14 DAY TRIAL // Hackers show no mercy when infiltrating in a certain system, no matter if we're talking about hospitals, morgues or churches. These malicious people have attempted to infiltrate into the Royal Institute of British Architects, also known as RIBA but, according to The Register, no important damages were recorded. The same source informs that the database and no less than 1,200 other organizations in the United Kingdom and in the United States were assaulted by somebody, apparently based in China, although no reason could be discovered.
"Neither the RIBA nor other organizations contacted have yet found any evidence of fraudulent activity or attempts to extract information from the databases," The Register informs, citing a RIBA representative. The hacker "planted a web address on the databases. The source has been traced to an organisation in China known for its large scale spamming. We cannot be certain of the purpose but it is likely to be the capture of email addresses."
RIBA states that no details were stolen from the database, but the affected members should keep an eye on their bank accounts and report any suspicious activity.
This type of attack occurs every once in a while, especially when spammers attempt to steal a large database of emails which would afterwards be used for spamming purposes. Just imagine that infiltrating into the servers of 1,200 organizations would bring a huge number of valid emails, which, for spammers, are similar to water for fish.
As usual, better security measures are welcome, but most companies choose to improve their security system just after the hackers manage to infiltrate into their servers. For instance, RIBA temporarily closed the access to the database until more information concerning the intruder is collected. The Metropolitan Police has already been noticed about the case, so keep an eye on the news to find out more hot info.