RIAA Site Defaced by Hackers

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/1453761

By Jim Wagner
August 28, 2002

The Recording Industry Association of America was the victim of a hack 
Wednesday, forcing network administrators to shut down the site and 
look for the hole in its Web server. 

The RIAA has drawn the scorn of legions of Internet denizens in recent 
years for its stance on Internet radio broadcast fees and peer-to-peer 
networking. The organization became infamous to millions of users 
after filing an injunction against the popular free music-swapping 
program, Napster. 

But even if and when the organization does find out what happened, 
RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy told internetnews.com he wouldn't issue 
any information about the defacement. 

"All I can tell you is there's a problem with our site that we are 
fixing," Lamy said. "It should be back up shortly." 

Only the home page was defaced, as far as officals can tell, though 
the links pointed to existing RIAA.org Web pages. The defaced site 
featured such tidbits as "Inside the RIAA with Eric Cartman" -- the 
best-known character from the irreverent Comedy Central cartoon "South 
Park" -- and "Piracy can be beneficial to the music industry" -- an 
acerbic touch flung in the face of the biggest opponent to digital 
music piracy. 

Also, a link entitled "Where can I find information on giant monkeys?" 
took readers to the biography page of Hilary Rosen, RIAA chief 
executive officer. 

Members of the offbeat Fark.com online forum cheered the hackers 
responsible, saying they were not only able to deface the site, but 
shut it down entirely after thousands flocked to the RIAA.org site to 
see the defacement. 

As of press time, a mirror site of the defacement is available here [1]. 

One Fark.com reader, RepoMan, chimed in with one possible reaction by 
the RIAA: 

"The RIAA response to this will be entertaining in itself. Of course 
they will go crying to their friends in government like Tonya Harding 
with her broken lace: "See, this is what we're up against... we're 
just trying to make an honest dollar and these computer pirates are 
knocking over our sand castles." 

Since exercising its considerable muscle in court versus Napster -- 
perceived by many in the industry as a startup that revolutionized the 
way music is shared on the Internet --the RIAA has been a convenient 
target for hackers. 

In July, an unknown hacker or hackers brought the RIAA site to its 
knees with a denial of service (DOS) (define) attack. It was an ironic 
turn of events for the organization; a month prior, legislation was 
proposed that would have given the RIAA (and other intellectual 
owners) the right to shut down peer-to-peer networks using DOS-style 
tactics. 

Robert Lyttle, better known for the role he played in the Deceptive 
Duo hacks that landed him in hot water this year, gained his 
reputation defacing hundreds of Web sites in 2000 to protest the 
RIAA's actions. 

[1] http://wintermute.student.umd.edu/



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.