RIAA Web site hacked

Geartest.com Staff
Dec. 30, 2002.

HACKED: News headlines on the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) Web site's home page hint at the handiwork of those who defaced it.

Internet pranksters defaced the Recording Industry Association of America Web site today, when a security hole let anyone with a Web browser take command of the site administrator's control interface.

The RIAA, a music industry lobby group that is widely credited with killing the Napster file-sharing service, campaigns aggressively against MP3 or other music-file sharing or copying. The group is an object of scorn among Internet and MP3 enthusiasts, and is a regular target for hacking and defacement attempts.

Pranksters who gained control of the RIAA site posted fake news and announcements such as "Record Industry decides to distribute free MP3s", and "RIAA Wants Background Checks on CD-RW Buyers", as well as numerous insults, taunts and hardcore gay pornography.

The stunt continued for several hours before anyone at the RIAA noticed the site had been defaced. Even as staffers tried to remove the offending pages, the vulnerability was left open, allowing the defacement to continue. The site was subsequently unreachable for several hours.

The Web address for the administrator's page was disseminated in Internet Relay Chat channels and on several Web site message boards.

A similar attack earlier this year left parts of the RIAA site unavailable for days.

Spokespeople for the RIAA were unavailable for comment.

 Related links
 RIAA Web site
 · riaa.org
 Defacement images
 · imagedump.com