US Consulate Hacked

BOSTON -- IT security and control firm Sophos has reported on its blog that webpages of the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg, Russia, were compromised by hackers earlier this week. The infected pages have since been cleaned up.

The attack was part of a larger campaign by cybercriminals in which vulnerable web servers were targeted. This resulted in more than 400 webpages around the world being infected over the last week. The majority of the compromised pages were hosted in Russia. More information and a graphic of the malicious script can be found on the Sophos blog at www.sophos.com/security/blog/2007/09/580.html

"Over the last few months we have seen a multitude of high profile organizations and government agencies come under attack by cybercriminals,” said Ron O’Brien, senior security analyst for Boston-based Sophos. “The frequency of these attacks is alarming and signifies that any organization, no matter the size or stature, is a target for hackers and malicious activity.”

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