One victim says sensitive data was not exposed

Jul 12, 2010 09:39 GMT  ·  By

The websites of at least four Wisconsin banks were defaced this weekend. The hackers claim they were compromised after gaining superuser privileges on the hosting server.

The announcement was posted on a hacking forum yesterday and read “Me and my friend have just defaced 4 bank websites and now defacing more.” A user going by the online handle of Ghost~Buster is credited with “rooting” the server.

Rooting refers to obtaining superuser (root) rights on a Linux system without authorization. There are various ways in which this can be achieved, but unfortunately, in this case the hackers didn't reveal the method they used.

According to the hackers, the affected banks were Melby Bank, Security Financial Bank, Pigeon Falls State Bank and Bank of Spring Valley, who's website now redirects to that of First Bank of Baldwin. Out of these only the website of the Pigeon Falls State Bank was still defaced at the time of writing this article.

Security Financial Bank, which has offices in Durand, Eau Claire and River Falls, has confirmed the incident. “Attention Customers: Our website, along with the websites of other entities, was temporarily replaced with a overlay message of 'Hacked by Ghost Busters' from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 11th. Please be assured that this did not affect our 'Secure Net Banking' internet banking website in any way. No account records were accessed at any time. Your account information is secure. […] We apologize for any inconvenience this outage may have caused you,” an announcement posted on the bank's website reads. Phone and email contact information is also included.

When advised by other hackers on the forum that targeting bank websites might get them in trouble, Ghost~Buster seemed confident that authorities cannot track him down. “They cant catch our [expletive] ...man so dont worry,” he wrote in response.

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Four Wisconsin bank websites defaced after server hacked
Hackers boasting about defacing four Wisconsin bank websitesScreenshot of Pigeon Falls State Bank defaced website
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