The Internet is used by millions of people; from mindless AOL drones to yellow-eyed, self-networked computer freaks. And as the usage continues to grow (so fast, in fact, that modern search engines can only index 42% of the current content), the security of the basic business or personal site gets weaker and weaker. While you might wonder what security has to do with you, a growing number of people are finding out first hand how easy it is to compromise a web site.

Let's take our friend Mike, a typical AOL user (the scourge of the information age) who spent the past two years working on his personal Web site on and off. Now this wasn't any ordinary site (according to Mike); it featured pictures of him, his family and many lovely pictures of his brand new Ford Mustang. Wow, how could one resist visiting this pot-o-gold!! But to Mike, this site was his pride and joy. At every search engine he visited he made sure to post his link, he told all his friends, and he checked his hit counter daily. (You have to wonder how many hits were from him.) Then it happened: A gloomy Sunday morning, the sun was hidden behind dark storm clouds as Mike pointed his trusty Web browser to his site only to discover he had been 0wNeD (as the main page stated in large, bold letters)!! ( another note: 0wNeD or 0wN3D means that you suck and your site is now run by some hacker ) His years of work had been destroyed and the worst was yet to come. Scrolling down the page, Mike discovered the intruders had taken his family pictures, cut the head off his mom and sister and pasted them onto some rather pornographic JPGs. Mike was devastated.
This is actually quite a common occurrence these days, and with the availability of hacker exploit tools [http://www.ssg-inc.net/hacker_tools.htm], it's pretty easy for just about anyone to accomplish, no matter what your knowledge of computers. This kind of act isn't happening to just personal Web sites either. A growing number of businesses, even government sites, have been 0wNeD!! (As the hackers like to put it.) Take a look at some of these photos to see some of the work:

Above is the hacked version of www.magicpokemon.com.

Above is the hacked version of www.netdaemon.org.

Here are some sites that list other hacked Web sites.

http://www.onething.com/archive/ - This site features a great list, with many of the exploits in their archive.

http://www.guardcentral.com/support_info/hacked.shtml - This is another really good list, seems fairly up to date.

Now you're probably thinking, "Gee whiz 001001001 ( this is what is called a handle or pen name for those who don't know, the numbers 001001 refer to binary computer code ), if these big companies can get hacked so easy, what can I do?" Well ... probably nothing. If someone wants to hack you, and they're good enough, they'll eventually get through. The most insecure system is one that's connected to the Internet. But don't fret, Chet; you can take some precautions

. Don't use the same password everywhere
. Don't let your friends use your password
. Don't give out personal info on the net
. Never, never use your spouse's name as a password (86% of people do)
. And don't type your password in view of other people

And the number one thing you can do if you want to be sure you won't lose any of your hard work:

MAKE BACKUPS!!!

You don't think these hacked companies get back online by having everything re-done? No, they went to their trusty tape or CD drive and restored the site. This is probably the most frustrating thing that can happen to a hacker: They spend all night hacking a site, changing the html files, and boom ... the next morning when they tell all their friends on IRC to go look, the original site is restored good as new. Now of course, a good system administrator will have to fix the path the hacker got through on, but that is probably far beyond what the basic user needs to do.

This trend in hacking will continue to grow as long as computers and the Internet do. Think about it: In 1985, how many hackers did you hear about? Probably about as many in a year as people you knew who had a Vic20! But keep yourself together: The Information Warfare era is just beginning.

Oh Yeah, All Your Base Are Belong To Us!

001001001 ( 001001001@toosquare.com )

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