Script Kiddies: Vermin Of The Internet? - Who Do Script Kiddies Target?
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It isn't just the casual surfer who is affected by Script Kiddies. Web Site owners are often the targets of "vandals", also known as "Web Crackers". Web cracking is a popular Kiddie past time. These individuals derive great pleasure from making changes to your web site without your knowledge. They access authoring rights to your site by "stealing" your password in a variety of ways. It isn't financially, politically or religiously motivated, it's just vandalism.
A real hacker would not carry out this type of foolishness, this is the realm of the gutless, immature Script Kiddie. It's a bit like that mindless graffiti you see sprayed all over our towns and cities.
In the case of the web site owner, it is imperative that you immediately contact your hosting service as the security of your site has been breached (and therefore probably the whole server). The server's logs record all the activity on your site, and Script Kiddies are notorious for leaving "footprints" behind.
Don't just shrug your shoulders and re-publish your site. What has just occurred to you is cyber-terrorism. There are a number of laws currently being introduced worldwide that will punish cyber-terrorists severely. It is unfortunate the offences are termed cyber-terrorism. In the case of the Script Kiddies it should be called cyber-idiocy. It should carry the death penalty, castration or at least they should be sentenced to a life of using a 386DX40 running Windows 95 rev. A! ;0)
Some other points of contact if your site is attacked are:
National Infrastructure Protection Center. The NIPC are a part of the FBI. On its site, there are forms that you can submit to report any incidents. It also contains up to date information on security threats and advice for ecommerce merchants.
http://www.nipc.gov/For a more detailed listing of U.S points of contact, The Cyber crime site will have what you need:
http://www.cybercrime.gov/reporting.htmIn most countries, probably the best second point of call after your contacting your hosting service would be the Police.
The Internet community, either surfers, website owners or ecommerce merchants will only stamp out this problem if we actually do something about it. Don't let those valuable firewall logs go to waste. But if you are going to send them, ensure that what you send shows an established pattern of scans originating from the same source - at least 5 entries in a session. Random scans are very hard to track. A topic for another article.
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