OPEC Web site defaced

We've had enough too

By Thomas C Greene in Washington DC • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 13th September 2000 04:07 GMT

Free whitepaper – Out-of-box comparison between Dell, HP, and IBM blade servers

As Europe seethes with outrage over usurious fuel prices, OPEC's Web site was defaced Tuesday night by a vandal visibly upset over the cost of crude oil, which is now approaching ten-year highs.

The defacement involves a simple re-direct to the vandal's page, after which surfers are automatically forwarded to the actual OPEC site. No damage is done in this sort of attack.

The vandal's message appears at the bottom of the opening screen: "I think I speak for everyone out there (the entire planet), when I say you guys need to get your collective asses in gear with the price of crude, we really need to focus on the poverty-stricken countries, who don't even have enough money for asprin [sic], let alone exorbidant [sic] prices for heating oil. I think the lives of children are paramount to your profits. Thanks for listening -fluxnyne"

We must note that the lion's share of fuel costs comes in the form of confiscatory taxes levied by greedy governments in the industrialised world over which the cost of crude has a minor, secondary effect. Developing countries typically tax fuel so minimally that it remains relatively affordable in such places despite OPEC's opportunistic manoeuvring.

Still, we have to give fluxnyne props for a good, harmless hack, and for having a human heart very much in the right place. ®

Free whitepaper – Managing operating systems and applications with the new Dell Management Console