Security Groups Warn of Hacking Contest on Sunday [3rd July 2003]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cyber security organizations warned network administrators on Wednesday about a Web site hacking contest that appeared to be scheduled to begin on Sunday, July 6.

The Information Technology -- Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC), which monitors the Web for possible threats, learned of "Defacer's Challenge" on a Web site last week, according to Pete Allor, director of operations for the group. IT-ISAC is run by Atlanta-based security provider Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISSX)

According to the Web site, which had been taken off the Internet by Wednesday afternoon, hackers were urged to prove their skills by defacing as many Web sites as they could during a six-hour period on Sunday morning, Allor said.

In just one indication of how sweeping the damage could be, participants were not to deface more than 6,000 Web sites, according to the contest rules posted online. They would be awarded points based on the type of operating system running on the Web server they hacked, according to Allor.

For example, people breaking into servers running Windows would get 1 point, while break-ins of servers running the Mac operating system or the HP-UX version of Unix, widely perceived to be more secure than Windows, would get 5 points, he said.

The winner purportedly will get 500 megabytes of free data storage and free e-mail, the notice said.

Officials were investigating who was responsible, Allor said. However, the FBI was not immediately available to comment on how seriously it viewed the threat.

Web hosting companies, Internet service providers and corporations that have a lot of Web sites are most at risk, he said.

To prevent being victimized they should consider, if feasible, disconnecting their Web sites from the Internet, Allor advised. He said they should also check their operating system and applications for vulnerabilities and patch them, and install software that will detect and block network intrusions, Allor advised.

But Allor warned that it may already be too late for some companies, since hackers very often install stealth back-door programs that allow them to easily get in at a later date.

"Hackers are already scanning to see who is vulnerable and are getting prepared to hack them this weekend," Allor said.

"If you are waiting for the hacking to take place on Sunday you've probably missed the boat," he said. Potential participants "are at the reconnaissance stage now and some of the active hacking may have already taken place."

Web site defacements, usually the digital equivalent to graffiti, can be costly to clean up after, Allor said. They also are worrisome because hackers may do more damage beyond superficial defacement, he added.

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