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UK transport minister's website pwned

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Wrong kind of hats on the line

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 6th April 2009 11:28 GMT

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The website of junior transport minister Paul Clarke was hacked over the weekend by apparently motiveless mischief-makers.

Defacers scrawled digital graffiti on labourisworking.com, which is run by the Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Transport.

A message on the site reads "HACKED BY Red Virus. just for fun. I just want say fuck you. this message from egypt." A screenshot of the attack can be found here.

The site is hosted in the US, according to Netcraft. It's unclear what platform labourisworking.com is running on.

The site has been restored for IE users, but remains a jumble for Firefox fans for reasons that are not immediately obvious.

The attack bears the hallmarks of a random search for website vulnerabilities by a previously unknown hacker followed by a defacement. Not particularly serious, but still embarrassing. ®

Bootnote

Thanks to political blogger DizzyThinks for the tip. He writes, mischievously, "I wonder what he did to upset the Egyptians?"

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