Monday, September 24, 2001

Hacker re-writes Yahoo! news stories Will Knight, New Scientist, 20 Sep 01 http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991329 A computer security expert has revealed how he altered news articles posted to Yahoo!'s web site without permission. The incident highlights the danger of hackers posting misleading information to respected news outlets. Freelance security consultant Adrian Lamo demonstrated that, armed only with an ordinary Internet browser, he could access the content management system used by Yahoo!'s staff use to upload daily news. He added the false quotes to stories to prove the hole was real to computer specialist site Security Focus. Yahoo! has issued a statement saying the vulnerability has been fixed and security is being reviewed. But experts say that the incident demonstrates a serious risk. "Just think how much damage you could do by changing the quarterly results of a company in a story," says J J Gray, a consultant with computer consultants @Stake. Gary Stock, CIO & Technical Compass, Nexcerpt, Inc. 1-616.226.9550 gstock@nexcerpt.com [Gary Stock via risks-digest Volume 21, Issue 67] 0:00 # G!