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alex
Developer
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Age: 22
Posts: 6179
Location: DC Metro Area
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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: 7562
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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Jerry
"No one is the same you can't compare yourself to other people because everyone is different" - Michelle
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Mum2ASDboy
Velociraptor
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 468
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: 1154
Location: North of SF Bay Area
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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
Why so serious?
Joined: Apr 28, 2006
Posts: 16051
Location: Wreaking havoc in Gotham
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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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I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you.....stranger. |
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Odin
Supreme Genius
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Age: 22
Posts: 1878
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: 6294
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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new, adj. Different colour from previous model.
Novinson's Revolutionary Discovery: When comes the revolution, things will be different -- not better, just different. |
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TheMidnightJudge
autist
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 1183
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: 1038
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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
Sea Gull
Joined: Feb 01, 2007
Age: 38
Posts: 210
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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
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 04, 2007
Posts: 741
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: 3315
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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Oh say, can you see? Everyone is dumb but me. I'm never ever wrong, and that's all you'll ever be. |
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iamnotaparakeet
Enemy of Wal-Mart!!!
Joined: Aug 01, 2007
Age: 22
Posts: 9100
Location: 44.7N 93.6W
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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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Ego non psittacus sum, sed amici mei psittaci sunt.
Deum meum culpabant ob toto malo, sed Deum meum laudabo ob toto bono. |
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LostInEmulation
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 11, 2008
Posts: 835
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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I am no native speaker. Please contact me, if I made grammatical mistakes in the posting above.
Mikomi: Why don't we cure assholes instead of autistics? I really think that would be a much more worthwhile cause.
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