Lovesick hacker hits Microsoft

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
Earning a footnote in the annals of computer vandalism, a lovesick hacker known as "flipz" on Tuesday became the first person known to have defaced one of Microsoft Corp.'s Web sites. The hacker, who also altered a handful of government Web sites in recent days, says he expects to be arrested soon. "Its (sic) all about fun till the feds bust down the door," said a message left on one of the defaced Web sites. A Microsoft spokesman said early Tuesday that he was unable to confirm the attack on the company's Conference Management Server site, but the defacement was documented by attrition.org, a reliable computer security site that maintains an archive of hacked Web sites. Representatives of two government Web sites hacked by "flipz" -- the Department of Veterans Affairs and the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico -- confirmed that attrition.org's account of the vandalism of their sites was accurate. Part love note, part threat On Monday, the hacker replaced Microsoft's Conference Management Server home page, which was not accessible Tuesday morning, with a message that was part love letter and part threat, attrition.org reported. "flipz was here and f0bic, your seksi (sic) voice helped me through the night," it read in part before concluding with a threat against Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. B.K. DeLong, curator of the attrition.org Web defacement archive, said research of other hacking mirror sites -- which use a computer's "screen grab" function to document vandalized Web sites -- indicates that this is the first time Microsoft has been victimized. "This is the first time that we've been publicly notified (about a hacking claim against Microsoft) ... and to build our mirror we borrowed mirrors from other sites," he said. All of the recent hacked pages were accessed through Microsoft NT servers, attrition.org said. Other sites affected? The hack appeared to impact a series of Internet domains Microsoft maintains outside its standard corporate presence on the Net. As of Tuesday morning, at least six sites registered to Microsoft weren't functioning, though some may have been removed prior to the hack. While most Microsoft corporate site IP addresses start with 207, the hacked page started with 131. On Tuesday, all Microsoft sites between 131.107.65.0 and 131.107.65.20 weren't functioning. These likely were all hosted on the same server, which apparently was offline. The impacted Web pages appear to be conference information sites, including "icassp.microsoft.com," "isys.microsoft.com," and "cuai-97.microsoft.com." Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com." The purpose of that site was not known. A prominent target Microsoft has long been a prominent target of hackers. The 2600 Web site, the online home of a hackers' magazine, has the Redmond, Wash., company prominently listed on a page of "Hacked Sites of the Future." But DeLong said he wasn't aware of any competition to break into Microsoft's computers. "I haven't really heard people saying, 'Ooh, I'm going to hack Microsoft!' Part of it may be that they think they can't get in or ... that they fear retribution from Microsoft," he said. DeLong said "flipz" first came to his attention in March, when he reported he had hacked a Web page operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The hacker added attacks on Duracell Corp. in June and People's Bank of Connecticut in September to his resume before the recent spate of attacks, which began Wednesday. According to attrition.org, "flipz" altered the University of California at Riverside Police Department's Web site that day before turning to government targets, knocking off, in rapid succession, the home pages of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, the White Sands Missile Range, the U.S. Army Dental Care System, the Navy Management System Support Office and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Hacker love? The love notes that "flipz" left on two of the defaced sites suggest that the hacker has a crush on a fellow computer intruder. The person known as "f0bic" is a member of "Team Spl0it," a hacking group that retaliated for the FBI's arrest in September of alleged hacker Chad Davis by vandalizing several Web sites. Davis, a 19-year-old Green Bay, Wisconsin resident, is accused of breaking into a U.S. Army computer at the Pentagon. According to a federal complaint filed at the time of his arrest, Davis is a founder and leader of the "Global Hell" hacking group, which vandalized Web sites of the White House, FBI and U.S. Senate Web sites earlier this year. The FBI did not respond to a query about whether "flipz" hacking attacks were under investigation, but DeLong said the hacker expects to be arrested before long. "flipz said he doesn't care if the feds come and get him," DeLong said. "He's expecting to get picked up, but he's going to have fun while he's waiting."

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

16 minutes ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 hours ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

8 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

10 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

10 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

11 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

12 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

13 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

13 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

13 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

14 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

14 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

15 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

15 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

15 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

18 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

19 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

19 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

20 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

21 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule