Hacking epilepsy sight with flashing pix

[BIG_DADDY]

Unbelievable.

Hackers' posts on epilepsy forum cause migraines, seizures


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Computer attacks typically don't 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 Web site 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're 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 colors.

"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation.

He said legitimate users are no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it is now moderated around the clock. He said the FBI is investigating the breach.

Security experts said the attack highlights the dangers of Web sites giving visitors great freedom to post content to different parts of the site.

In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Sen. Barack Obama's Web site to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's official campaign site.

The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site didn't appear to care about profit. The harmful pages didn't appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance.

"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline - they don't realize how cruel it is," said Paul Ferguson, a security researcher at antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. "It was an opportunity waiting to happen for some mean-spirited kid."

In a similar attack this year, a piece of malicious code was released that disabled software that reads text aloud from a computer screen for blind and visually impaired people. That attack appeared to have been designed to cripple the computers of people using illegal copies of the software, researchers said.

[Rain Man]

Is this really more cruel than starting a thread on Chiefsplanet with pictures of attractive women?

[BIG_DADDY]

Is this really more cruel than starting a thread on Chiefsplanet with pictures of attractive women?


That thread RULES!!!!

[Redrum_69]

"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline"


Damn, thats messed up. Why do people have to be cruel to clotheslines and bags...


Besides, every teenager knows its more fun to toss the cat in oil and set it on fire and watch it run around the yard...

[Hammock Parties]

Inventive.

[stlchiefs]

Hopefully they track down this pieces of chit hackers and charge them to the fullest. They knew exactly what they were doing in hacking the site and setting these links.

Anyone who has known anyone who has epilepsy or seen a person have a seizure realizes the seriousness and gravity of these actions. Major injuries and even death can occur during a seizure.

[sedated]

would be funny if it didnt actually hurt people.


like if they just made people piss themselves or something.

[chasedude]

Wow this is a first, clearly nothing is sacred in the internet anymore.

[vailpass]

There is a bridge where seizures are no more,
where migraines float away on whisps of cotton candy
and pissing yourself as you foam at the mouth and do the chicken on the living room floor is but a distant memory......

[Bob Dole]

Wow this is a first, clearly nothing is sacred in the internet anymore.

Actually, if it just happened again that's at least the second instance.

[Hammock Parties]

There is a bridge where seizures are no more,
where migraines float away on whisps of cotton candy
and pissing yourself as you foam at the mouth and do the chicken on the living room floor is but a distant memory......

You need a banstick up the ass.

[vailpass]

You need a banstick up the ass.

1.Quit trying to jump on the big boy bandwagon, as usual you don't belong.
2. The last person on this board to talk about banning is you Draven.
3.Your "up the ass" imagery is disturbing yet true to form.

[Hammock Parties]

You still need a banstick up the ass. You're a ****ing shithead.

[chasedude]

Actually, if it just happened again that's at least the second instance.

The first I've heard of it.

I don't think I could get my mind sinister enough to come up with a scheme like this.

[chasedude]

There is a bridge where seizures are no more,
where migraines float away on whisps of cotton candy
and pissing yourself as you foam at the mouth and do the chicken on the living room floor is but a distant memory......

do you really enjoy the shit you stir up?

[sedated]

do you really enjoy the shit you stir up?

I thought it was funny, but I guess that doesn't surprise anyone

[The Franchise]

Normally this wouldn't cross my mind but my girlfriend has a one year old girl who has seizures. I'd love to be in a room for 5 minutes with these stupid ass hackers. They're nothing more than a waste of skin.

[KcMizzou]

Don't hate me for this... It gave me a chuckle, and I thought I'd pass it along...



Q. What do you do when an epileptic has a seizure in the bath tub?


A. Throw in your laundry.

[Dartgod]

Don't hate me for this... It gave me a chuckle, and I thought I'd pass it along...



Q. What do you do when an epileptic has a seizure in the bath tub?


A. Throw in your laundry.
BAN HIM!!! :cuss:

[Tribal Warfare]

This is F*CKED up, if any of you ever experienced a grand mal seizure, you wouldn't be laughing. It's a very very frightening experience that could kill someone.

[KcMizzou]

This is F*CKED up, if any of you ever experienced a grand mal seizure, you wouldn't be laughing. It's a very very frightening experience that could kill someone.My brother has. It was scary. I don't mean to make light of it... but I couldn't help but find the laundry joke amusing. The prank, not so much...

[Dartgod]

I did learn something valuable today.
"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline..."
:hmmm:

[Redrum_69]

I did learn something valuable today.

