Lock up your web sites everyone, recent headlines are peppered with reports about the so-called "Defacers Challenge" a contest, purportedly set to start this Sunday, July 6th, to see who can deface/attack 6,000 web servers first.
Government Computing News, http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22623-1.html
Info World, http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/02/HNhackattack_1.html
Mercury News, http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6225709.htm
While these kinds of media friendly contests are useful for raising awareness about security, businesses should be on the alert for defacements every day of the year, not just when a 'challenge' like this is announced.
Why? Because attackers are active every day and any day could be your own website's "Defacer Challenge." If this recent planned attack helps to get executive awareness up and releases budget for needed security expenditures, that could be a good thing. And in the meanwhile continue with or strengthen existing risk management practices for your web site: hardened systems, gateway and perimeter protection, monitoring for intrusions, and of course regular backups from which to restore in case of emergency.
Every day.
Posted by Diana at July 3, 2003 07:32 AM