Microsoft France hacked - can you afford to be the next

Released on = June 20, 2006, 2:44 am

Press Release Author = Tamara Borg

Industry = Software

Press Release Summary = Acunetix secures web applications and prevents website
defacement and irreversible damage to your company's reputation

Press Release Body = London, UK - 19 June, 2006 - One of the websites of Microsoft
France was attacked this weekend by a group of Turkish hackers who defaced the site
by Web Server intrusion. TiTHack, the handle used by the hackers, defaced
experts.microsoft.fr by exploiting a vulnerability found either in IIS6 or in one of
the web applications running on the site.

The attack seems to have been done "for fun". However, the defacement has already
caused Microsoft France significant embarrassment further damaging the corporation's
global reputation. Bloggers immediately picked up on the defacement and were amused
at how long it took Microsoft to fix the problem. At time of writing, the website
remains unavailable after at least 1 day in its state of defacement.

The defacement as documented by Zone-h read:
Hi Master (: Your System 0wned By Turkish Hackers!
redLine ownz y0u!
Special Thanx And Gretz RudeBoy |SacRedSeer|
The_Bekir And All Turkish HacKers
next target: microsoft.com
date: 18/06/2006 @ 19:06
WE WERE HERE....>

Microsoft websites around the world have long been regular targets for defacement
and other forms of exploits. Such defacement occurs when hackers manage to gain
access to and manipulate the code and/or files on the web server to display whatever
they please. These web hacking attacks can cost a company significant loss of
revenue severe fines and loss of customer trust, apart from damaging the company's
reputation and credibility.

The Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner automatically audits web applications and
checks whether these applications are secure from exploitable vulnerabilities to
such hack attacks as website defacement. An automated check of Microsoft's web
applications (using Acunetix WVS) could have saved the company from denting its
reputation and credibility further through the subsequent blogs appearing over the
weekend.

Acunetix provides free audit to help companies determine the security of their websites
Enterprises who would like to have their website security checked can register for a
free audit by visiting www.acunetix.com/security-audit. Participating enterprises
will receive a summary audit report showing whether their website is secure or not.
Summary reports will be delivered within five business days of submission.

About Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner ensures website security by automatically
checking for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities. It
checks password strength on authentication pages and automatically audits shopping
carts, forms, dynamic content and other web applications. As the scan is being
completed, the software produces detailed reports that pinpoint where
vulnerabilities exist.

About Acunetix
Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks. Its flagship
product, Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, is the result of several years of
development by a team of highly experienced security developers. Acunetix is a
privately held company with headquarters based in Europe (Malta), a US office in
Seattle, Washington and an office in London, UK. For more information about Acunetix
visit: http://www.acunetix.com; http://www.acunetix.de.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Web Site = http://www.acunetix.com

Contact Details = For more information:
Please email Tamara Borg: tamara@acunetix.com
Acunetix Ltd: Tel: (+44) 0845 6126712; Fax: (+44) 0845 6126716.

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