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August 21, 2006 6:40 PM PDT

Kevin Mitnick Web site hacked

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Instead of the usual description of Kevin Mitnick, his consulting services and books, the famed hacker's Web site on Sunday displayed a vulgar message.

Online vandals, apparently operating from Pakistan, broke into the computer hosting Mitnick's Web site on Sunday and replaced his front page with one of their own. As a result, four Web addresses belonging to Mitnick, including KevinMitnick.com and MitnickSecurity.com, displayed an explicit message on Mitnick and hacking.

"The Web hosting provider that hosts my sites was hacked," Mitnick told CNET News.com in an interview Monday. "Fortunately, I don't keep any confidential data on my Web site, so it wasn't that serious. Of course, it is embarrassing to be defaced--nobody likes it."

Mitnick's name is synonymous with "notorious hacker" for many. He was caught by the FBI in 1995 after a well-publicized pursuit and spent five years behind bars for wire and computer fraud. Today, he is a consultant, has written two books, and spends much of his time on the road at speaking engagements.

Mitnick heard out about the defacement on Sunday afternoon, shortly after the initial compromise, he said. The attackers gained complete control over the server that hosts his site as well as others at hosting provider Hostedhere, Mitnick said. It is common that hosting companies store multiple customers' Web sites on one server.

"The attackers from Pakistan took over that whole box. There were a whole bunch of customers, including myself, but my site was the only one defaced, so I was probably the target," Mitnick said. The server was taken offline to be reinstalled, Mitnick said. The Web site was still offline as of late Monday afternoon Pacific Time.

Web site defacements still occur, but they have become less high profile in recent years as financially motivated threats take the spotlight.

The message placed on Mitnick's Web site started with: "ZMOG!! THE MITNICK GOTZ OWNED!!" and continues with expletives and a picture of Mitnick with some modifications. Security Web site Zone-H first reported the hack on Monday and has screenshots of the replaced Web pages.

Defacing Web sites is akin to graffiti in the brick-and-mortar world. "It is kind of stupid; they do it for the attention," Mitnick said. "When I was a hacker, I never stooped to defacing sites because that was more like vandalism; that wasn't any fun. It is more about getting in and being stealth and looking around and exploring."

So far, Mitnick doesn't know how the server containing his Web site was compromised. He plans to investigate that at a later time. It could be that a security flaw on one of the other Web sites that was hosted on the same server gave the attackers a way into Mitnick's portion of the machine, he said.

"When you're with Web hosting companies, your security is as good as theirs. You just have to live with that," Mitnick said. "When you want to raise the bar, you have to set it up yourself. I don't have the time to maintain a Web site."

Hostedhere, Mitnick's hosting provider located in Greenville, S.C., did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

"They do a good job. I don't think they're insecure," Mitnick said, adding that he would switch Web hosting providers only if his site gets hacked continuously.

This isn't the first time that a Mitnick Web site has been defaced. Three years ago, a site set up by Mitnick's supporters was repeatedly hacked. Mitnick did not operate those sites. He was not allowed to use computers at that time as part of the terms of his supervised release from prison, he said.

See more CNET content tagged:
Kevin Mitnick, hosting company, Web hosting company, Web hosting, Pakistan

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My Name Is Earl
by Sparky672 August 21, 2006 7:55 PM PDT
...is a sitcom about "karma".

pretty funny too.
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Payback's a bitch
by August 22, 2006 7:12 AM PDT
This will keep me smiling all day :-)
Here we go again
by Jackson Cracker August 21, 2006 9:12 PM PDT
Despite all the myths, Mitnick was not a hacker.
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Hacking
by 8ball629 August 21, 2006 11:26 PM PDT
Social engineering is a form of hacking.

