The Walter Cronkite School’s website was compromised late Tuesday evening, which resulted in the site being down for about an hour, the dean of the school said.
The school is now conducting an investigation into the cyber intrusion, Dean Christopher Callahan said Wednesday morning in an email to his faculty and staff. He said the school is working to find out how the hack occurred and who is behind it.
The website, which normally displays pictures of the school along with links to its many projects, showed nothing but a white page reading “Object not found!” Tuesday night. Cronkite students began noticing the hack and talking about it on Facebook and Twitter Tuesday night around 6:45 p.m.
Before the school’s information technology department could take the site down to begin its restoration, the defaced page displayed “fatal error ownz you,” various students said.
The “entire CSIT team handled the situation superbly and with great professionalism. We’re lucky to have them,” Callahan said in his email.
Cyber crime has gone up this year and attacks have become more publicized as well with hackers going after institutions of every kind. Among the notable victims of cyber attacks in 2011 are the CIA, FBI, Sony and News Corp.
Contact the reporter at salvador.rodriguez@asu.edu
Aubree Abril and Victoria Pelham contributed to this report.
