Hackers hit over 200,000 sites

More than 200,000 websites have been invaded by criminal gangs that have acquired administrative log-in credentials and have used the compromised domains to attack unsuspecting users' PCs. Ian Amit, director of security research at Aladdin Knowledge Systems Inc., told Computerworld.com that he found and infiltrated a server belonging to a longtime customer of Neosploit, a hacker tool kit used by cybercriminals to launch exploits against browsers and popular web software such as Apple's QuickTime and Adobe Systems' Adobe Reader.

Amit said he uncovered logs showing that two or three hacker groups had contributed to a massive pool of website usernames and passwords. "We have counted more than 208,000 unique site credentials on the server and over 80,000 had been modified with malicious content," he said.

He added that the server-based application that validated the credentials, and then modified the sites, was completely automated. Also, Amit said, access to that application was restricted to about six or seven IP addresses, making it clear that that access was intended only for the use of the criminals using the server.

For more on these hacker activities:For more:
- see this Computerworld.com article