"flash-flash" Booooooooooooooooooooooo
ommm!!!
COMPUTER attacks typically do not inflict physical pain on their victims.
But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money,
hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's website with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.
The breach triggered severe migraines and near seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images.
People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they are exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.
The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that allowed them to quickly make numerous posts and overwhelm the site's support forums.
Within the hackers' posts were small flashing pictures and links, masquerading as helpful, to pages that exploded with kaleidoscopic images pulsating with different colours.
"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing for the foundation, which is based in Landover, Maryland.
He said legitimate users were no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it was now moderated around the clock.
He said the FBI was investigating the breach.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23686366-24169,00.html
