Newspaper "Hacks Into" Aussie Gov't Website By Guessing URL

thelamecamel writes "According to the New South Wales state government, the Sydney Morning Herald, a local newspaper, attacked the government's 'website firewall security' for two days to research a recent story. The affected government minister said that the website was accessed 3,727 times, and that this is 'akin to 3,727 attempts to pick the lock of a secure office and take highly confidential documents.' The matter has been referred to the police, who are now investigating. But how did the paper 'hack' the website? They entered the unannounced URL. Security by obscurity at its finest."

Was it...

[The Wild Norseman]

http://www.australia.gov.au/backdoor [australia.gov.au] ?

Two Robots in Front of a Judge

[eldavojohn]

NSW Lawyer: You allege that the Sydney Morning Herald sent repeatedly sent liscivious requests to you, is that correct?
NSW Server: *nods solemnly*
NSW Lawyer: I see ... and just exactly how many times were you violated?
NSW Server: *pauses and swallows loudly* Three ... three thousand seven hudred and twenty seven.
*crowd gasps*
NSW Lawyer: I see. Now, I know this is hard for you but could you please point to where, exactly, on this anatomically correct server doll the Sydney Morning Herald accessed you from.
NSW Server: *turns the server doll over and motions to the ports* Here on the back, in my ethernet port.
*sounds of disgust ripple through the crowd*
NSW Lawyer: And what did he say to you when this was happening?
NSW Server: GET.
NSW Lawyer: 'GET' what?
NSW Server: He just kept saying GET, GET, GET! GET this document. GET that document.
NSW Lawyer: And did you get it for him?
NSW Server: No it didn't exist! They just weren't there!
NSW Lawyer: And what did you say exactly!
NSW Server: 404! 404, goddammit, 404 ... *breaks down sobbing* I didn't know what he wanted from me until it was too late!!!
NSW Lawyer: There there. There there, it's okay. You're safe now. *turns to the judge* Can we let this sort of gross injustice go unpunished in today's society? How long before this happens to your server? Or ... your child's server?! Huh?
NSW Judge: *nods approvingly*
NSW Lawyer: I rest my case.

Urgent notification to all:

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Dear NSW Transportation Dept Employee,

We have enhanced the security of our secret intranet site with immediate effect. The new enhanced security intranet site is SECRETnswtransportblueprint.com Please update your bookmarks. To allow our braindead minister who can not remember a password and is frightened when confronted with a login dialog to use the site, we have disabled the login requirements for all. So please keep the url confidential.

Signed

Assistant to the Minister D Umbi Diot

Re:Deja vu again once more

[Yvanhoe]

Yeah, at this time we were supposing governments would be a bit more cautious than schools.

Re:Two Robots in Front of a Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, exxxxxxxactttlllyyyyy [ytmnd.com]

Re:fuckfuck

[WrongSizeGlass]

Dude, way to ruin M&M's for me ... I don't ever want to think of M&M's breeding unless it's that hot one from the TV commercials.

Robots.txt

[sakdoctor]

User-agent: *
Disallow: /highly_confidential_documents/
Hack-delay: >9000

Library analogy

[vlm]

'akin to 3,727 attempts to pick the lock of a secure office and take highly confidential documents.'

Much more like checking 3727 shelves in the public library looking for a copy of "internet security for dummies"

The funny part is both sides are fairly non-technical, meaning some "journalist" probably typed in all 3727 URLs.

Re:fuckfuck

[SatanClauz]

okay

first, i'm not sure what this has to do with the post.

second, I do the EXACT same thing :)

that is all

Re:Really?

[WrongSizeGlass]

Are there no IT Pros that work for the government?

Sadly, no ... they're all working for school districts in southern Pennsylvania.

Proposal for Australia

[elrous0]

Considering all the anti-internet, anti-gaming, anti-pron laws and sentiment that seems to have become so pervasive in Australia recently (much to the delight of /. editors, who have had no shortage of great front page stories from there recently) I propose that Australia must, to protect its citizens from the immoral influence of the internet, REMOVE ITSELF FROM THE INTERNET IMMEDIATELY. It's the only way to be sure.

Re:Answer:

[mea37]

Sorry, but your argument fails immediately.

RTFA. Nobody leaked the URL to reporters. Reporters guessed URL's until they hit on one.

But I guess the moderators are in wishful thinking mode today, so you got an up-mod for a non sequitur.

Also, you should probably learn to do a better job identifying who the enemy is. Jumping down my throat for pointing out unfortunate realities of the current legal landscape isn't helping you.

Re:Was it...

[Anonymous Coward]

reminds me of the time i hacked my friend's fridge for a can of beer when he was out of the room for a moment