Many US Government departments have been recently targeted by scammers who posted ads for hacking services on their websites. This includes local, country, state, and even some federal government sites.
The problem was first noticed by a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab named John Scott-Railton. He also helped put together a list of all the sites that have been affected. However, it’s too early to say if these were the only victims or if there are more affected websites.
List Of Victims
Some of the site names that have been recorded belong to the state governments of New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Washington, and Wyoming; Franklin County in Ohio, St. Louis County in Minnesota, Sussex County in Delaware; and the federal Administration for Community Living.
A quick investigation revealed that some popular university websites have also been the target of a similar attack. So far, many top universities, including Ivy League colleges, have reported the issue.
The list includes Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, United Nations University, UC San Francisco, Metropolitan Community College, University of Texas Southwestern, University of Colorado Denver, University of Washington, and University of Pennsylvania.
Other universities include Jackson State University, Hillsdale College, Lehigh University, Community Colleges of Spokane, Empire State University, Oregon State University, University of Virginia, Hillsdale College, and Universidad Del Norte in Colombia.
The problem was initially thought to be restricted to the US, but the latest reports suggest otherwise. It was found that the University of Buckingham in the U.K has had a similar issue with scammers taking over their official website and posting ads for their hacking services.
What’s The Common Connection?
The list of targets is quite diverse. They neither belong to the same country nor the same industry. So it’s hard to say if all the attacks are connected, and if it’s so, then what’s the reason behind it?
On the other hand, the University of Buckingham in the U.K and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has reported the technique used to exploit their websites was the same. However, there was no mention of Kentico.
Thus, whether there’s a common link between these attacks or if they were all random is hard to say at the moment.
The ads have been uploaded in a PDF format and contain links to several websites. It offered a variety of services which included hacking social media accounts, cheat codes for video games, and supplying fake followers online.
A close look at the date of the documents reveals that these ads might have been online for years. Until the real perpetrators are caught, and the vulnerability is fixed, these organizations are doing all they can to prevent it from happening again.
The senior communications manager at the town of Johns Creek said that they have already fixed the pages with the help of their hosting provider. Meanwhile, the University of California San Diego has asked users to reset their passwords.
While this time around, it looks like a harmless prank by a scammer; it might not be so the next time. These PDFs might simply point to certain websites, but the vulnerability they have found can be easily exploited for more malicious activities.
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Krishi Chowdhary
Journalist
