Compromised: Official website of the SC hacked

Hacker tells CJP on the webpage ‘to help the poor, needy and hungry’.

KARACHI: “Supreme Court of Pakistan is in untalented hands.” This was the message displayed on the official website of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday after it was defaced by a hacker going by the alias Zombie_Ksa.

The hacker declared that his intent to deface the site was ideological in nature to send a message to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry: “I am here to request you to go out and help the poor, needy and hungry. They don’t have money to eat one-time meal, they don’t have clothes to wear, and they don’t have accommodation … sitting in your royal chair won’t make any changes to our Pakistan.”

According to reports, the webpage had been compromised at 8:00am, but the hacker may have had access to the website as early as Monday night. The defaced page was removed by website administrators.

According to reports the message also included a request to the chief justice to order the Pakistan Tele­communication Authority (PTA) to block access to all porno­graphic content on the internet.

According to a July 2010 release by the Press Information Department, Zombie_Ksa had been identified as Jawad Ehsan alias Hamza and is the founder of PAKBugs, a group of hackers.

According to the press release and independent website Zone-H, Zombie_Ksa had carried out at least 169 defacements, of which 69 were single IP and 100 mass defacements. According to Zone-H.org, he has defaced the websites of the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), National Productivity Organisation (NPO), Pakistan Computer Bureau (PCB), Press Information Department (PID) as well as other government and private websites.

The NR3C wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had at the time nabbed five members of PAKBugs from across Pakistan, while Zombie_Ksa was believed to be at large in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Supreme Court website had previously been hacked on September 29, 2010. The hackers had defaced the insignia and left derogatory and abusive remarks against the judiciary.

The NR3C wing had arrested two boys from Kohat in connection with the case. Saim Ali Shah and Salal Ali Shah were believed to be involved with the Pakistan Cyber Army and PAKBugs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th,  2011.