Houston County officials downplayed an incident involving the county government website this week, saying the security breach doesn’t appear to be the work of a hacking group called Anonymous, which has targeted state government websites in recent weeks.
Early Monday, the site at www.houstoncounty.org was found with “juvenile, inappropriate images,” said Commission Chairman Mark Culver.
“It looked like it was some kind of a prank.”
Perhaps. However, it’s alarming that a supposedly secure government website can be compromised at all. If it’s the work of a prankster, it’s even worse.
The incident should be a wake-up call for every local government entity with important information that is accessible through the Internet; appropriate measures must be taken to mitigate the possibility of hacking.
The Anonymous group – seemingly less a structured organization than a concept embraced by frustrated and angry tech-savvy people around the world – has expressed its displeasure through attacks on high-profile websites. In response to a court-ruling on Internet file-sharing, Anonymous has taken credit for recent cyber attacks on websites operated by the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Copyright office, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.
If Anonymous is targeting random Alabama governmental websites because of the state’s immigration law, it would be prudent for local county and municipal governments to ensure that they’re prepared for potentially malicious cyber attacks, not just troublesome pranksters.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement