone owners is certainly a large repercussion.
* Voice of America
Voice of America, the U.S. government’s official news service, was attacked by a pro-Iran group of cybercriminals calling themselves the Iranian Cyber Army. The Voice of America homepage was edited by the ICA in order to denounce the U.S. participation in the revolutions taking place in the Muslim world.
What all of this goes to prove is that there is a great deal more to be concerned about than SEO trends and article marketing when it comes to building your website. From the largest website down to the smallest, website security is an imperative part of the package… realistically though, how do you secure from some of the best hackers in the world?
The Top HACKS of 2011
InMotion Hosting (Over 700,000 Websites Hacked)
InMotion Hosting Server was hacked by a hacker TiGER-M@TE who hacked the whole data center of InMotion Hosting, one of the leading Hosting Service Providers. The hacker added Index.php and Index.html Files leading to hack of so many websites. This surely is one of the biggest hacks of 2011. The sites were hacked on 25 September, 2011.
Microsoft’s Official Youtube Channel Hacked
Microsoft’s Official Youtube Channel was recently hacked two weeks ago. The hacker removed all the videos uploaded by Microsoft and posted 3-4 short videos promoting some website and showing animation. The location in the profile was changed to “Hey” and the channel’s description reads :
I DID NOTHING WRONG I SIMPLY SIGNED INTO MY ACCOUNT THAT I MADE IN 2006 .
CBI Website Homepage Hacked
The Central Bureau of Investigation website was hacked by an organisation called “ Pakistan Cyber Army“.One of the most secure and
high level website of India was hacked by Pakistan Troop. The hacker defaced the homepage of CBI Website and left with a message “P*k*stanZin*ab**d” . It is embarrassing seeing CBI website being hacked.
Pakistan Supreme Court Website
Pakistan’s Supreme Court Website was hacked by a hacker using name Zombie_Ksa, a pakistani hacker. The hacker seemed to have good intentions as wrote on the website :
“So I am here to request you to go out there and help the poor, needy and hungry”
conveying message to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary to ban pornographic websites in Pakistan.
More than 10,000 Accounts of Facebook Data Leaked
Swastika, a group of hackers leaked 10,000 Facebook Accounts data on text sharing website, Pastebin. The list has now been removed by Pastebin.
UNESCO E-Platform Hacked
The E-Platform hack of UNESCO Website was also one of the biggest hack of 2011. The hackers group, Fatal Error Crew were successful in defacing UNESCO E-Platform and putting up their index.html file.
BSNL India Website Hacked
Leading Telecom Provider of India Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited aka BSNL’s website was hacked by a Pakistan Hacker “KhantastiC haX0r”. Although he wasn’t able to get any content from the website, he was successful in defacing the website and putting his credits to website.
Many other Top Notch Websites have been victims of Hackers in 2011,so don’t leave any security flaw in your website, secure it first and then work on it. The list of Top Hacks is huge, but yes the above were selected ones.
