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alex
Developer
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Age: 22
Posts: 6292
Location: DC Metro Area (No. VA)
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 Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:09 pm Post subject: Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer |
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In what might be the first physical attack over the Internet, hackers bombard an epileptic patient forum with images intended to trigger seizures.
Internet griefers descended on an epilepsy support message board last weekend and used JavaScript code and flashing computer animation to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in some users.
The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation, which runs the forum, briefly closed the site Sunday to purge the offending messages and to boost security.
"We are seeing people affected," says Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing at the Epilepsy Foundation. "It's fortunately only a handful. It's possible that people are just not reporting yet -- people affected by it may not be coming back to the forum so fast."
The incident, possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims, began Saturday, March 22, when attackers used a script to post hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs.
The attackers turned to a more effective tactic on Sunday, injecting JavaScript into some posts that redirected users' browsers to a page with a more complex image designed to trigger seizures in both photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy |
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JerryHatake
Kumdo Practitioner
Joined: Jul 02, 2006
Age: 20
Posts: 8961
Location: Woodbridge, VA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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Thats just wrong to do.
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Mum2ASDboy
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 537
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Can those hackers be found and charged with assault??? What they did is just dispicable  |
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velodog
Gold Supporter
Joined: Mar 16, 2008
Posts: 1251
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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Scum like this deserve serious physical damage done to them.  |
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Quatermass
Yahtzee's Protege
Joined: Apr 28, 2006
Posts: 16813
Location: Somewhere with a sweet hat and a chip on my shoulder
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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They're ba***rds. True and simple.
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Odin
Supreme Genius
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Age: 22
Posts: 1885
Location: Moorhead, Minnesota, USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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Those bastards need to spend some quality time in prison. 
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lau
Quinquaginta Novem! Male Gee-knee-us + silly bits.
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 59
Posts: 7042
Location: Somerset UK
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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I find them quite sad. The hackers concerned obviously have major deficits in their level of humanity.
At least the epileptics have nothing as serious wrong with them - they are still human. Those hackers are not.
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TheMidnightJudge
autist
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 1311
Location: New England
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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Black Ice
Yeah that's pretty bad. |
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tweety_fan
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 03, 2007
Posts: 1348
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:29 am Post subject: |
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what a bunch of lowlifes
that is a horrid thing to do and they should be charged with assault.
i am epileptic as well (although i have seizures very occasionally and they are not caused by flashing images) |
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kitsunetsuki
Toucan
Joined: Feb 01, 2007
Age: 38
Posts: 250
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:47 am Post subject: |
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I'm epileptic my self and photo sensitive, I've seen less organised things like this happen before, like some lone idiot who thinks they are amusing posting flashing images on support sites.I'm sad to see people would do something like this but not surprised.
I do love firefox with adblock and noscript to avoid animations , although I have my monitor filtered so I can play games , people make weird flashy adds that can catch one off guard. |
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AspieZach
Snowy Owl
Joined: Mar 31, 2008
Age: 22
Posts: 137
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:32 am Post subject: |
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| I think its kinda amusing though how Anonymous gets instantly blamed without much fact to back it up. |
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jrknothead
News Junkie
Joined: Aug 04, 2007
Age: 42
Posts: 1101
Location: Tampa Bay, Florida USA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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It wasn't Anonymous... the messages that started it all were placed on chan message boards, and traced back to Scientology IPs... It was Scientology pretending to be Anonymous...
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GoatOnFire
Greatest Of All Time
Joined: Feb 23, 2007
Posts: 3358
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Even I don't think that's funny. And I usually find trolls funny.
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iamnotaparakeet
Centurio Caesareae
Joined: Aug 01, 2007
Age: 22
Posts: 11615
Location: Domus Psittacorum
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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I'm glad everyone can agree that this is wrong.
Edit: except, of course, the jerks who did it.
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LostInEmulation
Penguin
Joined: Feb 11, 2008
Posts: 1226
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:46 am Post subject: |
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FSCKTARDS! Lowlife! Scum! Windows-ME-users!
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