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Tech

g0d Brings Hate-on to NOW Magazine

Posted by Roger Cullman / December 21, 2007

27 Comments

20071221_NOWHacked.jpgNOW Magazine's website was hacked.

This screenshot above is from 3:01 a.m. Friday morning, December 21. Who is this g0d and what does he have against media? Specifically, what does he have against NOW Magazine?

This smacks of a desperate and lame cry for attention. Not to worry, .g0d, Zanta still loves you.

About an hour later and g0d's message still reigns supreme over Toronto. At least on this one website. I can't remember when last this happened to them and how quickly service was restored.

What feature of NOW's website do you miss accessing most? What about the hacked page do you like least?

Discussion

27 Comments

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nowhere / December 21, 2007 at 04:17 am
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He's the founder of myg0t. A CS:S hacking community. Although why he decided to attack NOW's website is beyond me. It's completely possible that this is an imposter .g0d though.

http://www.myg0t.com/?rage=about
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Hamish Grant / December 21, 2007 at 06:14 am
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Oh, come ON! If this was a another website you'd be all, "look! their website was H4XX0RD COOOL"

I think it's awesome. Hoisting them on their own petard!
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Adam Sobolak / December 21, 2007 at 07:07 am
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In black humour, I (and probably not just I) was thinking of an answer along "pranking ghost of John Harkness" lines...
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Steve / December 21, 2007 at 07:11 am
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7 am & they're still out of service - bit of a drag because I didn't get a chance to go yesterday when the new issue came out. Maybe i'll actually have to pick up a physical copy in the real world for a change, like in the olden times.

I'm ticked that .g0d still uses <font> tags. I would've thought the all-being, all-seeing would've moved up to CSS by now.
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Dave / December 21, 2007 at 07:57 am
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hmmmmmmmm where was this first reported ?
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frank / December 21, 2007 at 08:11 am
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i wonder if this has anything to do with the redesign of their site which i believe launched yesterday.
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 08:17 am
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Whoever did it seems to have strategically chosen the worst time to do it - on the Thursday before Christmas. They put out the new issues on Thursdays, right? I'm guessing they also update the page on Thursdays too. It's also THE shopping week of the year, so ad revenue must be affected. I hope NOW manages to get it restored and secure quickly.
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Greg Clow / December 21, 2007 at 08:21 am
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The rest of the site is still up. Hit <a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/food";>http://www.nowtoronto.com/food<;/a> as an example, and you'll get in.
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Suresh / December 21, 2007 at 08:25 am
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The site wasn't hacked by myg0t, it is most definitely an imposter or kid trying to prove his worth to be recognized as myg0t. I've known the myg0t community for many years (crossed paths as gamers) and it would serve no purpose for them to hack a toronto news media site. This is a real threat to any website out there...including this one. Hopefully NOW recovers quickly and moves on with the day.
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Chris Orbz / December 21, 2007 at 08:29 am
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I'm sure they didn't specifically choose the site, they were probably just scanning for sites with vulnerabilities left open that they happened to know how to exploit, and then when they realized what they were in came up with that brilliant "Fuck you media" as if it meant something rebellious.
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Lex / December 21, 2007 at 08:52 am
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[Conspiracy Theory Hat On]
Using a message like that would be a pretty interesting alternative to posting "the site is down for upgrades"... say if someone were looking for a little extra attention.
I'm not saying, I'm just saying.
[Conspiracy Theory Hat Off]
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Mark Dowling / December 21, 2007 at 08:50 am
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"What feature of NOW's website do you miss accessing most? What about the hacked page do you like least?"

I think a more interesting question would be which feature do you not miss and what do you like about the hacked page.

For me I don't miss the whiny political columns and I like the starkness compared to NOW's usual colour schemes.

As for the paper itself, it reads best starting from the back cover (assuming no exploitative American Apparel ads that week) because that's where Dan Savage is.
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 09:02 am
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Looks like the web tech(s) are on it... site now reads "We will be right back."
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Arieh Singer / December 21, 2007 at 09:19 am
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I am with Chris here - NOW is best Read Back-to-Front....that is, Dan Savage, to movie listings, to music, then closed. I love reading Savage to friends while in the pub - days just seem more fun that way!
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selassie / December 21, 2007 at 09:25 am
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It's back up.
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Matt / December 21, 2007 at 09:25 am
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So does this mean there was some kind of vulnerability in the new layout, or that the new layout prompted the hack?
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 09:26 am
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Their site redesign looks great (with the exception of the clutter and the giant hotdog) ;)
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 09:30 am
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This hack could have actually served them very well. A lot of people will be visiting their URL this morning and seeing the newly designed page.
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Ben / December 21, 2007 at 09:32 am
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Mark, Arieh: You missed a step.

You start with the american apparel ad, then read Dan Savage, then you pick an escort for the movies or music.
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Arieh Singer / December 21, 2007 at 09:58 am
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I thought the comment I was responding to was from Chris, Sorry Mark.

@Ben - No doubt you have it right. And if you cannot get the American Apparel girl, I am sure the Roots girl might be interested....ha!

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Jenelle / December 21, 2007 at 11:20 am
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"Who is this g0d and what does he have against media? Specifically, what does he have against NOW Magazine?"

Are you sure you don't mean what does *she* have against media and NOW?
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 11:33 am
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While the "God is a woman" debate could go on for all eternity, the "g0d is a woman debate" could as well. But seeing that 99% (guessing) of hackers are male, the chance that this one was female is slim. I don't actually know what pecentage of hackers are male/female. Would be interesting to learn about though :)
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Roger / December 21, 2007 at 02:13 pm
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Dave, I didn't see this story break anywhere else. Did you?
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Jerrold / December 21, 2007 at 02:34 pm
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Someone posted about it on Stillepost at 2:30am.
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theMediaman / December 29, 2007 at 03:20 pm
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"This smacks of a desperate and lame cry for attention. "

What do you call bloggers??
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Ry C / December 31, 2007 at 11:03 am
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Normally I'd think "Dave" was mr Topping. The snarky "Hmm I wonder who got this first" sounds like his pompous ass, but it seems the 'ist didn't go near the story. Probably 'cause he couldn't find a way to say "Hacked by David Topping" at the end of the post.
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Japhet / January 8, 2008 at 11:45 pm
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Exactly! The American Apparel girl gets some love and then you move on to Dan Savage followed closely by some tranny ads, lame help-wanted posts and then film and food reviews.

The other stuff is for when you're bored.
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