Defacements increase fivefold in 2001

The number of website defacements grew five times last year, according to figures released by hacker tracker Alldas.de.

Alldas.de claims the number of websites defaced swelled to 22,379 in 2001, up from 4,393 in 2000.

The site discovered that most defacers come from Brazil.

Alldas has been tracking defacements since 1998 and has become the best source for news of such incidents since Attrition.org stopped recording them last year. The site also holds other security analyses and statistics.

However, on a more positive note, data released yesterday by the US Federal Computer Incident Response Centre (FedCirc) shows the number of hack attacks have plummeted since September 11.
FedCirc found out that in December 2001 only 15 reported hack attacks took place compared to 45 in the same month in 2000.

In August 2001 alone, FedCirc saw 114 hack attacks in US.

A website defacer is a malicious hacker who breaks into any vulnerable web server and replaces the front page with electronic graffiti.