Internet Identity

In separate incidents just days apart, a group calling itself "Peace Crew" hacked into the domain management systems at DomainZ and Nic.pr. The hackers changed the DNS settings for domains owned by several major brands in the .PR (Puerto Rico) and .NZ (New Zealand) ccTLD domain spaces, then redirected the hijacked domains to simple defacement-type web pages. The hacked websites carried the messages: "Hacked by Peace Crew" and "STOP THE WAR ISRAEL". On the Microsoft domains, the hackers added a picture of young Bill Gates sporting the remnants of a cream pie on his face.

DomainZ was attacked on April 21, 2009, followed by Nic.pr getting attacked on April 26. In both cases, the hackers used SQL injection techniques to exploit the domain administration panel on the registrars' systems. The list of brands whose domains were hijacked includes BitDefender, Coca-Cola, Dell, F-Secure, Google, HSBC, Microsoft, Nike, Nokia, PC World, Sony, Symantec, Xerox, and Yahoo.