Two teenagers were detained last night in connection with the hacking of the Fine Gael website earlier this year.
The Fine Gael site was alleged to have been targeted by Anonymous, the vigilante Internet group which has been responsible for a recent spate of attacks on companies and other organisations.
After raiding a house in Birr, Offaly, Donncha Carroll, 18 years old and also the son of independent counsellor John Carroll was detained.
Gardai also uncovered chemicals and equipment, which can be used in the manufacture of ecstasy, at the house in Offaly.
A second man was also detained after a raid on a house in Galway.
Evidence has been seized from both houses allegedly linking both of the accused to the attack on the Fine Gael website.
It is not yet known if the FBI are looking to question the two individuals regarding other crimes committed by Anonymous.
Recent posts on the Sony Music Ireland website suggest that the website has been hacked. On the posts it claims that:
- Two members of the Dublin band The Crypt have comitted suicide
- Scientists have proven tha the X-Factor is for stupid people
- Singer Rebecca Black has married R. Kelly
The website now directs to the Facebook page of Sony Music Ireland which would suggest that an investigation is underway as to how this might have happened.
It is not yet known when the website will come back online and Sony Music Ireland have yet to make a comment.
Mobile phone users have been receiving text messages that claim to be from AIB Bank
The text appears to come from sender: AIB 
The message is as follows:
“Your AIB code card has been locked for security reasons due to recent fraud attempts. please visit http://www.aib-security.org to update your account”
If you receive a message like this do not visit the website as it is fraudulent and not operated by AIB Bank.
Although not confirmed, IT Security Consultant Alan O’Regan from Secured.ie reports that the fraudsters are using popular national websites like donedeal.ie to harvest Irish mobile numbers.
Personal information including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and passwords have been made public online after the website http://www.theirishfield.ie was hacked. The Gardai and the Data Protection Office has been notified and are investigating the circumstances surrounding the breach.
It is understood that the personal details were posted on the boards.ie website but were taken down shortly after one of the moderators were made aware of the posting. It is believed that the data will surface elsewhere on the Internet however.
As people generally tend to use the same password for numerous accounts, in the case of a breach like this, it can also end up with email addresses and other user accounts being compromised.
Researchers pointed out a number of vulnerabilities on McAfee’s website last week, the company who provides antivirus software and vulnerability assessment on websites to ensure they are “Hacker Safe”.
McAfee had said that it was aware of the vulnerabilities and is working to fix them. “It is important to note that these vulnerabilities do not expose any of McAfee’s customer, partner or corporate information,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, we have not seen any malicious exploitation of the vulnerabilities.”
But is this really good enough from a company who charges to protect others? It’s also important to note that this is not the first time that vulnerabilities have been pointed out on their website.
Yesterday the 8th of February the RecruitIreland.com website was compromised. It is believed spammers gained access to the database and compromised names and email addresses for the purposes of spamming.
The website is currently offline as it is not yet determined how the attack happened. It is believed to be under investigation but in cases like this it is usually down to poor coding.
It is not yet known when the website will come back online.
If you are signed up with RecruitIreland.com you may receive emails similar to the one below which should be ignored. You may also want to think about changing your email password, as like many, you may have used the same password for your email as you did on recruitireland.com
