Computer hackers took over Comcast’s Web site around 11:30 last night an example of the kind of good old-fashioned cyber vandalism that seems to be becoming a rarity. In the Web’s earlier years, most hackers sought mainly notoriety, which they usually attained by publicly defacing popular Web sites. But these days, hackers are increasingly motivated by financial gain. They’ll launch attacks to steal information like customer-account records that they can sell on the black market, and they take care to cover their tracks.
So it was a bit of a throwback when people who typed in Comcast.net were directed to a site reading: KRYOGENICS Defiant and EBK RoXed Comcast sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven. (A rough tech-jive-to-English translation: These two hackers can’t be stopped by Comcast, and that they want to acknowledge the friendship and inspiration they received from several other hackers.)
Naturally, the old-school attack has stirred up modern-day worry: People who access Comcast email accounts over the Internet weren’t able to access their accounts for several hours some still aren’t able to giving rise to fears that the hacker may have made off with their personal information as well.
That doesn’t appear to be the case here. The hacker didn’t access Comcast’s internal systems but rather a record maintained by Network Solutions, the company that registered Comcast’s Web site. By changing the record, the hackers were able to redirect people who typed in Comcast.net to a different address. A Network Solutions spokeswoman tells us that whoever changed the record probably obtained Comcast’s login credentials Network Solutions is still investigating and that her company was working with Comcast to resolve the situation. (Here’s a copy of the edited record. Incidentally, why is it that no one has invented an online registration form that can spot obviously made up addresses like 123 Fake St.? The hackers used a much dirtier fake address.)
It’s unclear how the hackers obtained the information needed to access Comcast’s record. But it looks like that’s the extent of what they stole. We have no evidence that any customer account information or data has been lost or compromised, a Comcast spokeswoman tells the Business Technology Blog. The company is working with law enforcement to find the culprits. And they may be on the right track: The Website for Kryogenics, the group of hackers that claimed responsibility, is currently unavailable.
-Ben Worthen
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