Interesting MySpace Hacking Technique

Alicia Keys MySpace page was hacked by inserting a seemingly innocent link with interesting width and height. Let’s review the concept.

The link specified a very large width and height which effectively ensured that any click outside of html control will be a click on the above mentioned link which takes you to a page which tried to download malicious Active X control on your page. Such Active X control can do wide range of damage. A simple example would be changing your DNS server to their own. So when you think you are logging on to your bank, you are actually logging on to their server, spilling all your account details. I would leave it to your imagination as to what they can do with it. They can use your server to act as bots which will be part of their bot network and used to do nefarious and often illegal acts (obviously without your consent and knowledge) at their bidding like DDOS attacks, hacking other computers etc.

How can you protect yourself from such hacking attempts?
1. Use Firefox or Opera or Safari, browsers which doesn’t support ActiveX.
2. Firefox notifies you of phishing sites, heed to that warning when available.

Moving away from Internet Explorer alone can save you from most hacking attempts.