Yahoo News hacked, story changed

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Online news took a hit this week with Yahoo's acknowledgment that a hacker substantially altered a news story that appeared on its site.

The changes, which have since been removed, were made to an Aug. 23 Reuters story about the Russian software programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, who stands accused of violating U.S. copyright law.

According to Yahoo, news of the hack was first reported and brought to the company's attention by SecurityFocus.com this week. A Yahoo representative said the Web portal had taken "appropriate steps to block unauthorized access" to its production tools.

The hacks are the latest in an ongoing headache for online news organizations. Previous incidents include the defacement of The New York Times Web site and an attack one year ago on the Orange County Register's Web site.

In those incidents, hackers appeared to be using the sites to make a political point or simply to make trouble. But in the attack on Yahoo News, the hacker, Adrian Lamo, said he was acting to demonstrate Yahoo's security lapses, according to the SecurityFocus report.

Some of Lamo's changes were whimsical, but others were substantial factual misrepresentations. For example, Lamo's altered story reported that the Russian hacker faced the death penalty if convicted, SecurityFocus reported.

Lamo also told SecurityFocus that he'd been able to change Yahoo News stories over the course of three weeks and that he had changed other stories in addition to the Aug. 23 Reuters story.

Yahoo would not comment on whether it planned legal action against Lamo over the incidents.

The Yahoo News caper is not Lamo's first warning to a Web company. In May, he brought to light security lapses in Excite@Home's network, which the broadband Internet access provider later thanked him for catching.

Lamo, the founder and a staff writer for the Inside-AOL Web site, was also credited last year for exposing a hole in America Online's instant-messaging application.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-273284.html#ixzz103UetDOB

Source:

Festa, By Paul. "Yahoo News Hacked, Story Changed - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. .

(Reuters) - A British computer hacker accused by the United States of breaking into military and government networks has won more time in his fight against extradition, his lawyer said on Thursday.

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Gary McKinnon, 44, who says he was trawling for evidence of aliens and secret technology, could be jailed for up to 70 years if he is convicted for what U.S. officials have described as the "biggest military computer hack of all time."

His lawyer Karen Todner said she has successfully lobbied Home Secretary Theresa May to reconsider the U.S. extradition request.

"(The minister) wishes to have appropriate time fully to consider the issues in the case," Todner said in a statement.

Todner says McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, is too ill to be sent for trial in the United States. She has asked senior judges to review a ruling by former Home Secretary Alan Johnson that McKinnon is fit to be extradited and that it would not breach his human rights.

The government has agreed to delay that review, due to be held next week at the High Court, and McKinnon will stay in Britain for the time being.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The home secretary has considered the proposal from Gary McKinnon's legal team and has agreed an adjournment should be sought. An application to the court is being made today (Thursday)."

McKinnon was arrested in 2002 after U.S. prosecutors charged him with illegally accessing computers, including systems at the Pentagon and NASA, and causing $900,000 (630,000 pounds) worth of damage.

They say he deleted files, copied passwords and forced the closure of a government computer network in Washington, leaving 2,000 workers without internet and email access for three days.

McKinnon later told Reuters that he just wanted to find out whether aliens really existed. He became obsessed with looking through large military data networks for any proof that they might be out there.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the case raises "serious questions" about the extradition treaty between Britain and the United States. His deputy Nick Clegg has campaigned for McKinnon to be tried in a British court.

Source:

 "Omputer Hacker Gary McKinnon Wins More Time to Fight US Extradition." Www.hacking-news.com. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. .ource