Hackers deface borough website

MAT-SU — For a five-minute window on Friday afternoon, visitors to the Mat-Su Borough website were re-directed to an anti-Israel slideshow.

A brief message posted in place of the borough website said the hacking was the work of “Xjok ErTn” and “xWARRIORtn,” members of the Fallaga hacker team, which operates out of Tunisia, and derives its name from anti-colonial insurgents who fought against French forces during the war for Tunisian independence, according to an interview with a group member posted on the alternative media network Vice in late June 2013. The group has in the past conducted series of attempts against prominent Israeli and Western institutions.

The slide show featured several images of prominent Middle Eastern leaders, including Syria’s Bashir Al-Assad on a red background with blood digitally painted around their mouths, as well as scenes of bombings and militants supplicated in prayer with their weapons.

“Hi Israel,” the initial message reads. “We are the same people who (expletive) you on 07 April 2014 and now we are back to Punish you again ^-^”

“Muslims is (sic) Everywhere,” the message continues. “Freedom for Palestine.”

Borough IT personnel took the site down altogether at 2:05 p.m. then removed two files and altered another file which had been defaced on the borough server. The initial attack started at 1:49 p.m., though no changes were made until 2 p.m. (11 p.m. in Tunsia) according to Stefan Hinman with Mat-Su Borough Public Affairs.

“One file was changed and then two files were placed on our server,” he said. “Obviously, this is nothing that we’re affiliated with.”

The website was functioning normally again by 2:15 p.m.

Both Hinman and Borough manager John Moosey said no personal information was at risk because of the hacking.

“We don’t do any of that through this website,” he said. “There’s no private information at risk.”

Officials said they weren’t sure if the digital vandalism should be reported to the authorities, or if so, which authorities to report it to, Moosey said.

“This is the first time we’ve done it,” he said. “With this Internet stuff, who knows? I don’t know the Internet police. That’s why you have security walls and security walls and security walls.”

Hacking attempts on the borough servers are fairly common, though the vast majority of attempts are unsuccessful. Borough information technology personnel have recorded as many as 1.5 million unsuccessful attempts in a single month. The last successful defacement of the borough website occurred in 2008, Hinman said.

“This is a constant deal for everyone that has a website,” he said. “The larger your organization, the more you’re gonna get targeted.”

“Everybody has this problem, and that’s why people spend so much money on information technology,” Hinman added.

The borough website is matsugov.us.