When HFG defaced the New York Times Web site in 1998, the group posted a long, apparently heartfelt screed that cited Voltaire, Tennyson, and Emerson, and tried to put the hacking in the context of big battles that mattered:<p>"Just because we type in all caps and use 'elite' speak doesn't mean we are kids, or we don't own your dumb ass. For everyone who calls us immature kids, it shows one more person has underestimated us. And worse, what does that say about their security? That 'immature kids' were able to bypass their 25,000 dollar firewalls, bypass the security put there by admins with XX years of experience or a
XXX degree from some college. Nyah Nyah. [...] The injustice Markoff has committed is criminal. He belongs in a jail rotting instead of Kevin Mitnick. Kevin is no dark side hacker. He is not malicious. He is not a demon. He did not abuse credit cards, distribute the software he found, or deny service to a single machine. Is that so hard to comprehend?" (<a href="http://everything2.com/title/Hidden+Message+behind+the+New+York+Times+hacking" rel="nofollow">http://everything2.com/title/Hidden+Message+behind+the+New+Y...</a>)<p>In 2012 when PYK defaces the Saturday Night Live site, they post "Greetz to oday, BRUT4L & S4VAGE
Fuck the Feds, 419 is just a game~~ USER INFO - EXPOSED PASSWORDS - DUMPED".<p>Is this now the worst they can imagine? Grabbing my Saturday Night Live password?<p>Bring back the heartfelt screeds and the poets! At least HFG thought what they did was <i>important</i>.<p>Sheesh, kids these days.
Hah. I always find it funny how the same people who are capable of hacking these high profile websites haven't updated their design, HTML and CSS knowledge since the '90s. Scrolling marquees and the horrible moving star background.. really? Plus the remainder of the page is totally screwed up.<p>Here's a screenshot for when they notice: <a href="http://i.imgur.com/UT4we.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/UT4we.png</a>
I never understood publicly defacing a site like this, if you're technical enough to access a domain with a fair amount of traffic, why not inject some script that'll give the visitor a drive-by download, and go in for the long (and more profitable) game?<p>Then again, I'm calling these people technical, apparently it's a simpler game now with scripts that any regular Joe (or his 14-year old kid) can run.
Why is HN hosting a direct link to a page that quite possibly contains driveby malware (as opposed to a statement and a warning next to the link). That is irresponsible.