Hackers target freedom of information site
The www.foi.gov.ie website was hacked last Tuesday, displaying the messages ‘Hacked by HolaKo’ and ‘We are the best of the rest. Free Palestine #SaveGaza’ on a white background.
The Department of Public Expenditure, which has responsibility for the site, said it took down the site after the hack in order to rectify the problem “as a matter of urgency”.
“This website was taken off air on the night of Tuesday 24 March when it was discovered that the site’s homepage had been compromised,” said a spokesperson.
“The website was back up and running on Wednesday 25 March. The website has now been upgraded to prevent a recurrence.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on who was responsible for the cyber attack on the site, which usually holds information on the Freedom of Information process.
Earlier this month, the Dublin Rape Crisis centre website was also hacked, by a group claiming to represent the Islamic State.
The message ‘Hacked by Islamic State (ISIS), We Are Everywhere’ appeared on the home page of the website.
Global security analysts are sceptical, however, of hacks’ claims to be affiliated with the militant group.
“There are no indications that the individuals behind these latest hacks have any real connection to Isis,” said Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Intelligence.
“These defacements have taken place amid a spate of recent attacks where ordinary hackers have cynically used far-fetched references to ISIS as a means of attracting media attention.”
Meanwhile, Today FM’s Twitter account was “compromised” last week — the feed sent out spam messages and tweets with an equine theme on Wednesday.
The station’s account sent out bizarre tweets to people looking to “fall in LOVE & make sweet musik” and appealed to those “searchin 4 Ur SXC stallion”. Photos of horses were also sent out.
Today FM quickly deleted the content, and apologised to anyone who had received spam from its account.
“Apologies folks, it appears our Twitter account has been compromised. We’re working on getting it sorted,” it said.
A short time later the station changed all passwords related to the account and was “back in business”.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
