[defaced-commentary] Pentaguard defaces multiple government Web sites in US, UK and AU

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 00:48:30 -0500
From: McIntyre <McIntyre () attrition org>
To: defaced-commentary () attrition org
Subject: [defaced-commentary] Pentaguard defaces multiple government Web
    sites in US, UK and  AU

Tonight the Attrition.org staff has mirrored one of the largest, most
systematic defacements of worldwide government servers on the Web. The
defacers, known as Pentaguard, took out various government Web sites
from 3 countries - the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United
States.

While the message was the same on all Web sites targeted, we are
intrigued by the fact that this was not a mass defacement of a series
of government Web sites within an agency or even within a country -
but 3 different nations in different time zones all at the same time
with all sites remaining defaced for a period longer than 15 minutes.

Some of the US sites defaced were interesting due to the current
issues within the country - the Republican Caucus for the California
Legislature Web site was shutdown in the wake of a power crisis. The
Alaskan Office for the Department of Interior Web site was defaced as
the country waits to find out if Bush Nominee Gale Norton will be
confirmed for Secretary of the Interior (especially when one of the
issues at the core of the controversial appointment is her views on
oil prospecting in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.)
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/01/19/republican.assembly.ca.gov/
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/01/19/www.ak.doi.gov/
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/01/19/www.cem.va.gov/

The UK defacements consisted of a series of small municipalities as
well as city and county governments - the most interesting being a Web
site set up by the UK government to disseminate information regarding
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy otherwise known as "Mad Cow Disease."
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/01/19/www.swindon.gov.uk/

Australian targets were similar to those in the UK with one notable
exception - Pentaguard took down a legislative search application for
the entire Commonwealth of Australia, similar to the US Library of
Congress' Thomas archive.
http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2001/01/19/www.aims.gov.au/

Pentaguard is no stranger to government and military Web site
defacements.  A breakout page containing 48 of their previous
defacements
(http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/pentaguard.html) includes a
plethora of US government and military Web sites from the Army, Navy
and Air Force to the National Institute of Health, Department of
Treasury, the US Court system and both NASA and Department of Energy
Web sites. The US wasn't the only country - they've defaced sites of
the governments of China, Kuwait, Romania, Georgia, and even Vietnam.

gov/mil         group

  34                    pentaguard
  32                    hv2k
  28                    gforce pakistan
  25                    forpaxe
  21                    fuqrag

Pentaguard is the largest defacer of government and military Web sites
based on our 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.

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