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Blogs:
The330:
Akron Zoo’s $500,000 Conservation Carousel opens to public Saturday
Akron Docs in Haiti:
Orphans in Fondwa
First Bell - On Education:
Busing, sports fees and class size on table if Copley-Fairlawn schools levy fails
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Paws & Pitches at Canal Park
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"So You Think You Can Dance" Notes
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Poll: What season are you anticipating most?
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Thursday’s Indians lineup
Cleveland Browns:
Links to Browns coverage: July 30, 2010
Kent State Sports:
Key MAC Games Of 2010 Season
Cleveland Cavaliers:
LeBron still has at least one fan in Cleveland
Buckeye Blogging:
10 Hurdles Standing Between Ohio State and Another National Championship
Varsity Letters:
Important Dates for Upcoming High School Football Season
All Da King's Men:
Arizona Immigration Law Blocked, Drug Cartels Rejoice
Blog of Mass Destruction:
"Muslims Hate Jews, Christians &…Dogs"
Akron Law Café:
Is BP Cornering the Market on Oil Spill Research?
Car Chase:
Sunday – or Anyday Drives
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Brangelina to Buy in Santorini?
Sound Check:
Ohio alt-rock stars weigh in on Lebron….John Mayer too..
HRLite House:
From the White House – New Federal Approach to Hiring
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 07:36 p.m. EST, Jan 19, 2010
The Web site for the Ronald McDonald House in Akron normally features a photograph of this refuge for the families of sick children, with the title, ''The house that love built.''
On Monday evening, the site was replaced by pictures of soldiers marching with missile launchers on their shoulders and pro-Palestinian messages, including ''Death to Israel.''
The digital vandalism appears to be ''a total random thing,'' said Anne Collins, resident manager of Ronald McDonald House. ''It's not like we were singled out.''
Collins said the agency, celebrating its 25th anniversary in Akron, has no ties to the Jewish or Palestinian communities.
Ronald McDonald House wasn't the only target. A few hundred companies and agencies in the past couple of days found themselves the victims of Internet hackers.
The common link appears to be Network Solutions, a national provider of Internet services based in Virginia that markets to small businesses and other organizations, including Ronald McDonald House.
Network Solutions notified customers Tuesday, saying there had been ''a limited attack on websites hosted on Network Solutions Unix servers where a few hundred were affected. Hackers were able to add a file displaying illegitimate content on top of the customer website content.''
The Ronald McDonald House site was fixed by about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the original home page was restored.
Network Solutions said it has ''added monitoring of this threat to increase protection'' and is working with law enforcement to ''take action against malicious elements that attempt to penetrate our systems.
''The race between technology and the bad elements is a challenge that companies face continually.''
Officials with Network Solutions couldn't be reached Tuesday, but the company's phone line had a message instructing customers whose Web sites had been defaced to visit Network Solutions' site for instructions on restoring sites and avoiding repeat problems.
Not all the targets are in the United States. Someone hacked the Web site of the London Jewish Chronicle over the weekend, posting a Palestinian flag and anti-Israel messages. The newspaper took down its Web site temporarily, and police are investigating the breech.
The fake Ronald McDonald House site featured a black background, with Palestinian and Islamic flags. The site said it had been ''hacked by cwkomando for Palestine.''
Below were several pictures, including black-masked soldiers setting up missiles and praying in the sand with weapons strapped to their backs. Most of the text was in a foreign language. A Google translation showed the distinguishable phrases, ''Greetings to Palestine Resistance,'' and ''Victory is near.''
The Web site Yedda, which offers a forum for questions and answers about the Internet, identified the ''cwkomando'' hackers as ''an annoying bunch of kids out of Salt Lake City just trying to get attention.''
The site suggested changing passwords, upgrading blog software, running a security upgrade and uploading a back-up site.
''Think of the annoyance as one of the necessary evils of the Internet and get on with business/life/etc.,'' the site suggested.
Martin H. Belsky, chair of the community relations council of the Jewish Community Board of Akron, said the hacking of Web sites to spread Palestinian messages has been happening for about a year. He said previous messages have been education based, but the message on the Ronald McDonald House site was ''fear based.''
''They are trying to state by pictures, 'We will get you,' '' he said.
Belsky said the messages don't scare — they just annoy. Whether the hacking was done by teens or terrorists, he'd sum it up in one word: ''Stupid.''
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
The Web site for the Ronald McDonald House in Akron normally features a photograph of this refuge for the families of sick children, with the title, ''The house that love built.''
On Monday evening, the site was replaced by pictures of soldiers marching with missile launchers on their shoulders and pro-Palestinian messages, including ''Death to Israel.''
The digital vandalism appears to be ''a total random thing,'' said Anne Collins, resident manager of Ronald McDonald House. ''It's not like we were singled out.''
Collins said the agency, celebrating its 25th anniversary in Akron, has no ties to the Jewish or Palestinian communities.
Ronald McDonald House wasn't the only target. A few hundred companies and agencies in the past couple of days found themselves the victims of Internet hackers.
The common link appears to be Network Solutions, a national provider of Internet services based in Virginia that markets to small businesses and other organizations, including Ronald McDonald House.
Network Solutions notified customers Tuesday, saying there had been ''a limited attack on websites hosted on Network Solutions Unix servers where a few hundred were affected. Hackers were able to add a file displaying illegitimate content on top of the customer website content.''
The Ronald McDonald House site was fixed by about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the original home page was restored.
Network Solutions said it has ''added monitoring of this threat to increase protection'' and is working with law enforcement to ''take action against malicious elements that attempt to penetrate our systems.
''The race between technology and the bad elements is a challenge that companies face continually.''
Officials with Network Solutions couldn't be reached Tuesday, but the company's phone line had a message instructing customers whose Web sites had been defaced to visit Network Solutions' site for instructions on restoring sites and avoiding repeat problems.
Not all the targets are in the United States. Someone hacked the Web site of the London Jewish Chronicle over the weekend, posting a Palestinian flag and anti-Israel messages. The newspaper took down its Web site temporarily, and police are investigating the breech.
The fake Ronald McDonald House site featured a black background, with Palestinian and Islamic flags. The site said it had been ''hacked by cwkomando for Palestine.''
Below were several pictures, including black-masked soldiers setting up missiles and praying in the sand with weapons strapped to their backs. Most of the text was in a foreign language. A Google translation showed the distinguishable phrases, ''Greetings to Palestine Resistance,'' and ''Victory is near.''
The Web site Yedda, which offers a forum for questions and answers about the Internet, identified the ''cwkomando'' hackers as ''an annoying bunch of kids out of Salt Lake City just trying to get attention.''
The site suggested changing passwords, upgrading blog software, running a security upgrade and uploading a back-up site.
''Think of the annoyance as one of the necessary evils of the Internet and get on with business/life/etc.,'' the site suggested.
Martin H. Belsky, chair of the community relations council of the Jewish Community Board of Akron, said the hacking of Web sites to spread Palestinian messages has been happening for about a year. He said previous messages have been education based, but the message on the Ronald McDonald House site was ''fear based.''
''They are trying to state by pictures, 'We will get you,' '' he said.
Belsky said the messages don't scare — they just annoy. Whether the hacking was done by teens or terrorists, he'd sum it up in one word: ''Stupid.''
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
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