Hacking attacks have been part of the Internet landscape, unfortunately, since the dawn of Cyberspace. Nevertheless, you might think that certain sites are sufficiently important and secure that they are immune to the effects of a hack attack.
But that is not necessarily the case. News accounts periodically report on hack attacks wreaking havoc on large commercial websites. And now even President Obama, the leader of the free world, is bearing the brunt of some recent hack attacks.
Indeed, according to AllThingsD.com, several websites affiliated with Organizing for Action, President Obama's advocacy group on nonprofit issues, were hit and compromised by hackers last week. Tweets emanating from the @BarackObama handle linked to YouTube videos hosted by the "Syrian Electronic Army"; such links were also provided via President Obama's Facebook fan page.
AllThingsD reports that the Syrian Electronic Army has been targeting a variety of high-profile people during the past year while attempting to gain support for Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad. AllThingsD reports that the SEA hacked the social-networking accounts of CNN, the Guardian, the Associated Press, and other news outlets. Notably, the AP hack in April triggered a stock market "flash crash" -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 130 points within minutes after the hack.
Even though hacking still occurs on the Internet and at times causes actual harm, this does not mean that we should throw up our hands and just accept this state of affairs. Efforts must be made to continue developing the best security practices and products to try to stay ahead of the evolving ingenuity of hackers as they try to disrupt the Internet.
Effective security efforts to date have helped prevent and minimize harm caused by intended hacking attacks, and the situation would be far worse without such efforts.
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