He did exploit software vulnerabilities as well.
View reply
Hahahha
by RoboStone August 22, 2006 2:30 AM PDT
This is just getting here now? I remember someone posting it on a IRC channel I go to a day or two ago.
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Hahahha
by RoboStone August 22, 2006 2:31 AM PDT
This is just getting here now? I remember someone posting it on a IRC channel I go to a day or two ago.
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being stealth looking around and exploring?
by n3td3v August 22, 2006 6:36 AM PDT
kevin, you're one of the most unstealth, hence why everyone knows about you and you were behind bars.

you talk about attention seeking, but thats all you've done since you came out of jail.

there are bigger hackers around who are a lot more knowledged than you, that you have never heard of/ and never appear in public.

those guys are the real stealth and exploring folks, you're just going to be remembered in the underground as, the guy who got caught and milked your name for all its worth afterwards.

i've read your books, they don't talk about techniques that weren't already known about in the underground.

sure for academic folks you'll be giving them something they don't know about, but the homegrown hackers in the underground don't see you as anything special, apart from stupidly well known, because of media hype over the buzzwords "hacker", "fbi", "caught", "released", ""book"... thanks.

as for the defacement of your web site, its pretty funny that while you claim it wasn't your fault and your hosting company was insecure.

surely such a good hacker come security consultant would have picked a good company to host your website, since you're a *cough* expert and know which companies offer the best hosting in terms of security.

you can't scape goat all the blame towards others... and you say there was no sensitive information stored on your account, well they weren't looking for sensitive information were they? as far as the attackers are concerned, they hacked your web site in the knowledge they wanted to deface your site, and thats what they done. they didn't go damn, theres no sensitive infomration here, we'll just go for second best. no they went into the server with the intention to deface it, and thats exactly what they did... mission completed.

and you say being stealth looking around and exploring, but thats exactly what your attackers did. yes they left a defacement, but they still looked around and explored, and as far as i know, they haven't been caught, so it looks like they were stealth too.

enjoy milking out the rest of your post jail career...

i speak to mark seiden everyday, i believe you know each other ;)

peace
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So stop Feeding
by aabcdefghij987654321 August 22, 2006 6:58 AM PDT
Jesus H Christ SHUT UP. n3td3v you suck, your group sucks, and your posts suck. We are tired of you on FD, were tired of you ANYWHERE you go...You've got a lot of chutzpah demeaning Kevin, when you are just a pale imitation, just not as successful..
View reply
by deepthawt March 21, 2009 12:32 PM PDT
Gotta side with n3td3v on this, he as he makes a valid argument. An expert that knows which companies offer the best hosting in terms of security. LMFAO!

Kevin said he didn't have time to administer his own website, so why host out your firm to a third party server that could find itself in this embarrassing position?

Sorry, just an observational note as I thought hackers where supposed to stay on top of their game and why do people always whine and ***** about security after the event. If they took reasonable precautions before the event and stayed on top of the game, then surely they wouldn't find themselves getting pwned it would be the other way around!
by W3bWarl0cK April 7, 2009 11:18 PM PDT
I'm with aabcdefghij987654321 on this I'm afraid...
Although I don't know anything about n3td3v, his post does sound more to me like a pointless rant from a jealous under-achiever... The kind of thing Robin would say to Batman (if you'll excuse the analogy).
n3td3v, you seem to be missing a crucial point, and I recommend you go back and read the article again.

Kevin said "When you're with Web hosting companies, your security is as good as theirs. You just have to live with that," and then followed on saying "They do a good job. I don't think they're insecure,"

Even professionals in the area of IT security like him have standards as to what they believe "secure" to be. And if he believes that the box where his site is hosted is secure then (even if it isn't) is his issue to worry about. As for his so-called fame, name one other hacker that is as well known as him, or got given a worse sentence when they got caught. I know of only one, but the name escapes me right now.

If, at the moment, you're thinking that being well known isn't the point, I have to say I agree with you, but think about that cracker that's going to break into the Pentagon's systems one day, who is he going to tell? He'll sit for the remainder of his life keeping that secret to himself because a) he'd be a fool to tell anyone, and b) if he is stupid enough to tell someone, they'll never believe him.

Kevin Mitnick was arrested by the FBI and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He can go out and (should he choose to) tell the world "look at me, check what I did... I am the ****!!" and everyone's going to believe him for the simple fact that he got arrested for it. Stealth is all well and good, but at the end of the day, what indeed, is the point?
by skullaria-2009 July 14, 2009 10:58 PM PDT
I think n3td3v's comment is very insightful and well thought out.
Favorite Quote
by thedreaming August 22, 2006 8:54 AM PDT
"There's always a bigger fish" If you know where they quote comes from you probably live in a basement somewhere collecting pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar....<insert evil smile here>
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Useless
by rxbbx August 22, 2006 10:28 AM PDT
Useless to do.. perhaps promotional stunt from himself :)
Reply to this comment
by W3bWarl0cK April 7, 2009 11:21 PM PDT
Or not.

Forget for a minute that defacing a website is pretty juvenile, being able to go onto Enet and say "I defaced the great Kevin Mitnick's website. He's supposed to be this security expert and I got through" could get script kiddies a decent amount of notoriety... Especially if they got in through a hole in another website's security...
Nice Try At Spin Kevin
by crescentdave August 22, 2006 9:35 PM PDT
Fact is, someone defacing a so-called security expert's websites is rather pointed and significant. What's even more significant is Kevin uses frontpage extensions ... talk about using insecure technology.

Oh well, charge away Kevin! Hoover those gullible fear dollars.
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Try reading as a hobby
by Ken Reader August 22, 2006 10:49 PM PDT
There were no front page extension involved in this defacement. That was years ago when Defensive Thinking was defaced while sitting on a Windows host. He wasn't even able to use computer then and some supporters had set up the site with misconfigured frontpage extensions on a shared host.
Try reading as a hobby
by Ken Reader August 22, 2006 10:50 PM PDT
There were no front page extension involved in this defacement. That was years ago when Defensive Thinking was defaced while sitting on a Windows host. He wasn't even able to use computer then and some supporters had set up the site with misconfigured frontpage extensions on a shared host.
Hackers are prone to attacks too!
by wbenton August 23, 2006 8:22 AM PDT
What is it about a hacker that many people think makes them immune to attacks?

It only goes to show that even hackers can be hacked.

Kevin is just as human as you and I... even though he's much more aware of hacking than many, one slip up, one miss, one guard let down and even hackers can be hacked.

Bottom Line: He's human and there is no such thing as an totally unhackable system! Combined they only create a double-weakness!

Walt
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Hackers are prone to attacks too!
by kFuQ August 23, 2006 8:44 AM PDT
kevin didn't get hacked.. his hosting provider did.. get your story str8
by W3bWarl0cK April 7, 2009 11:24 PM PDT
Regardless of who gets hacked, nobody will ever be 100% secure. The fact remains that technology is always changing, closing old security holes only to open new ones that diligent crackers will find and exploit.

For all of you guys who would like a little education into IT Security and insight into how the minds of black-hat hackers work, I recommend you get a copy of Hacking for Dummies...
Stupid
by intel17 August 27, 2006 7:12 AM PDT
What was the point? A wast of time.
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Stupid
by intel17 August 27, 2006 7:13 AM PDT
What was the point? A waste of time.
Reply to this comment
by deepthawt March 21, 2009 12:46 PM PDT
I think the point is, no one is infallible, self styled security experts can still get caught out by the bad guy's, if your going to host a company that offers security solutions, then shouldn't you stay current with the security trends and know what is exploitable and what is not?
by deepthawt March 21, 2009 1:13 PM PDT
The biggest problem that I can see on the internet, is their are thousands and thousands of site's that just do not keep up to date with the security news. Mostly because the people that manage or administrate these sites are just to bone idle or lazy to be bothered to upgrade to the latest secure version of the software.

Needless to say with such weak security being demonstrated by sites across the globe connected 24/7 to an online environment filled with Script Kiddies and hardened criminal hackers.

Where do people seriously think all the Spam & Virus problems are coming from?

It's coming from their own servers because they're too lazy to do something about it beforehand!
Reply to this comment
by deepthawt March 21, 2009 1:42 PM PDT
How meny site's allow remote access to their mainframes via SSH? And then in contrast how meny of those site administrators then bother to set root login = no?

We're talking good security practices here, its not rocket science, the only people that should be allowed remote access, into machines should be people that have sat through a security briefing about why they will be given passwords that look: LiK3th15ssHd not passwords that: looklikethis

People just ignore good security practices and then worry about them after they find a breach, that is just unacceptable, because once you have hackers in, you may find its very hard to get the hackers out!
Reply to this comment
by skullaria-2009 July 14, 2009 10:39 PM PDT
As a professional penetration tester, the well respected international firm I worked with hosted our OWN web server. We never considered anything else. Why would we? We had the skill to do it and do it well.
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