MacMod.com - Your Mac Modification HQ - Comcast pwned cause of their attitude.

Comcast pwned cause of their attitude.

Written by Chris Tangora

Friday, 30 May 2008

So ComCast & Network Solutions got pwned by some hackers earlier in the week. Why the hackers were initially trying to get in is still up in the air. The hackers "Defiant" and "EBK" openly don't like ComCast, but is it enough to really take over their internet services? Regardless of initial motivation, they did. At first it was playful, they hacked into Network Solutions and changed the contact on one of the 200 ComCast domain names they now controlled. ComCast noticed this and immediately got control back. The hackers, part of the underground group Kryogeniks, didn't stop there. They continued there attack via Network Solutions and regained control of the 200 domains. Once they were in a second time they played around and called the technical contact for the domain names. After the manager hung up on them they got mad, and that is when things went really bad.

Defiant and EBK then went on an all night binge of moving the ComCast servers around the internet, essentially toying with ComCast and causing massive disruptions to ComCast users getting access to their emails. Eventually ComCast/Network Solutions did pull control back in, but it took a while for all the DNS's to point to the correct server. During this time they could have had access to the financial information of the ComCast users, but they chose not to. They simply wanted to "stick it" to ComCast. Well, they did. But now they are waiting for that knock, err, pound, uhhh... bashing of the door down by the feds to take them in for questioning/arrest.

The part that gets me is how open the hackers are about it. They completely screwed Network Solutions and ComCast, and they are giving interviews about it. If you look at Defiant's myspace page there is a picture of him smoking a bong. DUDES!!!! Sometimes you gotta keep that stuff quiet. Don't be broadcasting it or you'll get busted. Kids, will they ever learn?

The moral of the story. If you have an account on Network Solutions, I'd be careful. And if some kid calls you telling you that he has control of your domain names, don't be rude.

Read more at Wired.com

Defiant's apparent MySpace page.

Comments (4)

	01-06-2008 20:19
	My only question of the Network Solutions folks who commented is, why were the passwords so easily compromised twice? I can understand them hacking the first password, but then after they got hacked, don't you think they would have made their new password twice as strong? Then to have the second password cracked in days? Either the hackers were really good, or there is something else going on here. Registered

ctan

	31-05-2008 06:18
	There was no hack at Network Solutions. Comcast had there password compromised and the hackers used it to redirect the traffic and changed the whois information. Guest

Tony

	30-05-2008 19:07
	The Comcast.net incident was unfortunate however, there was no security breach or social engineering at Network Solutions. The DNS changes were made by someone with the customer’s log-in information. I work for Network Solutions and we have been advising all our customers to follow good practices in keeping their usernames and passwords secure for their account at network solutions. The contact email address for the domain should also be accurate for their own protection. We have posted some tips that may be useful for domain registrants to keep their account updated here http://solutionsarepower.com/2008/8-tips-to-protect-your-domain-registration/ Shashi Guest

Shashi Bellamkonda

	30-05-2008 17:40
	This is the best article ever. All articles should be written this way. That would be epic. Guest

dan

Write Comment

Name:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

< Prev		Next >