Hacking Contest Affects UAE Internet
July 2003
Internet users in the UAE had a fairly rough time accessing the Web due to the International Hacking Competition on 6th July, although no undue damage was reported by companies, thanks to the stringent precautionary checks put in place by the country's ISP, Emirates Internet and Multimedia (EIM), a subsidiary of Etisalat.Many Internet users in Abu Dhabi reported difficulties and slowing down of their systems yesterday during the six-hour long hacking competition.
According to Syed Faheem Jafar, System Engineer and Customer Support Services official at a multinational computer manufacturer, the company experienced a slowing down of its Intranet facilities, and also found logging on to the Internet difficult.
Abdulla Hashim, Acting General Manager of EIM, told Khaleej Times: "In line with the recently issued alert from The Information Technology - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC), pertaining to the global 'Defacers Challenge', EIM/ Etisalat has taken every measure to ensure the UAE's Internet community has been made aware of the potential threat as well as providing a list of actions organisations should take to reduce the risk of attack."
Mr Hashim added that as part of its community support endeavour, EIM had also posted a warning on its web site to caution the UAE's Internet community. EIM said in its message that the IT-ISAC, which monitored the Web for possible threats had announced that hackers were planning a so-called 'Web site defacement challenge', the goal of which was for participants to deface as many sites as possible within a six-hour time limit.
Globetechnology.com, an Internet web site dedicated to technology updates, reported that the main purpose of the six-hour global challenge was to determine "who is the best one of all."
The challenger's web site, www.defacers-challenge.com, set up by someone calling themself Eleonora [67], said so many people had signed up for the contest that they had given up registering contestants via e-mail. Access to this web site, however, was blocked in the UAE by EIM.
Globetechnology.com sources noted that although organisers planned to keep the competition under wraps, it had become the subject of international media attention. Although hacking competitions are not unusual, this one prompted warnings in New Zealand, Hong Kong and throughout Europe.
The aim of the competition was to hack 6,000 sites in the six-hour period, which commenced approximately at 10am UAE time (2am EDT)
Khaleej Times Source…
