Don't TRY to hit me... Hit me!
Remember that scene in the Matrix where Neo does that "come 'n get me" hand wave thing at Agent Smith? Generally speaking, there's a really good reason you NEVER do stuff like that. When you get to thinkin' you're all cool and start taunting people, an ass-whoopin' usually follows. And, without fail, a few splendid cinematic moments later, Keanu is laying on the ground, bleedin', after having been used to rearrange the masonry in a subway tunnel.
Obviously having never learned the "taunting->ass-whoopin'" connection, the folks over at StrongWebmail decided to throw down against the collective badness of the Internet and, apparently, got their butts handed to them in a paper bag. Our friends over at El Reg are reporting that their "Hack our CEO's webmail account" contest ended... well.. pretty much like you would expect.
Here's some free marketing advice to any security company contemplating a "Hack Us If You Can" contest: DON'T. There is no upside to these things, people. If no one hacks you, it likely only proves that no one cares... and if your contest turns out the way that StrongWebmail's did, you can kiss $10K bucks and your reputation goodbye all in one fell swoop.
Update: Mike Bailey, one of the trio of researchers involved in popping the account, has put up a blog entry that doesn't say much, but confirms the hack.
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Tom Liston - Handler On Duty - InGuardians, Inc.
Chalk one up for the good guys
Based on a complaint filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the San Jose Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a temporary restraining order has been issued, effectively shuttering a rogue Internet Service Provider that allegedly recruits, knowingly hosts, and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child pornography, and other harmful electronic content.
The complaint alleges that Pricewert LLC, which does business under a variety of names including 3FN and APS Telecom, actively shielded its criminal clientele by either ignoring take-down requests issued by the online security community, or shifting its criminal elements to other Internet protocol addresses it controlled to evade detection.
The FTC also alleges that the defendant engaged in the deployment and operation of botnets – in filings with the district court, it is alleged that more than 4,500 bots were controlled by command-and-control servers hosted by 3FN.
More information is availble from the FTC's website.
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