PAL website falls victim to mass hacking attack
Updated 08:04pm (Mla time) Nov 30, 2004
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
Inquirer News Service, INQ7.net
(UPDATE) THE PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) website fell victim Tuesday to a mass defacement done by a hacker group called "kernel_attack," INQ7.net has learned.
"This group is believed to be from Brazil. Yesterday, zone-h recorded 47 attacks by this group," a post on the weblog (www.phackers.org) of the Internet Security and Warfare (ISAW) group, which monitors hacking attacks in the Philippines, indicated.
Kernel_attack was among the top 50 defacers based on a ranking at zone-h.org, a website that keeps track of hacking attacks internationally.
On Tuesday morning, the PAL website displayed the words "kernel_attack" according to a screenshot posted on the ISAW blog.
Visitors were not redirected to a Geocities page as earlier reported, though the kernel_attack image
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was hosted on a Geocities page.
The site was back to normal shortly after 9 a.m. but was observed to be inaccessible shortly before noon.
The PAL site remains inaccessible as of posting time.
PAL personnel confirmed that the airline's website had been hacked.
"Our IT department [has] said that it was hacked," PAL customer service personnel said when INQ7.net called the PAL customer hotline.
INQ7.net asked for the number of the airlines' information technology department , but was told that the number was "confidential."
The PAL corporate communications department declined to comment until more information became available.
The PAL website is used by travelers to book flights using their credit cards, check promos, and log on to their account if they are members of the airline's frequent flyers club.
Early this month, a hacker breached a mobile phone text messaging server that handles text messaging inquiries for PAL flight schedules.
With a report from Allan A. Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao Bureau, from Davao City (first posted 9:52 AM)