Canadian Conservative Party website defaced
Reports of PM choking on hashbrowns greatly exaggerated
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The office of Canada's Prime Minister has rushed to set the record straight after hackers defaced that country's Conservative Party website and planted a press release falsely claiming PM Stephen Harper had been flown to a hospital emergency room after choking on breakfast.
“According to staff at the hospital, Harper was brought in via helicopter early this morning after his wife called 911,” the bogus release said, according to this screenshot. “He was eating breakfast with his kids when a piece of hash-brown lodged in his throat, blocking air from reaching his lungs. A member of his security team happened to be nearby, and immediately began to apply first-aid.”
The hackers left a link to a Twitter user named LulzRaft. Harper's office promptly removed the post and issued a statement that he was fine. The Conservative Party's website was another matter. At time of writing, it was inaccessible.
Website defacements are one of the more common and innocuous hacks on the internet. They are often the result of of a user failing to secure a password or someone exploiting a SQL injection vulnerability in one of the site's applications.
The damage from security breaches isn't always that minor. Earlier this year, computer networks belonging to Canada's Finance Department and Treasury Board were breached by hackers, who made off with sensitive government documents. ®
COMMENTS
In a related story...
The web site of the American National Republican Party was defaced by hackers leaving the message "We're not all heartless, spineless, moral degenerates. Just most of us." Republican leaders immediately called for a declaration of war on New Zealand from whence the attack seemed to originate and discussed plans to invade Panama, "because it's closer". Security professionals from several countries were being consulted on how to remove the defacement, because no one had ever bothered to do a backup.
Funny thing is
Tory party CA gov't has essentially stonewalled the press regarding the hacks of sensitive gov't systems... but issued an immediate press release stating that Harper is OK, did not choke on his breakfast.
If Harper had been told that the cook who prepared the hash browns voted Liberal, then he likely would have actually choked and needed medical help. He's just that kind of guy.
Speaking of hacking
have you seen Lulzsec's latest amusement? http://www.blackbergsecurity.us/
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