Random websites seem to be targeted by this hacker with no clear agenda

Oct 10, 2011 07:43 GMT  ·  By

By performing an attack from Margent, a cybercriminal defaced a large number of websites belonging to the Ankara government, leaving them non-operational.

Websebse informs us that an attack from Margent is a highly popular method that can be easily used by even the more inexperienced hackers. By getting access to a single website, the villain can access the file system from where he can gain control of other websites hosted on the same server.

In this case, the defaced pages were all hosted on the domain behind the 67.205.74.10 IP address, giving the crook the opportunity to take over sites such as gsv.gov.tr or aydin-gm.gov.tr.

Because the locations are still down, I decided to research the attack a bit more.

The name of the hacker seems to be Q!sR QaTaR - Hacker Alajman and by other jobs he performed his motto seems to be “One Muslim Against The World.” One of the other hacks I've discovered was made on a website from Denmark that has nothing to do with politics or Muslims. In fact, the SWBSS website deals with “Salt Weathering on Buildings and Stone Sculptures.”

I'm not big on world politics, but according to Wikipedia “Qatar and Turkey enjoy a problem-free relationship. There is ongoing cooperation and dialogue on the regional and international issues.” The defaced pages are all filled with links and references to Qatar so the attacker has no wish of hiding his origins.

This seems to be another example of government websites poorly secured which once again fall victims to cybercriminals out to show their power.

Webmasters should learn from these hits and realize that a site's security should be one of the top priorities in the design process. As a result of these sort of attacks, companies lose customers and they end up with a stained reputation which is certainly not good for business.