Websites have increasingly been subjected to attacks nowadays. With the resurgence of “hacktivist” groups out there, website owners need to be on guard against these renegades.
Even humanitarian organizations are not excused from these attacks. A group called r00tw0rm, claims to have penetrated and attacked the website of the United Nations Environment Programme or UNEP. They also said that they have extracted sensitive internal information during the attack.
The group was able to get 82MB of information from the website and posted it on Pastebin. The information they were able to siphon out of the organization appears to contain hundreds of tables and administrator login details and other user data. The group is also responsible in attacking other organizations in recent weeks including NASA.
It seems that the motive behind the attack is to mock the security of high-profile websites rather than politically inclined.
The website was taken down but was eventually restored last Tuesday noon. The UNEP is responsible in coordinating environmental efforts and encouraging sustainable development.
This is not the first time that “hacktivists” attacked UN. Last year, TeaMp0isoN attacked the website of the United Nations Development Programme.
This serves as a reminder that companies should double up their efforts in protecting their websites.
