Posted by Hackers Attack Cape City Website
By
WINK News
Story Created:
Feb 10, 2010 at 12:51 AM EST
Story Updated:
Feb 10, 2010 at 12:51 AM EST
cape coral, Fla — Computer hackers attacked Cape Coral’s official city website Tuesday morning. Visitors to capecoral.net briefly saw a bizarre picture of an eye and the taunting message, “I’m sorry this site is hacked and you do not have access to it.”
Computer security expert Jack Voth told WINK News all websites are vulnerable to attacks. For hackers he says, “the defacing of a website is like child’s play.”
Voth gets paid by big companies to hack into their computer systems and point out vulnerabilities. He says websites like Cape Coral’s site are like sitting ducks. Hackers target government websites because they are high profile. Voth says even the CIA has been hit. They do it for bragging rights.
“The mentality of hacking groups is not much different than gang bangers,” Voth says. “They just don’t use guns, they use computers.”
In this case, Cape Coral officials believe the hackers took advantage of a security flaw in the site’s software. The flaw has been fixed. No employee or resident’s personal information was compromise. The website was restored and brought back to normal within about an hour.
While no serious damage was done, Cape council member Kevin McGrail says the attack was a wake-up call for the city. “It tells our IT department, they have to more vigilant.”
