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Fox News' FTP Password Anyone?
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Mon Jul 23, 2007 08:07 AM
from the fair-and-balanced dept.
from the fair-and-balanced dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While browsing around the Fox News website, I found that directory indexes are turned on. So, I started following the tree up, until I got to /admin. Eventually, I found my way into /admin/xml_parser/zdnet/, in which, there is a shell script. Seeing as it's a shell script, and I use Linux, I took a peek. Inside, is a username and password to an FTP. So, of course, I tried to login. The result? Epic fail on Fox's part. And seriously, what kind of password is T1me Out. This is just pathetic." It's already been changed of course, but that's still pretty amusing.
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Wasted chance (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.vanderlee.com/)
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Funny)
Now, is that "ton is of free publicity", or does Mr. Ton have a lot of "of free publicity" that he could potentially give to you?
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Tuesday June 19, @07:48AM)
North Korea (Score:5, Insightful)
You make a very good point.
North Korea is also part of the "Axis of Evil". However they have WMD's and some pretty nasty long range missiles. They may not be able to strike The US, but they could devastate South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. We keep begging North Korea to please, pretty please, come to the negotiating table. No talk of invasion there.
Sadam complied with the U.N. inspections we demanded. Grudgingly but he complied. He ended his weapons programs and allowed us and our allies to control two thirds of his air space. (All of this had to be forced on him, but he complied).
So the moral of the story?
If you are an evil dictatorship, do not comply with The US and its allies. Build up your arsenal and become as powerfull and as dangerous as possible. The US only invades weaklings. The US begs for negotiations with the dangerous crackpots.
I believe Iran watched all of this unfold. The way Sadam and Iraq complied, and were rewarded with invasion. The way North Korea refused to comply and became more dangerous, and gets more and more aid on its terms.
This is why Iran has restarted its nuclear program.
Pretty good foreign policy we have, huh?
Ditto on all accounts (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~abh2n | Last Journal: Wednesday October 31, @11:57AM)
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Friday March 31 2006, @11:17AM)
Not everyone who has the president's ear is appointed by him. He showed some bad judgment prior to the invasion and obviously some of his appointees were poor picks given our post-9/11 hindsight. My point is that there wasn't a crystal-clear picture either way prior to invasion, and Bush's vision was even more filtered because those he most trusted were unwilling or unable to tell him the whole story.
Iraq was big stupid mess from day one, no doubt about that. But let's not try to paint the whole administration as malicious warmongering tyrants when in all reality they're just inept shoot-from-the-hip bureaucrats.
The sad thing is, I really don't believe we'd have been much better with either of our presidential alternatives: I think Gore would have found a completely different way to bungle things after 9/11 and make someone miserable (probably us) and Kerry would probably have really fouled up the occupation...yes, even more than Bush.
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
Idle curiosity: Do you think a smart-assed remark about how you, unlike the other guy, are too good for personal attacks is something other than a personal attack?
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Informative)
(http://jcaif.sourceforge.net/)
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Monday August 20, @04:49PM)
Has anyone looked at the development of Dubai over the past 10 years? or the wealth of the royal family in Saudi Arabia? Money is flowing to someone from somewhere over there that is for sure.
Now I'm not saying that Saudi's or UAE citizens are evil by default, simply that there has been absolutely 0 backlash against these regions while the US uses 9/11 to justify everything else it has been doing everywhere else.
Wheres the puzzled slightly-tilted looks of hwhaaa?
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't about believing in WMDs before the invasion. This is about believing that we found WMDs AFTER the invasion. In an October 2003 poll, for example, 7 months after the invasion, 33% of Fox viewers said that the U.S. had actually physically found WMDs in the course of the invasion. That's 10% higher than the next most confused media viewership. This is what some of us would really love to see explained by you "nothing to see here" apologists. Or else, it sounds like you still maintain that's a reasonable belief today?
http://www.americanassembler.com/issues/media/docs /Media_10_02_03_Report.pdf [americanassembler.com]
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.gemstate.net/friends | Last Journal: Tuesday September 11, @10:32AM)
I know that I will get flamed for this but it is the truth.
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Informative)
And, of course, there were also incidents where the insurgent groups got ahold of some lingering chemical weapons (mustard gas, I think) and tried to make bombs out of them--luckily, that also was old and non-effective. Those were widely reported at the time.
In other words, get off your uninformed, sanctimonious high-horse.
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, the issue is not as black and white as the pundits on either side would like you to believe. There is, unfortunately, some wiggle room that gets used to support either one side or the other depending upon the speaker. The problem lies in the strictness of one's definition of WMDs and the categorization by some people of certain chemical weapons as WMDs despite the fact that such weapons are orders or magnitude less destructive than say the nuclear weapons that they are grouped with. Now, having said that it *is* true that US forces in Iraq have, from time to time, come across the odd Artillery shell filled with mustard or even a binary form of sarin in one case (used as a roadside bomb and a couple of US soldiers experienced minor symptoms, but no deaths). At best one could say that such finds are execeedingly rare and do not in and of themselves constitute evidence of a vast and active program on the part of Saddam to develop and use these weapons in the years immediately prior to the invasion. However, proof is proof and if even one shell is found then the number of "WMDs" was not zero and that is why the pundits continue arguing the points. This is splitting hairs maybe but if one argues that there were absolutely *no* WMDs in Iraq prior to the invasion then strictly speaking that person would be wrong. The problem lies in the use of absolutes in argumentation where even one counter-example disproves the argument.
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Insightful)
The specific charge Bush used to get our panties in a wad was nuclear weapons. "We don't want the smoking gun to be in the form of a mushroom cloud." Yellow cake uranium, lie. Aluminum tubes, lie. The CIA was giving Bush solid intel but he and his team refused to accept it. Cheney and his cronies cherry-picked raw intel for the most sensationalistic shit they could find, regardless of whether it was true or not.
When you say "most people assumed Saddam had WMD" you really mean "Most people assumed he had some leftover chemical or biological shit", not that he had nukes ready to strike the west in 45 minutes. The consensus before 9-11, a consensus backed by Powell, was that the US policy of Iraqi containment was working.
I'm sick of lies and lying liars. I'm sick of people who rewrite the facts to justify doing something and then rewrite history to protect themselves from that fuckup.
Re:Wasted chance (Score:5, Informative)
HaHa (Score:5, Funny)
Nice... (Score:5, Funny)
Okay (Score:1, Redundant)
Changed by whom? (Score:5, Funny)
Great all we need. (Score:5, Funny)
Followed up with "Hackers: Evil and must be stopped?" to linking hacking to Obama, a danger to your kids and finally Hackers gone wild at Spring break.
what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.alhunt.com/)
Great - now I have to go change all my passwords.
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Funny)
>Great - now I have to go change all my passwords.
Don't feel bad, I had the same combination on my luggage.
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry about it. I just did it for you.
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Funny)
(http://kaa.blogspot.com/)
A system that I was managing once started crashing, and further investigation revealed that the password of an upstream system had been changed. When we contacted the admin team of the offending application, they informed us that they had upgraded the password from 123 to the "highly secure" (in their words) 234.
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Insightful)
There is something very wrong with writing the password down, in plain text, on a public-facing server and assuming that no-one will be able to see it.
Re:what's wrong with T1me Out (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.neutronstar.org/)
Great--now you've got 8 people making the same joke.
Not a horrible password (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.wittydomain.com/)
Not really going to harm Fox (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/)
There seems to be a string of these lately between content aggregators. About a month ago there was that page on MS's site endorsing Linux. Turns out the content was from another site (I think, actually, CNet).
Not to say I'm not totally surprised. In this day when about 50% of someone's site is content from somebody else, it's not surprising there's snafus. I'm just waiting for the day when one of the sites leaves up SSH logins for another.
I would love to make my own headline (Score:1)
(http://www.lostpacket.net/)
It Works (Score:2, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 16, @03:07AM)
Let's see here (Score:4, Insightful)
Corporation that people don't like has bad security: Note after note about how evil the company is and that they're idiots in the highest sense.
Ridiculous summary (Score:5, Insightful)
2) Why the hell are you blaming Fox? You think the entire company sat in a conference room and decided on a security scheme and a password?
3) Why did this deserve front page news? Exploits like this are found on a daily basis, and ones much more humorous/interesting/newsworthy.
Re:Ridiculous summary (Score:5, Informative)
At least the story had "ftp" in it, making it slightly more "for nerds".
Peter
PS. I was against the war, I'm against Bush and I think Fox sucks, but even so (and as the parent post points out), this is a bit tenuous.
NEWS FLASH: Left-Wing Fascists mod parent off-topc (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://erikmartin.com/)
The info still works.... (Score:1)
4chan (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.glew.net/)
T1me Out Isn't Bad (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Thursday May 12 2005, @08:46PM)
Pity or natural selection (Score:2)
This is the closest Fox News will ever get... (Score:4, Funny)
Password (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://www.insidebet.com/)
What's wrong with it? Uppercase, lowercase and numbers. Looks safe to me. If you had a thousand years to figure it out on your own, would have succeeded?
I would say it's safer than 'xXsa425Vff', because 'T1me Out' is easy to remember. That way, you don't have to ask your co-workers what it is in case you forget it. Plus, I'm sure they're changing the password from time to time. It's unlikely 'T2me Out', however.
From the same people who ruined finger (Score:3, Insightful)
Directory indexes, on a properly-run site, are a Good Thing and should be encouraged. They are and should be turned on by default in real httpd software. Anything secret that's accessible through a directory index would also be accessible by guessing the URL - so security has to be enforced by 403 Forbidden, not by "nobody will know the URL," anyway. Don't disable directory indexes unless you have a really good reason - and if you think you have a really good reason, especially if you think it has something to do with some kind of "security," then you're probably wrong.
Employee information leaked (Score:2, Interesting)
so much for that blog (Score:2, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday February 17 2006, @06:59AM)
"mysql_pconnect() [function.mysql-pconnect]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (111) in
Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (111)"
We have meltdown - I repeat we have meltdown. Now someone get that pile of circuts and goo off the rack and get a new one in here pronto.
Congratulations! (Score:1)
(http://www2.gvsu.edu/~brittedg)
Where he can see DirectoryIndex is on ? (Score:1)
Fox News has no excuse (Score:2, Informative)
Flamebait! (Score:2, Insightful)
Disney's website Security (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://www.ensorcelled.co.uk/ | Last Journal: Saturday April 28 2007, @02:42PM)
- Email the admins (with password), requesting an upload opportunity giving detail of content and approval reference
- Admins create FTP account on a purpose-built server
- Admins send back time-sensitive FTP details
- Design company uploads to FTP server
- Committees review content, send authorization to admins
- Admins upload content.
And this was for already-approved work. Kinda puts this level of security to shame...
this type of human error can only be fixed with... (Score:1)
(http://www.gamerslastwill.com/)
Every employee that works at the site needs to have proper training in information security and social engineering counter-measures.
These sound complex and technical but they are not.
what is sensitive information?
You do not store any sensitive information in any place that's not explicitly secure.
you complement your training program with mandatory password restrictions.
Linux already has these restrictions for users.
password is too short, password is based on a dictionary word, password must contain numbers and letters.
Only YOU can prevent social engineering!
Okay.... (Score:1)
look on the bright side (Score:1)
Good square meals 3 times a day, and sex again on a regular basis.
Course that also comes with all the paperbacks you can read and a cell-mate likely named bubba.
Illegal, at least in Kansas. (Score:1)
(http://www.supertechnoboy.com/)
I'm not saying I've never done anything like this, but I certainly wouldn't advertise the fact. I'm in Kansas, and I can tell you that Computer Trespass here is:
intentionally, and without authorization accessing or attempting to access any computer, computer system, computer network or computer software, program, documentation, data or property contained in any computer, computer system or computer network. Computer trespass is a class A nonperson misdemeanor.
I think he's got that covered squarely. He may qualify for Computer Crime, which is:
Intentionally and without authorization accessing and damaging, modifying, altering, destroying, copying, disclosing or taking possession of a computer, computer system, computer network or any other property; ...
I'm just saying I wouldn't advertise.okay, but (Score:1)
(http://www.99years.com/)
Asshole! People like you are ruining the Internet. (Score:1, Insightful)
But now, one after one, sites which do not restrict directory listing are disappearing forever.
Why? Because of snotty punk assholes like "anonymous reader", who stumble upon some quasi-personal file (the same file six dozen other individuals saw but then respectfully moved on from before him) then BITCH and BLATHER about it repeatedly until everybody is made to know just how pathetically COOL HE IS for having found it.
Nice detective work (Score:1)
(http://thesoftworld.com/cory/)
Damn conservative hacker kids.
Off-Topic - Somebody explain this to me (Score:2)
And this goes on for pages two, three, four, maybe. At some point I get a new page.
What the hell is going on with this interface?
I'm finally irritated enough to ask WHY.
Slashdotted (Score:1)
(http://erroraccessdenied.com/)
FARK.com [slashdot.org] also reported on WikiNews's article.
Fox Searchlight (Score:1)
(http://www.artificial.com/~etallas/)
Heh... (Score:1)
Ftp & Fox (Score:1)
Shoulda used it... (Score:1)
The Bad, The Worse, The Stupid, and the Orwellian (Score:1)
(http://www.bushidohacks.com/ | Last Journal: Friday November 02, @02:44PM)
Worse: The same level of security that can be easily beefed up was applied to all the MyFox websites.
STUPID: News Reporter from Los Angeles pisses off the hacker community with a bias report by interviewing cowards with dogs and curtains, losers with MySpace accounts, and Eric "eBaum" Bauman in a dark room.
ORWELLIAN: MyFox now requires a 24 hour waiting period for blog and message board posts.
Silver lining: There is always the Usenet.
Re:Linux Ver Security hole, fox stupidity, or both (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Linux Ver Security hole, fox stupidity, or both (Score:2)
(http://www.wittydomain.com/)
I'm no lawyer, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Full Disclosure? (Score:2)
My guess (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Monday June 14 2004, @06:43PM)
Re:Fox news runs Ubuntu (Score:2)
If instead this were the server that updates Fox News with all of Microsoft's latest FUD about Linux insecurities, then you have irony my friend.
Wrong (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Saturday November 03, @10:54PM)
Wait, did I just feed the intentionally-screwed-up movie quote troll?
Dick Cheney has mod-points?!?! (Score:2)
(http://localhost:5800/)