Comcast.net Hijackers Sentenced to 18 Months

[Lain (is Bams)]

Comcast.net Hijackers Sentenced to 18 Months (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/comcast-hijackers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2)))

The three men hijacked Comcast’s domain name in May of 2008 — a prank that took down the cable giant’s homepage and webmail service for more than five hours, and allegedly cost the company more than $128,000. Visitors to Comcast.net had been redirected to a simple page reading, “KRYOGENIKS EBK and DEFIANT RoXed COMCAST sHouTz To VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven.”

As described in the indictment (.pdf) in the case, the pranksters got control of the Comcast.net domain with two phone calls and an e-mail sent to the company’s domain registrar, Network Solutions, from a hacked Comcast e-mail account.


Here's the problem with these wanna-be hackers..... they all want everyone to know who they are.... and that's what gets them caught. The real scary hackers are the ones you've never heard about, and have no idea what they've done, or at least nothing more than rumors and vapor.

I mean seriously.... why didn't they just print their home addresses on the web page they hijacked. :facepalm:

:bong:

[Roxie]

What is scary to me, that 30 years post the date that "hacker" became a household word.
Social engineering works just as well now as it did back then.

and a raspberry to my comp sci prof who said I was wrong about the end luser being the weakest link in computer security

[Mulch]

What is scary to me, that 30 years post the date that "hacker" became a household word.
Social engineering works just as well now as it did back then.

and a raspberry to my comp sci prof who said I was wrong about the end luser being the weakest link in computer security

this WAS social engineering

if there was ANY hacking involved, it was probably the one email account, which was probably brute forced attacked (any skill level can get a program to do it for you and that would be cracking, not hacking, similar to safe cracker getting the combination via a specific tactic) or they found a a computer left logged in at a public terminal or lost laptop and possibly changed the password or something

i would be surprised if they hacked anything at all and were simply opportunists and talented social engineers

[JohnnyVann]

Here's the problem with these wanna-be hackers..... they all want everyone to know who they are.... and that's what gets them caught. The real scary hackers are the ones you've never heard about, and have no idea what they've done, or at least nothing more than rumors and vapor.

Bamms, that is how much crooks are caught, not just hackers. Criminals are really bad about keeping their mouth shut.

[Lain (is Bams)]

Yes you are spot on there Rox. The luser is your weakest link. Period. All the time, every time. All of the great big hacks you've heard about began with a phone call or some sort of social engineering visit and that enticed some poor soul into giving up what they thought was unimportant or benign information at the time.

Most people don't think past their own role in the company, so information may seem innocuous to them but be very valuable to the social engineer.

As you correctly stated, it's mind boggling that with so many people shouting about this stuff it still continues, regularly, all the time, without signs of slowing. Just fucking insane.

:bong:

[Lain (is Bams)]

Bamms, that is how much crooks are caught, not just hackers. Criminals are really bad about keeping their mouth shut.

Yeah I suppose. With hackers it's more about the one-upmanship I think, than the end profit of the endeavor. Mitnick is a classic example of how being an egomaniac will get you burned faster than shit, regardless of how uber badass your cyber-ninja skills are.

:bong:

[Roxie]

Yeah I suppose. With hackers it's more about the one-upmanship I think, than the end profit of the endeavor. Mitnick is a classic example of how being an egomaniac will get you burned faster than shit, regardless of how uber badass your cyber-ninja skills are.

:bong:

I think you are 100% correct. I think that is why Microsoft products are the target of hackers. Serious pissing points in saying you showed Bill Gates.

[JohnnyVann]

Mitnick was a dork. He was an odd mix of old school hacker that just did it to see if he could and new school who wanted to show off.

[Fatz]

Comcast.net Hijackers Sentenced to 18 Months (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/comcast-hijackers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2)))



Here's the problem with these wanna-be hackers..... they all want everyone to know who they are.... and that's what gets them caught. The real scary hackers are the ones you've never heard about, and have no idea what they've done, or at least nothing more than rumors and vapor.

I mean seriously.... why didn't they just print their home addresses on the web page they hijacked. :facepalm:

:bong:

It's sorta like doing a fake pizza order but having it delivered to your own house.