No one knows whom just yet, but a hacker hit the Gallup Organization's Web site just before Super Tuesday primary elections - but whomever the hacker was, he or she didn't change any survey data from Gallup. Gallup says no poll data was compromised because the Web site (www.gallup.com) wouldn't be connected to internal computers storing poll results until Sept. 1 - which, by the way, is when Gallup plans to make available online 65 years' worth of data. The Gallup site was hit March 5 in what APBNews.com calls "an obvious way," but it took about six hours before the hit was spotted and repaired. The risk: a false report of an underdog, or other subtle changes, could have been seen and reported by the mainstream press as the genuine data. But all the hacker did was alter part of the Gallup site with a claim that a prominent Web site on computer security, AntiOnline, was responsible for the attack. Gallup complained to AntiOnline, which says they were used to such protest - they were targeted for hacker protests last summer after offering to help law enforcement hunt and prosecute the breed.
MILWAUKEE - He found his immediate future by hacking the Army - Global Hell hacking group member Chad Davis is going to prison for six months, and he'll be $8,054 poorer - the fine and sentence stemming from his January guilty plea. Davis hacked into the Army site without authorization and altered the opening site page by putting up the signature page of Global Hell. Davis was also ordered to reimburse the Army for the cost of restoring the site and to serve three years' supervised release after he gets out of prison.
NEW YORK - Most people surveyed think hackers won't be able to elude the long cyberarm of the law for very long, according to the Zogby polling organization. Two thirds of about 1,155 adults surveyed said it wouldn't be long before hackers like those who spam-bombed Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay and other high-profile Web sites in early February were made to answer for their attacks. Zogby also says about 35 percent of those surveyed agreed strongly that the culprits in those high-profile hacks would be arrested imminently, though 32 percent answering the same poll said they're only slightly convinced. Law enforcement at various federal and state levels continues probing the early February attacks. Last week, the adult Internet's most visited Web site in January - Porncity.net - was hit with a variation of those attacks, telling AVN On The Net the hacker(s) used a name check technique instead of the standard information-packet spam bomb. Only 15 percent in the Zogby survey believe hackers have little or nothing to fear from the law in the near future, while 10 percent think the February spam-bombers are likely to mount more cybersorties before they're finally bagged.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