:hmmm:




or almost as messed up as this...

http://www.wsbtv.com/petplace/16200301/detail.html

BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A dog found wandering the streets of a Pittsburgh suburb was wearing a collar made of fish hooks.

The cruel collar forced the dog to undergo surgery to remove at least one of the hooks from his neck.

Humane officers at the SPCA in North Union told WPXI-TV, a sister station of WSB-TV Channel 2, this was an unusual case of animal cruelty and they have no idea who is responsible or why someone would do something so terrible.

The dog is recovering from surgery to remove the fish hook from his neck -- one of 15 that someone had attached to the inside of his collar.

SPCA Humane Officer Elizabeth Davidson said a resident found the dog wandering along Englishman Hill Road in Bullskin Township.

“When we found the collar it was extremely tight on the dog,” Davidson said.

No one knows for sure how just how long the dog, which rescuers named Hooks, had been walking around with the collar full of fish hooks. But humane officers want to get to the bottom of this and soon.

“Very sad story, but if anyone has information on owner of dog or knows how dog may have ended up in that condition,” Davidson said to let animal officials know.

Hooks is on antibiotics to prevent an infection.

Humane officers said that if the dog had not gotten treatment when he did, he probably would have died within a few days.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

This is F*CKED up, if any of you ever experienced a grand mal seizure, you wouldn't be laughing. It's a very very frightening experience that could kill someone.

I have a buddy who had one at Seattle Center one day. It was not a fun experience, we were trying to keep him from swallowing his tongue. They are pretty freaky.

[stlchiefs]

My first day of law school 5 minutes before my first class started my then girlfriend, now fiancee called me. She did not make any sense in what she was saying, but I was able to understand that she was very disoriented, light headed and dizzy. I then had to sit there and listen as she fell down, hit her head and went into a seizure on the other end of the phone while none of her roommates were home. That was a fun experience.

[bogey]

There is a bridge where seizures are no more,
where migraines float away on whisps of cotton candy
and pissing yourself as you foam at the mouth and do the chicken on the living room floor is but a distant memory......

Filter youngin'. Your adult life will be much better if you find your filter.

[Adept Havelock]

I thought it was funny, but I guess that doesn't surprise anyone

Considering you're ignorant enough to brag about DWI, it doesn't surprise me at all.

I wonder how funny it would be if it had set off a Grand Mal seizure on a loved one who was alone at the time.

Provided you've got anything in your life that qualifies as one, that is. ;)

[teedubya]

Apparently, so far... 2 of the epileptic site visitors have died from these hackers! WTF

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0836799020080508 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU)

[MTG#10]

Don't hate me for this... It gave me a chuckle, and I thought I'd pass it along...



Q. What do you do when an epileptic has a seizure in the bath tub?


A. Throw in your laundry.

:LOL:

[mcan]

Apparently, so far... 2 of the epileptic site visitors have died from these hackers! WTF

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0836799020080508 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU)



I just got Rick Roll'd...

This joke does NOT get old.

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

It's amazing how threads like this make it so much easier who to put on ignore.

One day, I'm going to wonder why it's so quiet and realize there's only about six people I haven't ignored yet.

*sigh*

[Frazod]

It's amazing how threads like this make it so much easier who to put on ignore.

One day, I'm going to wonder why it's so quiet and realize there's only about six people I haven't ignored yet.

*sigh*

FTR, that new ignore function works beautifully. Better even than CPiggy did.

sedated, vailpass, Hog Farmer... poof - they're gone.

This must be what Andy Dufresne felt like when he emerged from the sewage pipe at the end of Shawshank Redemption.

[SLAG]

My wife is an Epileptic, She has had a few Tonic Clonic Seizures once with the baby and her all by her self while I ran to the store, Shes not photsensitive but its still a serious condition.

Potentially this kind of hack could cause some major damage and many deaths if places on a forum specific for photosensitive epileptics- I mean the potential for harm is probably greater than what Robert Courtney ever did.

its easy to sit back and make fun of all this kind of stuff, but this kinda of malice can cause more harm than most of the other dumbassery that goes on online

[mikey23545]

FTR, that new ignore function works beautifully. Better even than CPiggy did.

sedated, vailpass, Hog Farmer... poof - they're gone.

<b>This must be what Andy Dufresne felt like when he emerged from the sewage pipe at the end of Shawshank Redemption.</b>

ROFL

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

FTR, that new ignore function works beautifully. Better even than CPiggy did.

sedated, vailpass, Hog Farmer... poof - they're gone.

This must be what Andy Dufresne felt like when he emerged from the sewage pipe at the end of Shawshank Redemption.

Just tried it for the first time. Sweet!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. :thumb: