Security vendor admits mistake in website take down

Rapid7 has acknowledged that it waited too long to take the security actions needed to prevent a pro-Palestine hacking group from taking down two of its websites by sending a fax to the sites’ registrar.

The group, called KDMS, sent the phony fax Friday to Register.com, requesting a change to the IP addresses associated with the URLs of Rapid7 and Metasploit. As a result, visitors to the sites’ homepages were redirected to a politically charged message.

Following the unsophisticated attack, Rapid7 asked the registrar to block all future changes to its domains, unless it gets authorization by phone, HD Moore, chief security officer for Rapid7 and developer of the Metasploit penetration testing suite, told CSOonline. The vendor also is considering similar top-level domain (TLD) locks.

SOURCE: networkworld.com