Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced
davidmwilliams writes "Microsoft followed their major annual Tech-Ed event in Australia with a week-long programming contest called 'DevSta,' to find 'star developers.' While the quantity and quality of submissions suggest a poor turnout, it certainly caught the attention of at least two hackers who left their mark. Here is the low-down on the contest, what happened, by whom, and screen shots for posterity in case it's been fixed by the time you read this. And unless the volume of submissions increase dramatically within the next few hours, someone may be awarded an Xbox for doing nothing more than rewriting the Windows calculator as a .NET app."
Nooo.
This isn't news. If it were, it'd carry a headline like "Microsoft Programming Contest Security Thwarts Hackers" and be about how Microsoft employed some effective security measures without subjecting all applicants to activity-monitoring rootkit DRM and attendees to cavity-searches.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
Nobody wants an XBox that badly do they? :-)
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
So it's like all their other software then?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Screenshots dont look too spectacular - how do we know they didnt just create a bunch of accounts and post shit on their website.
Or is that what passes off as hacking these days?
They really shouldn't be running HTTP daemons without SELinux running. Such services are just too popular a target.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
What about the guy who found a security hole on IIS and wrote and exploit for it? that sounds way cooler than rewriting calc.
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
To me it would appear that someone submitted entries with an bogus title and accompanying description. Hacked? Hardly. What surprises me is that no one submitted Viagra programs with accompanying links in the description.
These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along.
Anyone wonder why only some pissed off script kiddies are playing?
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Maybe because Mono 2.0 was released, but not by microsoft.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
If you want a prize, why not come up with a hack that releases OEMs from their contractual obligation to pre-load Windows? Or maybe a hack that dis-allows Microsoft from counting the sale of a Dell server with Linux installed as a sale of a Windows license. How about a hack that gives the ISO people a spine and some cojones?
Now, those would be worth a prize.
If I write an app for Apple's iPhone, I run the chance of being denied, but I could make lots of $$$. If I write an app for MS, I could get some lovely departing gifts. Tough choice.
Impetuous! Homeric!
I speak from about 15 years experience at multiple companies and not bias that the more "Microsofty" the programmer is, the worse they are.
The current project I am on is full of the Microsoft way of doing things. And get this:
We have a Linux server and Windows client, and they designed a Windows Registry as an interface to the database on Linux. They are having piss-poor performance due to many design issues related to this thing. I should probably post it to Daily WTF. I mean WTF indeed.
Who wants to be a Microsoft Star!! Wooohoo!
They are. And don't call me Shirley.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
He clearly means Dentistry software. Manage the patient's records, search cavities...
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
In other news, Alanis Morissette is found posting on Slashdot under the name 'db32'.
Well, if you read the article, you'll see that it's not just bogus posts, they've apparently actually managed to alter existing submissions, which is how they became the top submissions. Not nearly as significant as actually defacing the site entirely, but certainly more impressive than just making fake posts.
HACKED BY BENJYMOUSE HACKED BY BENJYMOUSE HACKED BY BENJYMOUSE There, now I "hacked" slashdot the very same way. The "hacked" and "defaced" site is nothing more than submissions (like comments on slashdot) with "HACKED BY OVERLORD" text. No JavaScript injection, no SQL injection, no nothing. Some medias will go to any length to capture traffic. sheesh.
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
The screenshots look like these "hackers" defaced the site by ...
*drum roll* ... posting to a forum!!!
OMG /. HACKED BY NARCBERRYHACKED BY NARCBERRYHACKED BY NARCBERRYHACKED BY NARCBERRY
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
Who the hell writes a metric clock without understanding the metric system?
Swatch, for one. And the Chinese before them.
commodoresloat writes "Slashdot followed their major annual asteroid-collision article with an article called 'Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced.' While the quantity and quality of posts suggest a poor turnout, it certainly caught the attention of a hacker named 'BENJYMOUSE' who left his mark. Here is the low-down on the slashdot post, what happened, by whom, and screen shots for posterity in case it's been fixed by the time you read this. And unless the quality of posts increase dramatically within the next few hours, someone may be awarded mod points for doing nothing more than rewriting the *BSD troll as an anti-M$ post."
This is what we need in the programming world, more developers with an ego complex. "Star developers", way to go, when a part of skill lies deeply in being able to communicate and organize oneself in a community or company.
"Star developers" sounds like these people need three flatscreen monitors, a massage chair and a personal makeup assistant to be happy.
The reason why no serious programmers will turn up at this event is the same reason, why I'm not at this event: I am busy doing serious, real life code. I have no time for marketing shams.
Do not trust this signature.
Lame hack, but much more lame trying to pass this as news......
Had I known it were news, I'd have contacted local news media rather than the modest response of contacting my web hosting provider and asking that they patch the vulnerability in their SQL server.
~Mike (Titan_X)