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Australian Police Database Lacked Root Password

Posted by kdawson on from the kick-me dept.

Concerned Citizen writes "The Australian Federal Police database has been hacked, although 'hacked' might be too strong a word for what happens when someone gains access to a MySQL database with no root password. Can you be charged with breaking and entering a house that has the door left wide open? Maybe digital trespassing is a better term for this situation. 'These dipshits are using an automatic digital forensics and incident response tool,' the hacker wrote. 'All of this [hacking] had been done within 30-40 minutes. Could of [sic] been faster if I didn't stop to laugh so much.'"

3 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. a legit hack by Lord+Ender · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They broke out of a honeypot, discovered the available services on a private network, then found and exploited s service that was misconfigured.

    Believe it or not, most hacks don't involve writing custom exploit code. They just require some work and the sense to know what you're looking for.

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  2. Re:mmmm........ by jcr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A bureaucrat fired for incompetence?

    If that happens, then Australia is more different than the USA than I can possibly imagine.

    -jcr

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    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  3. Re:mmmm........ by Mr.+Freeman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, SOMEONE is always fired when their action causes embarrassment to the nation/their boss/etc.

    It most sure as hell IS NOT the person that should be fired.

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