A bet
Willing to bet a tenner this "hacker" isn't a day over 15..
Police in Durham have been forced to take their website offline after it was defaced in apparent protest against the conflict in Pakistan. The attacker, calling himself "L33T HACKER Ali.Mani" left a message on the site, saying: UR SECURITY SUCKS UK POLICE THIS IS MY REVENGE AGAINST U U ARE THE ONE WHO ARE BLASTING BOMB IN …
If these are hackers they are retarded or 14 years old from the style of writing and language used. They may call themselves Muslim's but I've met a few Muslim's in my life and none of them swore or were aggressive like that with threats and stuff. This is obviously a hoax by some script kiddies that want make a name for themselves and as before they're probably around 14 if that old.
A police website *is* an operational system. This breach is serious. The hacker could have changed telephone numbers and the destination of any contact forms. People thinking they were contacting the police would instead be dealing with crooks who could abuse the misplaced trust with potentially serious consequences.
If the Reg were to be compromised that would be embarrassing but inconsequential. A compromised police website, whether or not it's connected to backend systems, is a serious problem.
Hold on. The bomb blasts in Pakistan are for the most part suicide bombers protesting against the local government's attempts to suppress taliban activity in the north. So what's this idiot saying? They he believes the Durham constabulary are taliban sympathisers? Or is he saying "I'm an idiot who can't read beyond the headlines"?
Just restore the dam' page and install some security - 5 minutes, tops.
Weren't we talking about the police and their parlous lack of IT awareness apropos security recently? Maybe this "leet" hacker reads El Reg - though from his/her/its spilleng and grandma, they don't read much.
"I thought the number for the police was 999, but this here website says it isn't. Oh well, I'll call them instead..."
Are you really that thick? The number for the nationwide emergency services contact centre is 999. Emergencies. The number for your local police station, for local matters (shoplifting, purse stolen, missing cat, etc) is quite definitely NOT 999. I believe they will charge and fine you for wasting the emergency services' time nowadays - there is some problem with the 999 number being clogged with inconsequential matters like graffitti in the local underpass, while more worthy calls like "my children are trapped in a burning building" have to wait in a queue behind them.
Oh, and...
@ "Because all Muslims are the same" (no apostrophe, note):
There is no difference. Are you implying that a childish 14-year-old skiddie can't be a Muslim? I'm pretty sure Muslim children are much the same as Christian and athiest children. Muslim skiddies are probably much the same as Christian, Hindu, athiest, Buddhist, or Zoroastrian children. The word everyone else is after here is probably "irrelevant".
You may well jest, but the last time I looked the number for the police was not 999 but some 0898 number or something -- 999 being for use in cases of imminent death only.
In fact, it's subtle changes to websites which are the most worrying -- badly-spelled bullshit form a 14 year old is easy enough to spot as a change, something more subtle could be left fro months or weeks.
That's one clever kiddie, how will Durham Police Force ever catch him.
I searched in Google, CRIME.BRANCH.HACKER@LIVE.COM
And it only returned the guys name and telephone number. Durham plod, sorry strike that, Police have got no chance, thats going to be well nigh impossible for them to follow up.
"A police website *is* an operational system."
No it isn't, not in this context. They are talking about systems used to actually do their jobs. The website has very little to do with this.
"The hacker could have changed telephone numbers and the destination of any contact forms. People thinking they were contacting the police would instead be dealing with crooks who could abuse the misplaced trust with potentially serious consequences."
Have you actually had a look on a police website? the numbers listed for contact are 999 and 222222 (not exactly unknown). the only other information that could be changed and cause an issue is the complaints e-mail address (not a contact form just a simple mailto:). But this is a police e-mail address, and it would be pretty obvious if you had to send an e-mail to anything other than a .police.uk address.
You need to get out more matey. First and second generation "immigrants" come out with exactly the same crap as "indigenous" kids.
Oh and if you've never met a "Muslim" person who swears or is aggressive then I can recommend that (once again) you get out of your cave. Try Leicester, Bradford, Leeds, London, Birmingham, Glasgow etc etc etc.
You'll find that most people regardless of religious "beliefs" behave much the same in the UK - they don't give a fuck about anyone else.
I can only assume you're hopelessly naive - or perhaps deranged would be a better word?
well they only seem to be the latest site hit from http://www.zone-h.org records
2009/08/21 www.tayside.police.uk Linux
2009/04/29 www.sussex.police.uk/about_us/... Win 2003
2008/12/02 www2.cleveland.police.uk Linux
2008/08/14 www.wiltshire.police.uk Linux
2008/06/10 www.bedfordshire.police.uk Linux
2008/03/11 www.heddlu-gogledd-cymru.polic... Win 2003
2008/03/11 www.north-wales.police.uk/nwpv... Win 2003
2006/06/30 www.devon-cornwall.police.uk Win 2003
2006/06/01 www.north-wales.police.uk/drg Win 2003
2006/06/01 www.north-wales.police.uk/drg Win 2003
2005/10/12 www.acpo.police.uk/index.htm Win 2000
2005/10/02 www.lbp.police.uk Win 2000
2005/09/22 www.thamesvalley.police.uk/faq Win 2000
2004/12/12 norfolk.police.uk/xxx.htm Win 2003
2004/08/09 www.grampian.police.uk/index.htm Win 2000
2003/04/11 www.scottish.police.uk
This post has been deleted by its author
>The number for the police is no longer 999, it's been changed to...
No no. Modern technology has intervened (as per the Simpsons)
"You have selected - Regicide. If you know the name of the king being killed press 1..."
It's the reflective jacket with "UR SECURITY IS ZERO%" on the back.
@AC 13:58
"Or is he saying "I'm an idiot who can't read beyond the headlines"?"
Well. yes, pretty much. I'd think that was fairly obvious. He's an attention-seeker who can't see past the end of his nose. He wants to hit out at 'authority', so he hits* what looks like authority to him. His childishly simplistic ideas about politics give him a reason to feel all big and growed-up about doing something that, let's face it, any idiot could do given the right scripts.
(* Well, I say 'hits'. More like 'flails at'.)
@ Martin 6:
"I can think of a few ways to scam people if you own this process."
True enough. It would be a good idea if website operators - including public services - could be persuaded to educate the public about how the Internet works. For example: you don't commit any information to the Internet if you don't think you can control the damage when it's made publicly available.
@ Cameron Colley:
"You may well jest, but the last time I looked the number for the police was not 999 but some 0898 number or something"
I doubt it. 0898 was discontinued in the Big Number Change in 2000. You may be thinking of 0845, which is a national rate number (as opposed to premium rate) used by a lot of forces for their non-emergency lines. Many, like my local force, are now switching to 0345 which provides contact at local rate from anywhere in the country and is cheaper for mobiles*.
(* 'Cos who needs nouns when you've got a handy adjective to use on its own instead?)
@ John Naismith:
"You'll find that most people regardless of religious "beliefs" behave much the same in the UK - they don't give a fuck about anyone else."
Hang on, woah. Are you implying that you think the people of the UK should behave like those prissy 'civilised' types you get in those foppish European countries? Like showing 'respect' and 'compassion', following 'rules', and all that lah-di-dah rubbish? We don't take kindly to that sort of thing around here. Next you'll be telling us you think we should be saying 'hello' or some shit to our neighbours instead of telling them to fuck off and smashing their windows. You know you, right? I bet you weren't even properly pissed up when you were typing that shit, were you? Probably been drinking 'in moderation', or some such frilly cosmopolitan crap.
@ AC 15:37:
"US only fire smart bombs into Pakistan. Smart bombs, are by definition, intelligent."
Yeah. I always wondered why the game-blitzing, one-shot weapons you used to get in old Spectrum and Amiga shooter games were called 'smart-bombs', when clearly they were dumb as bricks.