"Myspace" and "hackers" are not allowed to be used in the same phrase.
On Sat, 12 May 2007 09:23:14 -0400
"Vlad Hackula" <vladhackula@gmail.com> wrote:
VH> oops, sorry for making it a response to gadi's posting. i'm not awake yet.
VH> duh
VH>
VH> http://myspaceinfosec.blogspot.com/
VH>
VH> Myspace fails to protect it's community from malicious hackers.
VH>
VH> As of May 12th, 2007, Myspace has 176,968,475 users in it's community and it
VH> is growing fast. To put this number in perspective, the US Census Bureau
VH> estimates there are currently 301,821,743 US citizens. The current number of
VH> users is well over half of the population of the entire United States. With
VH> this being said you would think that a company that has this many user's in
VH> it's community would pay closer attention to security.
VH>
VH> Myspace provides a lot of services to it's user community and one of the
VH> most popular is Myspace Groups. There are thousands of groups covering a
VH> wide range of themes and let people collaborate on anything from beenie
VH> babies to the arts. One group in particular, The World Artist Network (WAN)
VH> http://groups.myspace.com/wan is the largest single group on Myspace and has
VH> over 200,000 members worldwide. This group serves the Art community and
VH> gives artists a place to go to collaborate with other artists. You can
VH> almost classify this as a somewhat educational experience because people
VH> will post their art there to get feedback from other artists and art
VH> enthusiasts. This helps to build an artists skill set and helps them to
VH> become a successful artist.
VH>
VH> However, since around February of this year, a hacker has been targeting
VH> groups by exploiting Myspace's lack of security controls and causing DoS
VH> (Denial of Service) attacks by flooding the groups with thousands of
VH> postings making it nearly impossible to find the content posted by the
VH> members. The World Artist Network is currently under attack by this
VH> relentless hacker. After the attack started several days ago, the group has
VH> been brought to it's knees. The way the topics are displayed has been
VH> damaged by the attack and now the first 27 pages are blank. Several members
VH> now cannot even post to the group, myself included. It appears the hacker
VH> may be using code to perform various administrative functions which includes
VH> banning members as well as pinning/unpinning topics (a flag that lets the
VH> moderator anchor various topics to the top of the list). The hacker also
VH> seems to be able to bypass banning functions. Even when he is banned he is
VH> still able to post. He has created other accounts as well and after he is
VH> finally banned he will simply use a new profile to begin the attack all over
VH> again.
VH>
VH> Using a special technique I was able to get one of the first attacker's IP
VH> addresses which shows the attacker was using an IP address from the Internet
VH> Service Provider intrstar.net (InterStar Communications, Inc) who is located
VH> in Clinton, NC. I sent a complaint to Inter Star and included all the
VH> relevant information yet they never responded to the incident. During this
VH> attack the hacker posted hundreds of pages of extremely disgusting and vial
VH> SCAT porn images. SCAT is pornography that deals with feces. Myspace was
VH> also alerted to this activity and there was no response.
VH>
VH> Although Myspace is 'free' to users I still think it is their obligation to
VH> at least make a best effort attempt at protecting it's users. One of the
VH> biggest things they can do is have a better response to security incidents.
VH> Another would be to track down these people and prosecute them. And by
VH> putting simple controls in place and preventing these types of attacks from
VH> happening in the first place. One such method could be using software called
VH> CAPTCHA which forces a human to enter text displayed in an image file. Say
VH> after 10 posts within 5 minutes force the user to enter the text. This would
VH> make it literally impossible for the attacker to flood an entire group and
VH> thereby making it much less desirable for them to perform future attacks.
VH> This is such a simple thing to do it is bizarre to me that they haven't done
VH> it yet.
VH>
VH> I can tell you one thing I truly believe, Myspace's banner ads, where their
VH> main revenue comes from, will always be working very smoothly. Just don't
VH> forget, it is your Myspace community that are the ones that either click or
VH> don't click on those ads. You need to protect those precious resources.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Carlos Cardoso
http://www.carloscardoso.com <== blog semi-pessoal
http://www.contraditorium.com <== ProBlogging e cultura digital
"You lost today, kid. But that doesn't mean you have to like it"
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