Ooooh, Cyberthreat!

The Hacker group Lulz Security claims it briefly brought down the public site of the US Central Intelligence Agency CIA).

The US spy agency's cia.gov website stopped responding on Wednesday and members of the group claimed credit in a message on Twitter at @LulzSec.

"Tango down - cia.gov," the message read. "For the lulz"

  alJazeera

Not exactly praiseworthy. You brought down a public website, not the CIA. Exciting, isn’t it?

Cia.gov was back online within two hours.

The public couldn’t access CIA propaganda for a while. It’s not as if it put the CIA out of business. But it did get their attention.

Marie Harf, a CIA spokeswoman, said the agency was looking into the reports.

[...]

On Monday, Lulz Security accessed a Senate server that supports the Senate's public website but did not breach other files, according to a Capitol law enforcement official.

The hackers said the release was a "just for kicks" attempt to help the government "fix their issues".

[...]

Lulz Security claimed that it had added a Senate file to its list of successful, high-profile intrusions at a time when governments and corporations are on high guard for cyber intrusions.

The group has suggested it is trying to highlight cyber security weaknesses.

Uh, no again. The CIA doesn’t have just one server. And the CIA undoubtedly does not have security sensitive files on the same server as its public website. And the CIA does not have any need to have its public website server secured from hacking threats other than enough security to prevent being annoyed and having to spend a couple of hours getting back on line (or maybe 15 minutes - who knows how long it took them to even realize their public website was down?). Perhaps they didn't figure anybody would be stupid enough to make them have to do that. And actually, if they wanted to, they could catch would-be anarchists or little kids who think they might grow up to cause the government some trouble by leaving that server with a way in that would catch those not-ready-for-prime-time players. So probably all you’re getting out of these little escapades is a serious federal agency on your case. Prepare to find the rest of your lives screwed.

How old are you guys? Fifteen? Twelve?

On the other hand, I heard of a man who used to drink RoundUp to prove that it wasn't harmful to humans. Just because you think you CAN do something doesn't mean it's wise to try. A little thought about the possible consequences versus the rewards would be a good investment.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.