[defaced-commentary] Attrition statement on NY Times defacement greeting

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 02:39:38 -0700 (MST)
From: security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>
To: defaced-commentary () attrition org
Subject: [defaced-commentary] Attrition statement on NY Times defacement
    greeting


In the recent defacement of the NY Times business site, the defacer
from "Sm0ked Crew" included an apology to Attrition that has resulted
in a flood of mail to Attrition staff asking for clarification.

http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/02/15/business.nytimes.com/

Attrition staff frequently endures abuse from script-kiddy groups who
are under the misguided belief that we work for them. We have been
harassed and chastised if we are slow in posting a defacement or if we
happen to miss one. We have to remind these kids that our work for
Attrition is done in our spare time and without compensation. Our
"Going Postal" section has numerous examples of this, and our typical
responses.  http://www.attrition.org/postal/z/null1/n0014.html

When some members of Sm0ked Crew took a simliar attitude, we made it
painfully clear that we are a non-profit Web site, managed and
maintained in the spare time of the participating staff. The Sm0ked
Crew members were very apologetic and expressed appreciation for the
voluntary work done by Attrition staff.

Unfortunatly, they were not content with expressing their sentiments
privately and chose to make a public statement on their next
defacement - which happened to be the NY Times business section. We
had no knowledge that they planned to deface the site or make such a
statement. We certainly would have discouraged them from both actions.
Attrition has a legal obligation to inform law enforcement if we have
prior knowledge of a crime and to comply with federal subpoenas.  We
first knew about the defacement when we received several emails to
"hacked () attrition org" after it occurred. (See the Attrition "Notes"
section for details on how we are informed of defacements:
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/notes.html)

While we appreciate that Sm0ked Crew had the best of intentions in
greeting us, we would like to emphasize that such public statements
are unnecessary and unwelcome. Unfortunatly, we have no control over
the actions of others.  The Attrition mirror is a news source for web
defacements. We want and strive for a neutral position in all things
related to performing the duties required to run the mirror.


-
The information and commentary is Copyright 2001, by the individual
author. Permission is granted to quote, reprint or redistribute
provided the text is not altered, and the author and attrition.org is
credited. The opinions expressed in this mail are not necessarily the
opinion of all Attrition staff members.

Commentary Archive: http://www.attrition.org/security/commentary/
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Operating System Graphs: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/os-graphs.html

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Contacting Attrition Staff: staff () attrition org

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