Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer

swingking

According to an article on wired http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy#

Internet griefers descended on an epilepsy support message board last weekend and used JavaScript code and flashing computer animation to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in some users.
The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation, which runs the forum, briefly closed the site Sunday to purge the offending messages and to boost security.
"We are seeing people affected," says Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing at the Epilepsy Foundation. "It's fortunately only a handful. It's possible that people are just not reporting yet -- people affected by it may not be coming back to the forum so fast."
The incident, possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims, began Saturday, March 22, when attackers used a script to post hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs.
The attackers turned to a more effective tactic on Sunday, injecting JavaScript into some posts that redirected users' browsers to a page with a more complex image designed to trigger seizures in both photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.
RyAnne Fultz, a 33-year-old woman who suffers from pattern-sensitive epilepsy, says she clicked on a forum post with a legitimate-sounding title on Sunday. Her browser window resized to fill her screen, which was then taken over by a pattern of squares rapidly flashing in different colors.
Fultz says she "locked up."
"I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts," says Fultz, an IT worker in Coeur d'Alene, Ohio. "I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak."
After about 10 seconds, Fultz's 11-year-old son came over and drew her gaze away from the computer, then killed the browser process, she says.
"Everyone who logged on, it affected to some extent, whether by causing headaches or seizures," says Browen Mead, a 24-year-old epilepsy patient in Maine who says she suffered a daylong migraine after examining several of the offending posts. She'd lingered too long on the pages trying to determine who was responsible.
Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread -- since deleted -- planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold.
Fultz says the attack spawned an uncommonly bad seizure. "It was a spike of pain in my head," she says. "And the lockup, that only happens with really bad ones. I don't think I've had a seizure like that in about a year."
But she's satisfied with the Epilepsy Foundation's relatively fast response to the attack, about 12 hours after it began on Easter weekend. "We all really appreciate them for giving us this forum and giving us this place to find each other," she says.
Epilepsy affects an estimated 50 million people worldwide, about 3 percent of whom are photosensitive, meaning flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures.

This is just plain sick :eek:

bronte

What a rotten thing to do.
Karma is a nasty beeatch though.

Parsley

Genius. Wrong, but genius.

Flukey

Idiots.

FruitLover

This has nothing to do with hacking. Why do you call them 'hackers'?

MrJoeSoap

bronte wrote: »

What a rotten thing to do.
Karma is a nasty beeatch though.

I wouldn't put money on it.

thelordofcheese

from the front page of 7Chan

Hello, and welcome to our treehouse.

I would just like to discuss this nasty business about a terrible raid on a forum for the poor people who suffer from epilepsy. What happened there was terrible, and we feel deeply sorry for those affected.

Users of this site did not actually attack those individuals. The Church of Scientology posted numerous threads across many *chan sites, and then informed people that Anonymous had been attacking victims of epilepsy. They did this under their "fair game" policy, to ruin the public opinion of Anonymous, to lessen the effect of their lawful protests against their virulent organization.

I must say, it is disgusting that the CoS is willing to drag innocent people down with them, in an attempt to save themselves. How could anyone be a willing participant in their terrible organization?

Sadly, none of our staff were online at the time of the thread's posting, so we were unable to take it down.

We are truly and deeply sorry for what happened to these innocent people,
Thank you for your time spent reading this apology,
The Administration and Staff of 7chan.org

Feel free to email us at the above address or address us on our IRC server, and we will be happy to address any of your concerns regarding this terrible incident.

Voodu Child

Those blasted hackers are always giving us crackers a bad name. Or it is the other way around......anyways, :mad:

Stercus Accidit

CoS eh, I'm not surprised by either possibility.

DEmeant0r

Hmmm why would Anonymous attack the innocent? I thought CoS was there main enemy??

Nerin

hmmm hard to know whether it was anon or Co$...
i doubt its gotten that serious though,or has it.
anyways, they're a$$holes whoever did it.:mad:

thelordofcheese

DEmeant0r wrote: »

Hmmm why would Anonymous attack the innocent? I thought CoS was their main enemy??

Rule #6 of the internet:
Anonymous can be a horrible, senseless, uncaring monster.

But if they are going to the bother of denying it, it's likely it wasn't really them.

