ID: IRCNE2011061150
Date: 2011-06-21
The Hacker News, an online news site has reported that Pakistani hacker HexCoder claims to have penetrated an HP FTP server and accessed about 9 GB of data.
A HP spokesman this afternoon said that the trying to verify the hacker's claims. He added that the data alleged to have been compromised is in the Japanese language.
"There's a high likelihood that this is stuff that is publicly available," the spokesman added.
THN posted several screen shots of the data HexCoder claims to have accessed from the HP system.
It's unclear from the screen shots whether any personal or financial data was compromised in the alleged attack.
In an email to Computeworld, THN editor Mohit Kumar said the screenshots made available to THN show that the hacker has permissions to 777 files on the compromised system. "That means he [may have] root access, almost in FTP," Kumar said.
The screenshots made available by HexCoder suggests that information on various HP software products, tools and drivers has been copied, Kumar said. One of the exposed folders appears to contain delivery reports on various HP products. Another contains various news media files and newsletter items, he said.
The HP attacks come just days after the company announced sweeping changes at executive level.
What has been especially discomfiting for many of the victims is the fact that the breaks-in often have resulted from embarrassingly low-tech methods that showed fundamental security lapses.
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