Investigation launched as group hacks ministry

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

RedHack group has brought down other ministries’ web sites before as well.

A fresh investigation has been launched against RedHack after the socialist hacking group revealed
the identities of foreign diplomatic personnel working in Turkey yesterday, as Foreign Ministry admitted the incident was due to a “weakness of security.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry will inform foreign diplomatic missions about the identities of foreign diplomatic personnel working in Turkey which was revealed in the recent RedHack incident, deputy minister Naci Koru told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

Socialist group RedHack brought down the Turkish Foreign Ministry website yesterday morning, replacing its contents with pictures showing the Turkish prime minister embracing former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A title was placed above the pictures, reading: “Ministry of War and Slavery, not Foreign Affairs.” A caption for the pictures read: “Brothers yesterday, enemies today.”

Seven already arrested

Koru admitted the incident was due to a “weakness of security,” but stressed no confidential writing or information was revealed. Hackers attacked a public page used for internship applications and foreign mission’s applications for identity cards, he said. The hackers were able to access the information through the Foreign Ministry’s website, exploiting a loophole present in the software which was produced for the ministry by a private company. “The attack was responded to by TÜBİTAK and Interior Ministry personnel who are now working to fix the loophole,” Koru said. Seven people who are suspected of being members of RedHack are already under arrest.

A Foreign Ministry official said the hackers had not taken down the ministry’s main website but attacked a public page which was used for job applications. The page did not contain any secret or critical information, the official said. The hackers were able to access the information by exploiting a loophole present in the system, he added.