The guy

thelordofcheese wrote: »

from the front page of 7Chan

It's not beyond anonymous to do this at all considering the other stuff that spreads on all the chans, 4chan, 7chan, 420chan and so on.

leninbenjamin

even though I was expecting that, it still dazed me bit. hate think what could happen to someone with epilepsy.

it's utterly bizarre the the CoS would be the one to start the accusations against anonymous, something real fishy like

swingking

Do you not realise how fcuking dangerous it is to post a link like that!!!!!!

You should at least mark it as unsafe

AlmightyCushion

I've removed the link. Please don't post something like that Cunny-Funt.

bushy...

Why would they not have all that turned off anyway ?

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/02/disable-animated-gifs.html

AlmightyCushion

bushy... wrote: »

Why would they not have all that turned off anyway ?

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/02/disable-animated-gifs.html

Not a lot of people know how to do that. Plus the vast majority of animated gifs are fine.

The guy

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Not a lot of people know how to do that. Plus the vast majority of animated gifs are fine.

They would probably have to adblock flashads since some of them like "You won a green card" are flashing ads.

andrew

While what they did was pretty bad, I still lol'd

smellslikeshoes

Terribly dangerous and callous thing to do, but I admit its a little funny.

Rb

Hilarious but cruel.

As evil as it is, I started laughing when I read the thread title. There's something horribly funny about it.

TPD

I laughed, a lot.

positron

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

To those who laughed or giggled or 'lol'ed at it - do you also laugh at drunk parents abusing their toddlers? Or if someone falls out of their wheelchair? Or if you see scumbags kick or stab a dog? Or when a blind person trips over the kerb? No, I didn't think so! :rolleyes:

I guess a lot of people don't understand how debilitating epilepsy is to those who suffer and to their friends and families. There's a lot more to epilepsy than falling down and jerking for a while, which some people somehow seem to find funny! I guess ignorance is a bliss for some!

end of rant. :cool:

thelordofcheese

positron wrote: »

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

To those who laughed or giggled or 'lol'ed at it - do you also laugh at drunk parents abusing their toddlers? Or if someone falls out of their wheelchair? Or if you see scumbags kick or stab a dog? Or when a blind person trips over the kerb? No, I didn't think so! :rolleyes:

Those are always funny.

humanji

positron wrote: »

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

To those who laughed or giggled or 'lol'ed at it - do you also laugh at drunk parents abusing their toddlers? Or if someone falls out of their wheelchair? Or if you see scumbags kick or stab a dog? Or when a blind person trips over the kerb? No, I didn't think so! :rolleyes:

I guess a lot of people don't understand how debilitating epilepsy is to those who suffer and to their friends and families. There's a lot more to epilepsy than falling down and jerking for a while, which some people somehow seem to find funny! I guess ignorance is a bliss for some!

end of rant. :cool:

I guess some people need to lighten up and stop being appauled at everything in the world.

Rb

positron wrote: »

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

To those who laughed or giggled or 'lol'ed at it - do you also laugh at drunk parents abusing their toddlers? Or if someone falls out of their wheelchair? Or if you see scumbags kick or stab a dog? Or when a blind person trips over the kerb? No, I didn't think so! :rolleyes:

I guess a lot of people don't understand how debilitating epilepsy is to those who suffer and to their friends and families. There's a lot more to epilepsy than falling down and jerking for a while, which some people somehow seem to find funny! I guess ignorance is a bliss for some!

end of rant. :cool:

Watch This but picture a laptop in his hands instead of the pad and you might see why it's such a funny (but cruel) thing to think about.

You don't need to watch past 1:10 though.

cozmik

positron wrote: »

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

They're most likely stoned or drunk either way they're not worth getting frustrated over.

I just hope whoever is responsible for this act of cruelty is severly punished.

You Suck!

Isn't life just full of grey areas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiImhhImib0

smellslikeshoes

positron wrote: »

I can't believe how anyone would find that amusing.

To those who laughed or giggled or 'lol'ed at it - do you also laugh at drunk parents abusing their toddlers? Or if someone falls out of their wheelchair? Or if you see scumbags kick or stab a dog? Or when a blind person trips over the kerb? No, I didn't think so! :rolleyes:

I guess a lot of people don't understand how debilitating epilepsy is to those who suffer and to their friends and families. There's a lot more to epilepsy than falling down and jerking for a while, which some people somehow seem to find funny! I guess ignorance is a bliss for some!

end of rant. :cool:

Lighten up will you, everyone here agrees its a horrible thing to do, but it is still a little funny.

AKitty

I wonder if the FBI will make any seizures over this.